**UPDATE: Advisors fact sheet posted in the Thursday, March 31 section below**

Since its announcement last fall, the Solar Powering America by Recognizing Communities (SPARC) program has made significant progress toward its objectives of establishing a national designation for leading solar communities and empowering communities to become solar leaders through no-cost, customized technical assistance. The work of the Criteria Advisory Committee (CAC) – a group of experienced, national leaders in local government solar issues tasked with developing the designation criteria and structure– is nearing completion, putting the program on track for a full launch in early April. Over the same period, more than 40 communities have expressed interest in receiving early no-cost technical assistance and bonus points toward designation through the Early Adopter campaign,  and the clock is ticking to see which of these will be among the first 30 to take action by March 31st to earn this unique, time-limited distinction.

Transition from the early phases of the program to the full designation system has begun. In order to help communities hit the ground running when the application period opens next month, the SPARC team will offer a series of weekly educational segments leading up to the launch. Through prerecorded webinars, videos, fact sheets, and other offerings, SPARC will highlight resources that provide more insight into solar energy, local government solar issues, and exciting opportunities through the SPARC program.

THURSDAY, MARCH 17