Overview
Award Amount: $1,750,000
Region: San Joaquin County
Communities of Focus: North Stockton, Lodi and Tracy
Partners:
The San Joaquin Council of Governments (SJCOG) has always said that solution-oriented approaches to our region’s climate resiliency and adaption must be home-grown. The infusion of $1.75 million launched the San Joaquin Climate Collaborative, a partnership between SJCOG and community-based organizations. Our mission, pure and simple, was to engage stakeholders and community partners in Lodi, Stockton, and Tracy which led to the development of a comprehensive plan. We are excited for the coming year and taking this strategic planning to the next level.
About the Collaborative
The San Joaquin Regional Climate Collaborative (SJRCC) envisions a region where communities live in healthy places filled with equity and economic opportunity and are ready to meet the challenges posed by climate change. The San Joaquin County region faces extreme heat, air pollution impacting public health, and high flood risk. Additionally, the region lacks key infrastructure and investments that impact quality of life such as mobility options, housing, economic development, grocery stores, etc. The Collaborative brings residents, community stakeholders, researchers, and local government together to create community-led solutions that meet the needs of San Joaquin County communities. These partners have a strong history of working together, having previously worked on the Transformative Climate Communities program in south Stockton that created Sustainable Neighborhood Plans that led to implementation funding. The SJRCC partners hope to replicate this effort in additional under resourced communities of San Joaquin County; Tracy, Lodi, and North Stockton while increasing community capacity to advance climate solutions.
Highlights in Year 1
In its first year, the San Joaquin Regional Climate Collaborative has focused on building a trusting and solid foundation amongst the Collaborative partners and community residents. Developing this trusting relationship was critical to ensuring the success of the collaborative’s community engagement efforts in Lodi, Stockton, and Tracy that will kick off the development of individual sustainable neighborhood plans for those communities. These plans will identify each community’s project priorities, and they will work with jurisdictions to prepare project concepts for funding opportunities. The Collaborative partners have launched a series of community engagement workshops (virtual and in-person) focused on introducing the RCC and sharing information around climate impacts in the region.
The Collaborative partners worked with the Regional Climate Collaboratives (RCC) Implementation Technical Assistance providers to develop a comprehensive Community Engagement Plan that outlines key values and strategies to engage residents and community stakeholders who live/work in the communities of focus and are most impacted by climate and socio-economic challenges. The creation of this plan has outlined the process for the Collaborative to launch the Community Advisory Board of community residents that will oversee the implementation of the RCC’s goals and objectives. The RCC Program provides capacity building support to the Collaborative’s partners to build skills around the research design process, engagement strategies, and trust building which will strategically set the stage for funding opportunities in the future.
One of the main focuses of the Collaborative has been to increase access to mobility and active transportation and connect those opportunities to affordable housing. Sustainable transportation and affordable housing are key priorities of the Collaborative to address climate justice issues in the region. The Collaborative received a $150,000 grant award from the Federal Transit Administration and University of Minnesota to engage with communities and conduct a need assessment around a mobility hub and connectivity plan in order to connect it with their ongoing affordable housing efforts. This investment adds to the partner’s efforts in planning for and brining in sustainable transportation projects, such as a e-bike and EV car share projects in the County.
Key Milestones:
- Presented at eight external community events including the Tracy and Stockton Earth Days to promote and build awareness of the RCC.
- Engaged with the UC Irvine Sustainability Office in two Community Participant Action Research Trainings to prepare the Collaborative to facilitate a research design process.
- Secured a $150,000 Mobility, Access, and Transportation Insecurity (MATI) grant award by the Federal Transit Agency to address transportation and mobility needs in the San Joaquin region.
- Facilitated two Community Engagement Workshops where the attendees engaged in a community revisioning activity about climate priorities.
What’s Next
The Collaborative plans to implement their Community Engagement Plan by launching their Community Advisory Board and ramping up their community engagement efforts in the communities of focus in the coming year. Additionally, they aim to host educational workshops for communities focused on climate vulnerability, clean energy, and workforce development.
The Collaborative is looking forward to compiling all of the input they receive through their community engagement efforts to develop Sustainable Neighborhood Plans for the three communities that will align with specific funding priorities.