SGC Catalyst Model Multi-benefit projects

Overview

Empowering communities to design multi-benefit projects creates a variety of positive outcomes for a range of collaborators. In the context of climate investments, such benefits extend well beyond greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions. They can include access to mobility options and housing, increased green space, improved health outcomes, workforce development, and wealth-building opportunities.

Based on SGC’s Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) program, this model shows how to ensure in vestments generate wide-reaching and long-lasting benefits while minimizing potential harm. Drawing on the proven success of the TCC program – with its emphasis on place-based, multi-benefit community investments – SGC has distilled this model for government funders seeking to pair funding for infrastructure and climate adaptation with efforts that further the social determinants of health and economic prosperity.

Outcomes

• Through engaged community planning, funded TCC projects have successfully supported workforce development, displacement avoidance, and climate resilience. These efforts have, in turn, led to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, leveraged additional funding sources, and provided health, environmental, and economic benefits to the community.
• TCC projects have also created a network of accessible mobility options (increased safety, paved and dedicated ped and bike lanes, on-demand micro transits, etc.), new and reimaged community shared spaces (parks, community gardens, kitchens, multipurpose rooms/halls), and quality people-centered designed affordable housing.
• Watts Rising was recently awarded the “Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity” (RAISE) grant program, funded under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The $6,967,923 award will support the “RAISE Up Watts: Catalyzing Connectivity through Active Transportation” project in Los Angeles, a RAISE Grant- federal transportation funding.

Elements

The key components of this model

• Identify potential benefits and beneficiaries
  Developing multi-benefit projects requires identifying benefits from a broad range of project types.
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• Provide Communities the Flexibility to Select and Design Projects That Meet Multiple Integrated Objectives
  Communicating benefits through engagement is critical to building community and identifying benefits not specified in the project planning process.
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• Demonstrate How the Proposed Projects Further a Neighborhood’s Ability to Meet Specific Program Objectives
  Delivering benefits to potential beneficiaries requires rigorous analysis of underlying assumptions and potential impacts.
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• Leverage Multi-Sectoral Funding to Sustain Delivery of Benefits and Long-Term Capacity
  Leveraging other state, federal, philanthropic, and private-sector dollars creates a more significant and longer-lasting impact from our climate investments.
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• Ongoing Program Evaluation, Verification, and Feedback to Achieve Outcomes
  Evaluation is both a process and a product to meet internal and external program needs.
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Resources

• SGC Catalyst Model Element: Multi-Benefit Projects at the Neighborhood Scale - Strategic Growth Council
• Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) - California Strategic Growth Council
• Transformative Climate Communities Program Guidelines - California Strategic Growth Council
• Tracking Groundbreaking Climate Action - UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation
• SGC Technical Assistance Toolkit
• Transformative Climate Communities Evaluation Plan (Nov 2018)