Across Michigan, community groups have been doing what they have always done: organizing, creating, and caring for one another in the face of crisis. From Detroit to Marquette, local environmental justice leaders have been turning federal investments into tangible neighborhood projects. Michiganders have shown they are ready for the clean energy transition. The question is not whether communities are ready; it is whether the systems built around them are ready too.
Michigan Is Ready: Communities Are Leading the Way, Now Systems Must Follow
Through our Michigan Solutions for All campaign, a two-year partnership between Just Solutions and the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition (MEJC), we’ve worked with more than 15 community organizations across the state to advance clean energy deployment rooted in affordability, accessibility, and ownership.
Across Michigan, communities are laying the groundwork for a just energy future. Neighbors are training neighbors, organizations are building capacity, and plans for community-owned solar and resilience hubs are taking shape. The foundation is here. What is needed now is the structural support to move from early models to sustained, community-owned implementation.
Local momentum was accelerated during the window of opportunity created by the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which enabled groups to finance and shape projects rooted in local priorities and local power. This groundwork showed up in real ways: in December 2024, Michigan ranked fourth in the nation for awards from the EPA’s Community Change Grant Program, a clear sign that this community-driven work is already in motion and needs long-term support.
Yet affordability remains one of Michigan’s deepest structural challenges. Households here pay nearly 20 percent more than the national average for electricity, and in some communities, families spend over 10 percent of their income just to keep the lights on. People have been building what they needed because the support wasn’t there. That work is real. But it shouldn’t fall on communities alone. The systems around us need to meet that work with support that is equitable and consistent.
“Our communities have always known how to take care of each other. We have been building solutions out of necessity and love long before there were programs to fund them. The readiness is already here. What needs to change now is whether the systems around us are willing to follow our lead and invest in what we already know works.” — Gloria Lowe, We Want Green Too
The Michigan Policy Institute: Turning Readiness into Action
To translate these lessons into collective strategy, we launched the Michigan Policy Institute in partnership with MEJC. Across four sessions, more than 30 advocates came together to learn, connect, and map solutions for equitable clean energy deployment.
Each course focused on building practical knowledge of energy policy, utility accountability, and project implementation. The Institute became both a mirror and a map, showing where strength exists and where structures still need to change.
Through our partnerships and research, three recurring barriers emerged.
- Financing and Implementation Capacity.
Even when groups secure grants or community support, they often hit a wall trying to finance pre-development costs or manage complex compliance requirements. Many community organizations operate without the staffing or institutional support needed to move projects from concept to completion. They need reliable, long-term technical assistance and bridge financing, not one-time infusions. - Siting and Permitting Bottlenecks.
Outdated zoning rules and lengthy permitting processes make it difficult to build solar and efficiency projects in neighborhoods that need them most. Even with strong community support, bureaucracy can stall momentum for months. - Affordability and Structural Inequity.
Michigan’s energy costs continue to rise faster than wages. Without reforms to rate design, customer protections, and investment distribution, energy “access” alone will never guarantee energy security.
When we talk about readiness, we often mean community readiness. What Michigan needs now is structural readiness, the capacity, financing models, and policies that let communities implement the solutions they have already designed.
From Access to Guarantee
At Just Solutions, our mission is to drive equitable, innovative policy solutions to the climate crisis in support of healthy, resilient communities and accountable democratic institutions. In that work, we see our role as helping build the connective tissue between people, policy, and practice. Alongside MEJC and local partners, we are working to:
- Build shared infrastructure for training, storytelling, and technical assistance.
- Support policy reforms that guarantee, not just allow, equitable access to clean energy.
- Advance ownership and accountability models that keep benefits local and transparent.
Michigan has already shown it can lead. What is missing are mechanisms that help local innovators move from pilot to permanence and bridge large federal programs with neighborhood-scale implementation.
Why Structural Readiness Matters
Federal programs like the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and Solar for All opened a historic window for community investment, but that moment has largely passed. As the funds wind down, Michigan’s challenge is to carry the work forward without the same level of federal support. What began as a wave of federal opportunity must now become a foundation of state and community infrastructure. This is not only about sustaining clean energy projects; it is about democracy and who has the power to shape our energy future.
“We’ve already shown that community-owned energy is possible. But as we work to bring these models into reality, we continue to confront barriers within a system that protects utility control instead of supporting community power.” — Rafael Mojica, Soulardarity
As someone born and raised in Detroit, I know this is personal. Every missed opportunity for structural reform keeps people paying more than they should and locks neighborhoods out of the transition they have been fighting for.
The Path Forward
Michigan can be a Midwestern foothold for an equitable clean energy future that centers community voice, ensures accountability, and treats equity as an outcome, not an afterthought.
To get there, we need to:
- Build intermediary support systems that connect federal resources to local action.
- Strengthen relationships between state agencies, local governments, and grassroots developers.
- Mandate transparency and community benefit agreements in project development.
- Foster urban-rural solidarity, recognizing that affordability connects us across geography.
The Work We Deserve
Michigan has the ingredients for lasting leadership: strong grassroots organizations, creative local governments, and a growing ecosystem of advocates who refuse to settle for surface-level solutions. What we need now are systems designed to serve the people driving this change.
This work is not about projects alone. It is about restoring trust and power to the people shaping them. If we stay focused on building structures that match our communities’ readiness, Michigan will not just take part in the clean energy transition. It will show the country what a just transition can look like.
