Blended Impact Announced As Phase 1 Winners of the DOE Make It Prize Strategies Track
April 2024 - In 2023 the U.S. Department of Energy issued a challenge to communities nationwide to coalesce around the goal of American reshoring and manufacturing. Aiming to strengthen our supply chain and create good-paying jobs in critical industries, the initiative is funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Blended Impact answered the call and quickly assembled a ten-party stakeholder group aiming to make the Inland Empire counties of Riverside and San Bernardino eligible to compete over the year and a half competition. To be competitive, teams must secure an MOU with a high-growth manufacturing company with community support at the end of the period. Heavily based around the Justice40 Initiative which prioritizes investments in historically disadvantaged communities, Blended Impact will co-design and lead efforts around deep community engagement and robust business attraction efforts targeted to companies manufacturing in the approved sectors.
Partners include California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), California’s Manufacturing Network (CMTC), Center for Sustainable Energy, County of Riverside Office of Economic Development, Inland Economic Growth and Opportunity (IEGO), Inland Empire Labor Institute (IELI), Riverside College Community District, University of California Riverside Office of Technology Partnerships, University of California Riverside School of Public Policy, and Youth Action Project. The Clean Energy Business Network (CEBN) assisted the team in preparing the proposal.
The MAKE IT Prize was developed by the Office of Technology Transitions (OTT), the Offices of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), and Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) with the goal of catalyzing the domestic manufacturing of critical clean energy technology components. On April 10th, Blended Impact was announced as one of the 25 winners nationwide to advance to the next phase of the three-phased competition and winning a $50,000 prize. They are the only winners in the Make It Prize Strategies Track to be based in California.
Next, the team will be focused on the research, planning, and community engagement required in phase two, preparing to submit a synopsis of all accomplished during the six-month period at the next deadline in November 2024. Of the 25 current winners, only 20 will be invited to advance to the next phase where communities will engage with clean energy manufacturers directly to discuss their expansion plans, regional incentives, workforce needs, and more with a goal of executing an initial MOU in Q1 2025. The Inland SoCal for Advanced Manufacturing consortia aims to attract manufacturers that will create at least 250 new jobs in the next 5 years in the SoCal region.
As part of the initiative, referral fees and incentives will be available for companies that we engage in an MOU with that leads to the win of the Phase 3 prize in early 2025. Inquire for more information.
About Blended Impact
Blended Impact is a Southern California-based innovation lab for economic development. Founded in 2019, we work with local government to add capacity to inclusive economic development initiatives and have worked with mayoral offices nationally. Specializing in alternative capital attraction strategies, we work to assist communities in identifying their project pipelines and resource them with private sector expertise. From these learnings, we create case studies, research publications, and scalable, tech-driven solutions for the communities we serve. As of 2021, we are a legal CA Benefit Corporation designed to promote economic opportunity beyond job creation in the course of our work. As of 2022, we are a Certified B Corporation.
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