Reflections on the Road: East St. Louis and the Power of Grassroots Energy

Over the last three years, I’ve had the privilege of working on Ameren Illinois’ Market Development Initiative (MDI)—a program that aims to build a green economy across rural and small-town Illinois. My job as a Market Engagement Consultant at Resource Innovations takes me to every corner of the state, where I connect with community-based organizations (CBOs) and support their efforts to bring clean energy programs to their neighborhoods.

One of those corners is East St. Louis.

I was paired up with a small, church-based nonprofit called the Macedonia Development Corporation. When I started working with them, they had just one part-time staff member. But what they lacked in resources, they made up for in vision and grit. They enrolled in MDI and got to work, fast. Their efficiency efforts turned into a broader push to lead a clean energy transition. That work, done in partnership with the consulting firm PC&S, led them to apply for (and win!) a $2 million CEJA (Clean Energy Jobs Act) grant to build a Workforce Development Hub for their entire region.

Let that sink in… one part-time staffer. Now leading a coalition, winning multimillion-dollar grants, and building real career pathways for local residents.

If you don’t know much about CEJA, it’s one of the most comprehensive climate laws in the country. It’s designed to move Illinois to 100% clean energy, but to do it in a way that’s inclusive. What Macedonia is doing in East St. Louis is exactly what CEJA was created to support.

My recent visit to East St. Louis left a mark on me. St. Clair County, where East St. Louis sits, has some of the most entrenched disinvestment in the state. The downtown area is nearly vacant. Basic infrastructure if failing—some nearby neighborhoods flood with raw sewage when it rains. And yet, just a few miles away is Cahokia, the remnants of a 1,000-year-old Indigenous city that once had over 40,000 residents, massive earthen mounds, and astronomical observatories. A center of trade and innovations.

That history isn’t just interesting trivia. It’s a powerful reminder—the future is always built on top of the past. And there’s deep, ancestral strength in this place.

During my visit, I attended a four-hour meeting hosted by Macedonia. Over two dozen local advocates were there, including leaders from the NAACP, local churches, state agencies, Ameren, and more. And at the front of the room? Jackie Daniels, a young, incredibly sharp woman who grew up in East St. Louis and is now leading Macedonia’s team. She walked us through a plan to hire staff, launch training programs, and connect residents to apprenticeships that lead to real jobs.

The biggest challenge here is a catch-22: employees say there’s no qualified workforce, and residents say they don’t know how or where to get skills. This is the gap that Macedonia is working to close. They’re building an ecosystem from the ground up, with trust, relationships, and community knowledge as the foundation.

That’s what gives me hope.

I’ve watched this tiny organization grow into a tour-de-force. They’re outpacing better-funded, more established agencies. They spent months navigating the CEJA application process—often unpaid—but their persistence paid off. Now, their model is something the rest of the state can look to follow.

After the meeting, I stopped at a local diner and struck up a conversation with a young man behind the counter. He told me about the long hours and low pay; about a factory job he used to have. I asked if he’d ever thought about working in clean energy. He hadn’t. But when I told him about the opportunities that Macedonia was building—he lit up. It reminded me that this work isn’t just about big plans and programs. It’s about real people. Real lives. Real conversations.

Energy equity lives in these small, human moments.

So, I left East St. Louis tired—but proud. Like a dance mom, honestly. I’ve seen how hard these folks have worked. And I know this is just the beginning. The clean energy transition isn’t abstract here. It’s tangible. It’s people claiming the tools, funding, and vision to build a better future for their community.

That’s what this work is about.