Nonprofits

Successes in Soil Stewardship: Funding Community Composting Across California 

Successes in Soil Stewardship: Funding Community Composting Across California 

California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery’s (CalRecycle) Community Composting for Green Spaces Grant Program is funding community composting at hundreds of sites across California. In the first cycle of funding, the grant program awarded $1.5 million to the People, Food, and Land Foundation, which supported community composting at 117 sites throughout California, planted 488 trees, created 4,418 cubic yards of compost, and reduced emissions by 2,508 MTCO2e of GHG emissions. An additional $4.2 million was awarded to the California Alliance for Community Composting and LA Compost in the second cycle of the program. Through the establishment or expansion of community composting sites, communities receive benefits such as part time jobs and training on composting practices, fresh produce from adjacent gardens, training on farming practices, an increase in shade from tree planting, and the development of green spaces.  

Many Hearts Coming Together for San Francisco’s AHSC Project

Many Hearts Coming Together for San Francisco’s AHSC Project

In October 2023, the City of San Francisco’s Balboa Park Neighborhood held a ribbon cutting for 131 new affordable homes adjacent to the Balboa Park Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Station, known as Kapuso at the Upper Yard. These homes were built thanks to
$29.9 million from SGC’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC), in its fifth round of funding. The AHSC program funds the construction of affordable housing near transit as a key strategy to reduce GHG emissions by reducing vehicle miles traveled, and Kapuso at the Upper Yard is a key example of the need for this work.

Ambitious Partnership Delivering the Next Generation of Old-Growth Redwood Forests 

Ambitious Partnership Delivering the Next Generation of Old-Growth Redwood Forests 

Old‑growth redwood forests store more above‑ground carbon than any other forest type on Earth. Unfortunately, only 5% of old‑growth redwood forests survived extensive colonial logging in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Now, thanks in part to California Climate Investments funding awarded through CAL FIRE’s Forest Health Program, a partnership is working to establish the old‑growth forests of the future on California’s northern coast. 

Fully Electrified Homeless Shelter Runs on Solar

Fully Electrified Homeless Shelter Runs on Solar

The 40 Prado Road Homeless Services Center, a shelter located in San Luis Obispo, serves up to 100 occupants at a time. While it was built in 2018 under the 2013 Energy Code and met energy efficiency standards of the time, it was under the Low‑Income Weatherization Program (LIWP) that the shelter was able to become even more energy efficient, adding a 120‑kilowatt solar system and other energy efficiency measures thanks to California Climate Investments funding. The success at this property—the first homeless shelter to receive funding under LIWP—has paved the way for many similar properties across the state to also receive funding.

White Pony Express: Food Recovery for All

White Pony Express: Food Recovery for All

CalRecycle’s Food Waste Prevention and Rescue Grant Program funds projects that lower overall greenhouse gas emissions in California through food waste prevention and rescue projects, which reduce the amount of food disposed in landfills. Receiving multiple grants from the program since fiscal year 2016-17, White Pony Express: Food Recovery for All is a food waste rescue project operating out of Pleasant Hill, California. It has received a total of $701,530 from California Climate Investments, as well as additional funding from CalRecycle’s Edible Food Recovery Grant Program.  

Toward Resilient California Communities: Solar + Storage Potential at Schools and Community Centers

Toward Resilient California Communities: Solar + Storage Potential at Schools and Community Centers

California Strategic Growth Council

With funding from the Climate Change Research Program, PSE Healthy Energy is working with the Asian Pacific Environmental Network and Communities for a Better Environment to identify opportunities to build solar+storage resilience hubs at schools and community centers across California.

San Joaquin Valley Community Air Monitoring Network Expands Access to Air Quality Data

San Joaquin Valley Community Air Monitoring Network Expands Access to Air Quality Data

California Air Resources Board

With funding from the Community Air Grants Program, community-led project SJVAir is providing accurate air quality data and real time alerts to residents in disadvantaged communities located up to 30 miles away from the nearest regulatory PM 2.5 monitor.

Cesar Chavez Living Schoolyard in East Oakland Supports Health and Wellbeing

Cesar Chavez Living Schoolyard in East Oakland Supports Health and Wellbeing

California Natural Resources Agency

The Cesar Chavez Living Schoolyard project transformed an unshaded asphalt-covered schoolyard into a vibrant, tree-covered, park-like setting in a critically an underserved neighborhood in East Oakland. The site hosts two elementary schools, and their more than 600 students now enjoy a real grass play field, an expanded learning garden featuring an outdoor classroom and fruit orchard, a dry creek, a nature-play zone, as well as pollinator-attracting landscape areas, expanded seating and gathering options, and 65 new trees

Omnitrans ConnecTransit Plan: Planning Public Transit in the San Bernardino Valley

Omnitrans ConnecTransit Plan: Planning Public Transit in the San Bernardino Valley

California Air Resources Board

Omnitrans is working with several partners to develop a community-driven transportation plan for the public transportation system in the San Bernardino Valley. Omnitrans is the public transportation provider for the San Bernardino Valley region. The ConnecTransit Plan will identify and prioritize clean transportation improvements that address hurdles to equity and access within the Omnitrans service area and that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The ConnecTransit Plan will provide a blueprint for future implementation projects for which Omnitrans will seek grant funds.

Zero-Emission Transit Vehicles, New Bike Lanes, and Shade Trees In Commerce

Zero-Emission Transit Vehicles, New Bike Lanes, and Shade Trees In Commerce

California Air Resources Board

Thanks to over $3 million from the Sustainable Transportation Equity Project, the City of Commerce has partnered with Climate Resolve and TreePeople to provide more clean transportation options to the city’s residents. Situated in southeast Los Angeles County in an area known for its commercial and industrial operations, Commerce has a history of providing free and reliable public transit service to its residents. 

