Stewards Magazine

Kaitlyn Sledge (MS ’23) chose the Sustainability and Development specialization at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) because she wanted to support the needs of rural and under-resourced communities. Through her clean energy work, she gets to do that by “putting dollars in small local projects as opposed to funding already well-resourced organizations or utilities.”

Sledge manages multiple programs within the Clean Energy Fund at the Washington State Department of Commerce, including Electrification of Transportation Systems and Clean Energy Community grants. Her job is to allocate state grant funds to local governments, tribal governments and nonprofits for electric vehicle charging and clean energy initiatives.

The projects vary, from providing funding for electric bus chargers in local school districts and helping Seattle-Tacoma International Airport electrify its fleet vehicles to installing community solar microgrids and public EV charging stations. Another grant is supporting the efforts of a hops distributor to capture carbon dioxide emissions and recycle them into beverage-grade liquid CO₂.

Although Sledge wishes she could fund every grant request she receives, given the need for renewable energy, she says she is energized by seeing the direct impact of her work on the communities she can help. 

“I enjoy traveling around Washington state, and it happens somewhat frequently that I am in a rural town that I had never been in before and I’m familiar with it because we gave them funding for an EV charger,” says Sledge. “Seeing the finished product in the place that it’s providing benefits to is probably the greatest reward.”

Sledge says she draws upon numerous SEAS classes in her work, but it’s Lecturer Justin Schott’s energy justice course that keeps her mindful of “what it means to reduce energy burdens and who we want to focus on in accessing grant dollars.”