LYNN – Lynn has been announced as one of the 58 municipalities and community-based organizations that are part of Mass Save’s 2025-2027 cohort of Community First Partners. Lynn, and the 57 others, will work with their local Mass Save Sponsor to provide energy efficiency solutions to residents and small businesses to reduce energy use and increase the comfort of homes and buildings.
The initiative leverages local knowledge and trusted relationships of municipalities and community-based organizations to increase participation in Mass Save energy efficiency programs. This initiative seeks to target renters, landlords, non-native English speaking residents, modern-income residents, residents of environmental justice census blocks, income-eligible households, and small businesses in participating communities to ensure the benefits of energy efficiency are more equitably distributed, particularly among those who have been historically underserved.
“Through the Mass Save Community First Partnership, our goal is to make energy efficiency more accessible and affordable for all,” Maggie Downey, chief administrative officer at Cape Light Compact said. “Partnering with municipalities and community-based organizations allows us to reach more renters, multilingual families and income-eligible residents to offer real solutions that lower energy use and support a cleaner community.”
As part of the proposed Massachusetts 2025-2027 Energy Efficiency and Decarbonization Plan, the Sponsors will enhance support and flexibility for Community First Partners, enabling them to tailor their outreach strategies more effectively, retain skilled staff and design marketing initiatives that resonate with their residents and small business owners. The Sponsors will also provide training for the lead vendors and energy advocates on small business incentives and opportunities to drive more small business energy assessments.
Community First Partners in the 2025-2027 cohort may receive:
- Up to $85,000 per year to support an Energy Advocate and local marketing efforts
- Comprehensive training on energy efficiency and electrification
- Support from energy efficiency and electrification experts
- Co-branded multilingual marketing materials
- Coaching and best practices to encourage program participation
“Every Massachusetts resident deserves the opportunity to live in an energy efficient home and afford to do so,” Stephanie Terach, manager at Energy Efficiency & Customer Solutions at Liberty said. “Our partnership with municipalities and community-based organizations through the Mass Save Community First Partnership helps ensure that renters, small businesses and income-eligible residents can access powerful energy-saving solutions without barriers.”
In 2022-2024, Community First Partners received up to $60,000 in funding annually for up to three years as well as in-kind marketing and technical support. There were 52 communities which benefitted from local, community-led outreach, and the Community First Partners supporting those 52 communities helped achieve 111,000+ home energy assessments, 27,500+ residential weatherization upgrades and 35,000+ home heating and cooling upgrades.
John Massie, lead program manager at National Grid, emphasized that Lynn residents can and should take advantage of the resources available since the City is a Mass Save Community First Partner.
“You can get an energy assessment. You can get weatherization. You can get heat pumps. There are programs for each of those, and oftentimes, those programs are no cost,” he said.
Massie later added that “even if you’re a renter and you think ‘I don’t have decision-making authority,’ which most renters don’t – in fact, I would venture to guess almost all of them don’t – you can still get the energy assessment. In that energy assessment, you can still receive what we call instant savings measures. These are things like a programmable thermostat… (and) faucet aerators. There’s stuff in it even for you as a renter.”
For Lynn residents or small businesses that would like to learn more about the City’s partnership with Mass Save, visit the City’s landing page: masssave.com/community-first/lynn.