Sierra Institute High Road to Tribal Forest Restoration and Stewardship

Sierra Institute High Road to Tribal Forest Restoration and Stewardship

California Workforce Development Board

The High Road to Tribal Forest Restoration and Stewardship project provides foundational training and skill building tied directly to work experience in forest health and landscape restoration. Through a partnership between Tribes, nonprofits, and regional employers, the project is working to increase employment opportunities and build capacity for Tribal Forest restoration crews. The project has formally engaged with fourteen Tribes, with training participants from over twenty Tribes.  

Saving San Diego's Last Mixed Conifer Forest

Saving San Diego's Last Mixed Conifer Forest

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

A collaborative of landowners led by the San Diego Fire Safe Council and the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County is implementing a landscape-scale restoration project aimed at improving forest health on Palomar Mountain. Forests in San Diego county have experienced heavy losses from catastrophic fires and invasive pest infestations. Now at the home of one of San Diego county’s last mixed conifer forests, project partners are working to ensure Palomar Mountain’s forests are resilient to future wildfires. 

TreePeople Transforms Pacoima Middle School with a Living Schoolyard

TreePeople Transforms Pacoima Middle School with a Living Schoolyard

California Natural Resources Agency

TreePeople is transforming Pacoima Middle School’s asphalt schoolyard into a more green, vibrant and healthy learning space. The Pacoima Living Schoolyards Project will bring native shade trees, shrubs, pollinator gardens, and outdoor nature-based education and play areas.  

New Affordable Housing Opens at Riverside's Mission Heritage Plaza

New Affordable Housing Opens at Riverside's Mission Heritage Plaza

California Strategic Growth Council

72 affordable homes for families and veterans are now available in downtown Riverside. The Mission Heritage Plaza project is a partnership between Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation, the City of Riverside, and Riverside Transit Agency, working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through transportation mode-shift and construction of affordable housing within the urban core of Riverside. 

Saving Quality Wood Products from Landfills with Habitat for Humanity

Saving Quality Wood Products from Landfills with Habitat for Humanity

The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) awarded $488,635 of California Climate Investment funds to Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley, Inc. as part of the first cycle of the Reuse Grant Program. This project is diverting wood products from landfills to their ReStore retail stores for reuse by the community. Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley, Inc. is a nonprofit, donation-based collection, and resale operation with three sites in Oakland, Concord, and San Jose, serving the San Francisco Bay Area.

Energy Upgrades for Farmworker Household Brings Safety, Comfort, and $3.00 Energy Bills

 Energy Upgrades for Farmworker Household Brings Safety, Comfort, and $3.00 Energy Bills

Thanks to funding from California Climate Investments through the Low-Income Weatherization Program (LIWP), Rocio Hernandez and her family reduced their home energy costs by installing a new rooftop solar system and energy efficiency upgrades. At first, Mrs. Hernandez thought the referral flyer her husband brought home after work as a seasonal farmworker during the grape harvest in Delano was too good to be true. A local farmworker agency provided information about the LIWP Farmworker Housing Component, a California Climate Investment program focusing exclusively on the installation of energy efficiency measures and solar photovoltaics (PV) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for farmworker households at no cost.

Fuel Cell Electric Trucks Reduce Air Pollution Throughout the Central Valley

Fuel Cell Electric Trucks Reduce Air Pollution Throughout the Central Valley

California Air Resources Board

Thanks to $12 million from the Advanced Technology Demonstration and Pilot Projects and $29 million in match funding from multiple project partners, the NorCAL Zero-Emission Regional and Drayage Operations with Fuel Cell Electric Trucks (NorCAL Zero) Project will support the largest commercial deployment of Class 8 hydrogen-powered fuel cell trucks in the country. These zero-emission trucks will improve the air quality of communities between Oakland and Bakersfield by displacing diesel-fueled trucks that emit harmful air pollutants.

Supporting Adaptation and Resilience Planning in the City of Morro Bay

Supporting Adaptation and Resilience Planning in the City of Morro Bay

Using a $65,000 grant awarded under the Coastal Resilience Planning program, the City of Morro Bay engaged with its community to update the City’s Land Use Plan, the first step to updating its Local Coastal Program to include updated adaptation strategies and land use policies that will protect coastal infrastructure and provide resilience to future coastal hazards.

Building the Capacity of a Food Rescue and Distribution Network in Fresno

Building the Capacity of a Food Rescue and Distribution Network in Fresno

California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery

The non-profit Fresno Metropolitan Ministry (Fresno Metro), in partnership with the Central California Food Bank, is using a $300,000 grant from the Food Waste Prevention and Rescue Grant Program to expand their capacity to rescue and distribute more edible food through their Food to Share program. Over the grant term, Fresno Metro will add 20 new food recovery school sites from Fresno Unified and Central Unified School Districts, set up 5 new food distribution sites at local community-based organizations, and increase direct food recoveries by adding 2 new retail locations and 6 urban gleaning sites.

Studying the Public Health Effects of Increased Prescribed Burns for Wildfire Management

Studying the Public Health Effects of Increased Prescribed Burns for Wildfire Management

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

Supported by a $500,000 grant from the Forest Health Research Program, the Sequoia Foundation, in partnership with the California Department of Public Health and others, is investigating the impacts of increasing prescribed fire on air quality and public health outcomes. Although prescribed fire plans are designed to limit air quality impacts to communities, they still produce some level of smoke. In this project, this interdisciplinary team will collect information that can help minimize the impacts of this smoke through a combination of smoke modeling, exposure assessment, health analysis, and community engagement.