Facing Race: A National Conference in St. Louis, MO — November 20-22, 2024

Jeremy Al-Haj

Executive Director | Missouri Workers Center
Pronouns: He/Him
Jeremy Al-Haj is the founder and Executive Director of the Missouri Workers Center. He was a founder and principal organizer of Stand Up KC, the Kansas City arm of the Fight for $15 movement. Over eight years of organizing, Stand Up KC developed some of the strongest fast food leaders in the country, built out a broad base, and won a statewide minimum wage increase. At SEIU Local 1, he led contract campaigns in Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, spearheaded a campaign to win sectoral bargaining for fast food workers in Chicago, and oversaw external organizing across Missouri.

Instagram: @moworkers

Presentations from Facing Race 2024

Building Racial Justice into the Inflation Reduction Act with Direct Pay

The Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) Direct Pay program allows tax-exempt entities including states, counties, cities, tribes, schools, houses of worship, and non-profit organizations to receive tax-free cash funding. This comes in the form of a refund covering 30–70% of the cost of renewable energy projects like solar, wind, EV chargers, commercial EV vehicles like EV, batteries, and more.

Imagine solar panels on every public building lowering energy costs with publicly-owned clean energy or EV school buses that clean up diesel emissions and reduce childhood asthma or EV chargers that help neighbors access EV vehicles and fund community initiatives.

This funding can supercharge publicly-owned power, community institutions, good green jobs, and community-led demands—but only if communities are in the driver's seat. Big corporations are already lined up to take advantage of free federal funds, and greedy for-profit utilities are digging in their heels.

Join the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center (CPCC) and the Missouri Workers Center for an interactive workshop to imagine how your community can pull tax-free cash funding out of the federal government for sustainable energy projects—and leave with a plan to make it happen. We’ll share lessons from communities across the country, break down this new opportunity, and explore how sustainable energy can help us dismantle systemic racism—if we do it right.

Speakers: Jessica Juarez Scruggs, Jeremy Al-Haj, Nick Christian