Abstract for: Dissemination through Conversation: Using Existing Social Networks to Inform and Encourage Enrollment in EEPs.

Households in environmental justice (EJ) communities face high energy burdens from heating and cooling their homes. These burdens are worsening as the climate warms and extreme heat waves become more intense and frequent. Energy efficiency programs (EEPs) can help ease heating and cooling burdens, especially for EJ households who would benefit disproportionately from these programs but participate in them less than other groups. Our project leverages insights from a system dynamics model of community-based propagation and asks whether this approach can accelerate participation in EEPs among the Cambodian-American community of Lowell, MA. In community-based propagation, a backbone organization trains and supports a community of ambassadors who share information about an innovation with their established social networks to spread awareness, build trust in the innovation, and spur adoption. Preliminary results from our first cohort of Energy Ambassadors show that 393 community members were contacted with information about EEPs and 23 community members signed up for EEPs because of this project. We learned that consistent support from the backbone organization is essential to this approach. Training Ambassadors in signing up for EEPs can help them to make higher-quality connections with their networks, potentially increasing EEP adoption beyond increasing awareness. Despite barriers to EEP awareness and adoption, this approach may be a promising method for accelerating EEP adoption among Environmental Justice communities with English-language isolation, existing social networks, and low awareness of EEPs.