SGC Catalyst Model Iterative and Inclusive Program Design

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Overview

Based on the iterative process SGC and its partner agencies follow to ensure our programs adapt to the evolving needs of the communities we serve, this model demonstrates how the designers and implementers of climate equity programs can respond to their constituents’ changing needs, improving outcomes for program recipients and implementing entities.

Programs do not achieve equity goals by accident; it is by design. As Education First points out, designing for equity requires engaging people close to the problem. This philosophy applies to every step of program design, from grantmaking and Requests for Proposals to post-award planning, implementation, and follow-through. Achieving program equity goals requires continuous engagement with the communities the program intends to serve to ensure program features adapt to their changing needs.

Outcomes

  • Over eight funding rounds, the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program has developed a robust guideline update process. The process combines collaboration with partner State agencies, extended public comment periods, interactive webinars, and meetings with advocates, TA providers, and past and prospective applicants. In 2021, this guideline update process led program designers to incorporate tribal set-asides in the Round 5 guidelines, which has led to awards to one tribal entity every round since. In 2022, this guideline update process expanded access for Tribal Entities, including allowing non-federally recognized Tribes to apply as tribal applicants, nearly tripling the number of tribes eligible for AHSC funding to more than 300.
  • SGC’s Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation program, administered by the California Department of Conservation, gathered ideas for its Capacity and Project Development grant from the Working Lands and Riparian Corridors pilot and a series of equity-focused listening sessions. The grant provides under-resourced entities with organizational capacity-building support to expand opportunities for future funding for agricultural conservation acquisition projects. In Round 9, 18 of the 42 acquisition applications submitted were developed using SALC capacity and project development funding, with 16 recommended for award.
  • In 2019, the California legislature passed Senate Bill 351 (Hurtado, 2019), which aimed to address a gap in disadvantaged unincorporated community (DUC) eligibility to receive Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) program implementation funding. To implement this requirement effectively and equitably, TCC staff conducted a one-year framework development process that included a comprehensive literature review, a state-wide working group of DUC experts, and consultations with academics, community organizations, data analysts, and local, state, and federal agencies. In Round 5, SGC introduced the Project Development Grant Pilot focusing on applicants from DUCs. Three of the four Project Development applications recommended for the Round 5 award represent DUCs; the additional recommended award would go to a partnership of California Native American tribes with a Project Area that includes both unincorporated areas and areas within federally recognized tribal boundaries.

Elements

The key components of this model

Resources