Examples of Common Needs of Priority Populations

Supplementary information for the Funding Guidelines for Agencies Administering California Climate Investments.

Identifying a Need

Administering agencies must evaluate whether a project provides a benefit that meaningfully addresses an important community or household need.

To determine community or household needs, CARB recommends that administering agencies, applicants, and/or funding recipients directly engage local residents and community-based groups to identify an important need for that community along with steps to meaningfully address that need. Examples of direct engagement include hosting community meetings, workshops, consulting community-based organizations or focus groups, conducting community surveys, or other outreach efforts to gather local input on important community needs.

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If community engagement is not possible, as an alternative to direct community engagement, administering agencies, applicants, and/or funding recipient can either identify individual factors in CalEnviroScreen that most impact a disadvantaged or low-income community; receive documentation of broad support for a proposed project from local community-based groups and residents; or refer to the list of common needs below and select a need that has documented broad support from local community-based organizations and/or residents.

The administering agency must document the approach used to determine community need and, if applicable, should document the level of engagement and how community input was considered in project design.

Examples of Common Needs of Priority Populations

While this list includes some common needs of priority populations, as identified by community advocates, it is not intended to reflect a definitive list of all potential needs of disadvantaged and low-income communities and low-income households, and items included in the list may not be applicable for a specific community. Rather, it is provided for illustrative purposes to help administering agencies assess whether a project might address common needs and offer specific benefits to priority populations.

Public Health

1. Reduce health harms (e.g., asthma) suffered disproportionately by priority populations due to air pollutants.

2. Reduce health harms (e.g., obesity) suffered disproportionately by priority populations due to the built environment (e.g., provide active transportation, parks, playgrounds).

3. Increase community safety.

4. Reduce heat-related illnesses and increase thermal comfort (e.g., weatherization and solar energy can provide more efficient and affordable air-conditioning; urban forestry can reduce heat-island effect).

5. Increase access to parks, greenways, open space, and other community assets.

Economic

1. Create quality jobs and increase family income (e.g., targeted hiring for living-wage jobs that provide access to health insurance and retirement benefits with long-term job retention, using project labor agreements with targeted hire commitments, community benefit agreements, community workforce agreements, partnerships with community-based workforce development and job training entities, State-certified community conservation corps).

2. Increase job readiness and career opportunities (e.g., workforce development programs, on-the-job training, industry-recognized certifications).

3. Revitalize local economies (e.g., increased use of local businesses) and support California-based small businesses.

4. Reduce housing costs (e.g., affordable housing).

5. Reduce transportation costs (e.g., free or reduced cost transit passes) and improve access to public transportation (e.g., new services in under-served communities).

6. Reduce energy costs for residents (e.g., weatherization, solar).

7. Improve transit service levels and reliability on systems/routes that have high use by disadvantaged and/or low-income community residents or low-income riders.

8. Bring jobs and housing closer together (e.g., affordable housing in transit-oriented development and in healthy, high-opportunity neighborhoods).

9. Preserve community stability and maintain housing affordability for low-income households (e.g., prioritize projects in jurisdictions with anti-displacement policies).

10. Provide educational and community capacity building opportunities through community engagement and leadership.

Environmental

1. Reduce exposure to local environmental contaminants, such as toxic air contaminants, criteria air pollutants, and drinking water contaminants (e.g., provide a buffer between bike/walk paths and transportation corridors).

2. Prioritize zero-emission vehicle projects for areas with high diesel air pollution, especially around schools or other sensitive populations with near-roadway exposure.

3. Reduce exposure to pesticides in communities near agricultural operations.

4. Greening communities through restoring local ecosystems and planting of native species, improving aesthetics of the landscape, and/or increasing public access for recreation.