IWBI Policy Roundup: Advocating for a healthier future

Welcome to IWBI’s inaugural Policy Roundup, a regular article series that will shine a light on our ongoing efforts to advocate for policies that advance sound health and well-being solutions in buildings and communities everywhere. Through this series, we plan to share what we’re learning, highlight ongoing initiatives and provide updates on progress, key issues areas, and other developments as we progress towards our mission to transform health and well-being by building people-first.

We are not only excited to share this work, but also look forward to finding creative and exciting new ways to join with all of you to amplify our collective voice, expand our reach and increase our impact.

On to the Roundup…

Empowering Cities to Create Safer, Healthier Places

IWBI Announces Partnership with the National League of Cities

Last November, IWBI announced it’s teaming up with the National League of Cities (NLC), the voice of cities, towns, and villages, representing more than 200 million people, on a multi-year partnership focused on empowering cities in their efforts to create safer, healthier spaces and to help accelerate systems change that integrates health and well-being across the foundation of their communities. At NLC’s virtual City Summit last year, alongside other keynote speakers like CNN’s Van Jones, Dr. Richard Besser of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former Mayor of Philadelphia Michael Nutter, IWBI Founder Paul Scialla led a plenary conversation focused on the “Future of Cities” in which he announced the IWBI-NLC partnership to the hundreds of mayors and other local elected leaders in attendance.

"NLC is excited about this collaboration and the opportunity to work closely with IWBI to broaden access to healthy community solutions and to create stronger cities, towns and villages. By working together, we can support municipalities and continue to help drive innovative solutions that we all need more than ever, especially right now as local leaders confront the COVID-19 public health crisis – and as they plan for the future.”

Clarence Anthony, CEO and Executive Director, NLC

The new partnership focuses on collaborating on the development of strategies, tools and resources that will enable city leaders to effectively navigate in a post-COVID-19 world. Developed to support the implementation of city-scale actions, the effort will help cities demonstrate leadership in advancing health, well-being and social equity in everything from municipal buildings to public spaces and from programs to policies. In the coming months, NLC, with IWBI’s support, will onboard a dedicated fellow to work directly with NLC’s community of city leaders and to help establish an advisory group populated by city leaders, design practitioners, urban planners, corporate executives and public health researchers to contribute feedback on health-promoting strategies that can be applied at the city scale.

Learn More.

A New Tax Credit to Help Businesses Reopen Safely

IWBI weighs in on proposed healthy workplace tax incentives

For the past several months, IWBI’s advocacy team has been leading congressional outreach urging lawmakers to help businesses offset the tremendous costs associated with their efforts to safely reopen. Legislation in both chambers was introduced last year to create a new tax credit covering strategies and solutions associated with making workplaces safer and healthier in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This type of federal support is exactly what we need right now to provide businesses with the support they need to prioritize health and safety in their workplaces. This is such a critical first step for getting our economy back up and running.”

Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO, IWBI

A version of this new credit, the Safe and Healthy Workplace Tax Credit, was first introduced by Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), and included in the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools Act (or HEALS Act), a recovery package introduced last summer by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The credit would cover 50 percent of eligible expenses on health and safety needs with the total amount tied to the number of employees – $1,000 per employee per quarter for a company’s first 500 employees, $750 for the next 500 and $500 for each employee over 1,000. Another bill gaining ground in the House, the Safe Reopening Tax Credit Act, introduced by Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), would focus on small businesses and nonprofits with up to 1,500 full-time employees and apply a 30% tax credit up to $15,000 on covered expenses in 2020. Now, as we head into the early days of the 117th Congress, IWBI is continuing to meet with lawmakers to show our support for this legislative approach and help ensure it is included in a new COVID-relief package.

Rachel Hodgdon Leads Key Conversation with Senator Reed to Support Healthy Schools

Last October, IWBI joined with BuildingAction, a sustainable building coalition led by former Congressman Russ Carnahan, to host a timely conversation about the future of schools and the role Congress should play to ramp up infrastructure investments that promote student health and well-being. The webcast, “Schools in a Post-COVID World: Challenges and Opportunities for Congress,” was led by IWBI President and CEO Rachel Hodgdon and featured an opening address by Senator Jack Reed (D-RI). In the Senate, Reed has been the leading champion for making stronger investments in our K-12 schools, introducing the chamber’s version of the Rebuild America’s Schools Act, which would fund $100 billion ($70 billion in grants and $30 billion in bonds) to better address critical infrastructure needs in schools. In addition to discussing the outlook of the bill, the webcast also highlighted perspectives from other leading experts, including Mary Filardo, Executive Director of the 21st Century School Fund and Chair of the Re-Building America’s Schools Infrastructure Coalition (BASIC); Rasha Hasaneen, Director of Trane Technologies’ Center for Healthy and Efficient Spaces and Vice President of Innovation; and William Bahnfleth, Chair of ASHRAE’s Epidemic Task Force and professor of architectural engineering at Pennsylvania State University.

Watch the webcast here.

IWBI Leads Presentation to the Federal Facilities Council

Late last year, IWBI led a presentation on “Healthy Buildings After COVID-19 and the WELL Building Standard” as part of a webcast series hosted by the National Academies’ Federal Facilities Council (FFC). Established in 1953, the FFC is a cooperative association of federal agencies focused on identifying and advancing technologies, processes and management practices that improve the management, operations and evaluation of federal facilities. The webinar, led by me, IWBI’s SVP of Research Dr. Whitney Austin Gray and Director of Market Development Angela Spangler, focused on how we can design and modify buildings to support health and well-being, highlighting emerging innovations and insights from the evolving research on COVID-19. Already, the webcast has been a resource to many of the new officials joining the Biden-Harris Administration looking to ensure federal buildings lead on health and safety.

IWBI Supports the Need for Congress to Pass Bold Action on Infrastructure

Infrastructure investment is a huge legislative priority as we look to jumpstart the economy with a safe, healthy and equitable recovery. In January, IWBI joined over 140 diverse organizations to call on Congress to pass an infrastructure package to rebuild and modernize our nation, from our schools to our hospitals to affordable housing. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Bipartisan Policy Center, along with a large group of diverse business, policy and labor organizations, launched the “Build by the Fourth of July” campaign to urge Congress to enact a fiscally and environmentally responsible infrastructure package by the Fourth of July. This coalition expands upon work from a broad coalition of transportation and infrastructure groups, with an emphasis on building new partnerships to address our nation’s infrastructure needs. Learn how and see how you can help support this effort.

ICYMI: Nation’s Mayors Eyed Buildings Early in Fight Against COVID-19

Mayors from around the country last year approved a healthy buildings resolution to better position buildings in the fight against COVID-19, underscoring the leading role buildings and their indoor spaces play in charting a path to healthier and more equitable communities. By passing a resolution encouraging communities to take action by advancing integrated solutions, such as the WELL Building Standard and the WELL Health-Safety Rating, the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM), which represents mayors in over 1,400 cities, took leading steps early on to support a healthier and more equitable recovery.

Join the conversation

Interested in learning more about our advocacy work, or in working together to advance policy that helps all individuals thrive? We’d love to hear from you, work with you and help highlight the work you’re doing in your community! Reach out to us at advocacy@wellcertified.com and sign up here to receive regular updates. We look forward to connecting!