AI for Environmental Justice: The Little Big Project & Local Lift Lab

Background

Local Lift Lab, a nonprofit organization based in North Carolina, partnered with The Little Big Project to develop and enhance AI tools specifically designed to empower environmental justice and energy-missioned nonprofits. This collaboration leverages the strengths of both organizations to meet critical needs in the nonprofit sector, focusing on innovation and user-centered solutions that drive sustainable impact.

Roles and Contributions

Local Lift Lab served as the primary creator and developer of the AI tools, leading the technical development and implementation. The tools are designed to streamline the operations of environmental justice and energy-focused nonprofits by leveraging advanced language models and automation features, helping these organizations improve their administrative and strategic capacities while addressing pressing community needs.

The Little Big Project acted as a research and focus group partner, responsible for collecting, synthesizing, and analyzing user feedback. In collaboration with Local Lift Lab, The Little Big Project co-facilitated five focus group sessions, gathering insights from nonprofit users to help inform tool functionality and improve usability. Following these sessions, The Little Big Project prepared a detailed report to guide Local Lift Lab’s development team, providing actionable feedback to ensure the tools are effectively tailored to the specific requirements of environmental justice and energy-missioned nonprofits prior to public release.

AI Tools Overview

The suite of AI tools developed by Local Lift Lab includes:

• Model Grant Writing Tool: This tool automates data collection and minimizes manual input, enabling environmental justice and energy-missioned nonprofits to quickly generate draft proposals tailored to the Thriving Communities Grantmakers Program.
• Community Benefit Plan (CBP) Tool: Designed to support nonprofits in creating comprehensive Community Benefit Plans, this tool ensures alignment with federal funding requirements while emphasizing the needs of underserved communities affected by environmental and energy-related challenges.
• Direct Pay Navigator Tool: This tool simplifies the identification of clean energy projects eligible for federal tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act, aiding energy-missioned nonprofits in accessing and navigating these incentives to fund impactful projects.

Methodology and Process

The research approach led by The Little Big Project included structured focus group sessions and surveys. Co-facilitating these sessions with Local Lift Lab fostered a collaborative environment that provided a deep understanding of user expectations, challenges, and desired functionalities. The Little Big Project documented these findings in a comprehensive report, offering targeted recommendations to optimize the tools. This iterative process enabled Local Lift Lab’s developers to make data-driven adjustments that align the tools with the unique needs of environmental justice and energy-focused organizations.

Key Insights

The focus group sessions, along with surveys, generated critical insights that informed tool refinement:

1. Ease of Use: Participants praised the intuitive design of the tools and their time-saving benefits, particularly for resource-limited environmental and energy nonprofits.
2. Data Accuracy: Users recommended integrating local planning documents to improve the relevance of outputs, ensuring that generated content aligns with specific environmental and community needs.
3. Customization: Recommendations included phased planning features and enhanced user guidance to support the real-world application of the tools in environmental justice and energy projects.

Outcomes and Future Directions

Local Lift Lab is actively refining the AI tools based on user feedback to further enhance usability and effectiveness. These tools now provide environmental justice and energy-missioned nonprofits with stronger support for navigating grant writing, community benefit planning, and tax credit processes, aligning with Local Lift Lab's mission to drive sustainable community change.