Step 1: Develop an Equity-Focused Perspective

Creating a program that provides equitable access to California’s varied communities requires considering key factors that create disparities in available resources and funding access. By understanding how these factors are introduced or intensified, administering agencies can better apply available tools to ensure that historically underserved communities do not continue these heightened disparities. The following actions can support in developing an equity-focused perspective.

Identify and complete training opportunities that foster an understanding of the experience of others. Training can be internal or external to state government and may include topics such as:

• Cultural sensitivity training

• Equity training

• Implicit bias training

• Facilitation and community engagement training

Identify and apply an appropriate equity tools and revisit the tools when conducting engagement throughout program implementation. Equity tools walk users through key questions necessary for facilitating equitable program design and provide a space to untangle complicated questions and record crowdsourced knowledge. Tools may be developed by an administering agency or may be established tools intended to support governments through equitable planning. Explore examples and resources below.

The GARE Equity Toolkit

Guides such as like the Equity Toolkit provide foundational knowledge on the role, application, and scope of common equity tools.

GARE’s Equity: Getting to Results Resource Guide

The Resource Guide supports users through tools that aim to improve program outcomes. It also provides guidance on applying Root Cause Analysis and Results-Based Accountability tools.

California’s Statewide Equity Framework

Can foster consistent equity approaches across programs.

Strategic Growth Council’s Equity Resource Hub

Can foster consistent equity approaches across programs.

California Air Resources Board’s Equity Lens

Can foster consistent equity approaches across programs.

Step 2: Establish a Strong Historical Foundation 

Learning the needs and barriers faced by communities often requires an understanding of how local, statewide, and national decisions have shaped people, culture, and landscape. While historical injustices cannot be erased and their impact often cannot be fully mitigated, understanding these injustices can help programs address disparate impacts and advance equity. At times, it can also help inspire ideas on how to mitigate impacts.

Consult the history surrounding the creation of the program

Including previously documented community concerns, needs and motivations of advocacy groups, and insights on who is most impacted by the issue the program aims to correct or alleviate, or the outcomes of the program. This may include: 

• Support and dissent letters 

• Legislative committee analyses 

• Comments made during legislative committee hearings 

Identify historical injustices related to the program’s goals and initiatives

Administering agencies should set goals to recognize and, to the extent possible, alleviate past and ongoing injustices through program design to advance equity. This is particularly important in instances where historical burdens and injustices have resulted from past government action or inaction. Identifying relevant historical injustices may include: 

CalEPA Pollution and Prejudice Story Map

Consulting resources that highlight impacts resulting from past government action. For example, this Story Map illustrates how governments perpetuated institutional and structural racism through land use policies such as redlining in the 1930s, which directly contributed to many of the environmental and housing disparities affecting communities of color across the state today.  

Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment’s CalEnviroScreen

Referencing past data across previous years can help identify areas experiencing longstanding or growing disparities. For example, using current and previous versions of CalEnviroScreen can help identify communities where air pollution burden has stayed consistent or is getting worse over time. 

California Truth & Healing Council Resources

Learning state and local history, particularly as it affects hard to reach populations, is important in identifying injustices. The California Truth and Health Council’s historical overviews and key information are important to know when engaging with and serving California Tribes.

Step 3: Understand On-the-Ground Impacts, Needs, and Priorities 

Use the best available information to understand the current impacts, values, ideas, priorities, needs, and recommendations of the communities most impacted by the program. Agencies should compile a diverse range of data sources such as local documentation and academically published or government data sets. Gathering this information prior to engaging communities reduces the burden to community members and demonstrates dedication to a well-prepared public participation process.

Potential data sources

• Published literature documenting successes and challenges related to similar programs, or related fields of work, and lessons learned published by similar past programs. 

• Qualitative and quantitative data from community members, leaders, and organizations. Community concerns should be treated as valuable data, alongside other academic or scientific documentation, whether the data be delivered through reports, verbal feedback, or written comment. Using both community-based data and scientific literature provides a complete picture and can lead to more nuanced design and better inclusion of priority populations. 

• Reports supported by environmental justice organizations that document needs and burdens within underserved areas of the state. For example, the California Energy Commission’s Clean Hydrogen Program considered the following reports when designing its program:

  American Clean Power’s Three Pillars of Green Hydrogen
  

  Equity Principles for Hydrogen written by environmental justice organizations

Examples of data mapping tools

California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment’s CalEnviroScreen

Allows users to identify communities with the highest pollution burdens and vulnerabilities.  

Public Health Alliance’s Healthy Places Index

Provides information on social conditions that drive health outcomes. 

Examples of health impact assessments to identify potential health impacts that may result from program policies, decisions, or projects

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Health Impact Assessment Resources

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Health Impact Assessment Resource and Tool Compilation

National Environmental Health Association Health Impact Assessment Toolkit

Step 4: Proactively Identify and Implement Best Practices

Identifying and implementing program design or engagement best practices fosters greater program access and public participation, especially for groups or individuals that experience high barriers to accessing the program. Potential funding recipients facing severe capacity limitations may opt to not engage in public processes if the appropriate form of support is not explicitly available. Inclusion of best practices is one way to show smaller or capacity limited applicants that the program hopes to foster their participation.

Use established program design best practices such as technical assistance, pilot project eligibility, set-asides, capacity building or planning program components. Example resources for learning program design best practices may include: 

Strategic Growth Council’s Technical Assistance Toolkit

Provides best practices that can help state agencies learn how to design technical assistance programs

California Climate Investments’ Funding Workbook for All California Tribes

The Workbook compiles program information that Tribes identified as important to know when determining where to invest capacity. Providing this information up front supports Tribes through identifying compatible funding opportunities. Guidance like this can help address the needs of a particular population. 

Coordinate with peers to learn about emerging or pilot program design or engagement best practices that may help resolve longstanding challenges and needs. Coordination can also help identify lessons learned, and ongoing data needs or gaps. Coordination activities may include: 

• Participate in spaces for inter-agency collaboration. For example, California Climate Investments hosts meetings that foster interagency collaboration and mutual learning.

• Reference and apply emerging best practices compiled by peer government agencies, advocates or longstanding community members from underserved areas. For example:

  Community Air Protection Program Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Virtual Learning Series

  This series provides a statewide community of practice space where community members, air districts, CARB, industry and other partners can connect, share experiences, and learn from one another.

• Seek out lessons learned from related or past programs. 

• Identify similar or compatible programs and consider combining or coordinating timelines and application processes. This ensures that programs have clear and distinct scopes, while streamlining outreach and consolidating similar funding options for potential applicants. 

• Identify peer programs that can support filling data gaps needed to support current or future solicitation rounds. This can include qualitative data, raw data, analysis methods, etc. This might involve coordinating with other teams within your agency or other agencies.