As of September 22, 2023, the IPA’s Equity Investment Eligible Community map has been refreshed to include updated Environmental Justice Community areas. These new Environmental Justice Community designations were determined through a process conducted by the Illinois Power Agency’s (IPA) Illinois Solar for All program (ILSFA). The ILSFA team utilized updated data from the 2020 Census and the US EPA EJScreen tool to update Environmental Justice Community designations.
For the 2023-2024 Program Year, the Environmental Justice Communities map (and thus the Equity Investment Eligible Community map) will include both communities previously identified as environmental Justice Communities and those identified through this new analysis. Because this refresh only results in expansions of the EJ community map, no Equity Eligible Persons’ status will be affected by those changes.
The IPA plans for previously eligible areas no longer identified as Environmental Justice Communities to be removed from the EIEC and EJC maps on June 1, 2024.
Additionally, the Illinois Solar for All program includes a process by which communities can request self-designation of Environmental Justice Communities. The Equity Investment Eligible Community map will be updated on a periodic basis when additional communities are designated as Environmental Justice Communities.
Lastly, the Equity Investment Eligible Community map now features new map layers allowing users to overlay Illinois county, Illinois House and Senate district, and Chicago ward boundaries onto Equity Investment Eligible Community map areas. Users can access these overlay features through a new “Open Layer List” icon found on the map’s option menu.
For questions, please contact [email protected].
