A COALITION OF COMMUNITY NON-PROFITS RECEIVES $23M GRANT FROM CALIFORNIA STRATEGIC GROWTH COUNCIL

The Green Together Collaborative a partnership that includes Community Partners, Pacoima Beautiful, The Trust for Public Land, LA Business Council, GRID Alternatives Greater Los Angeles, LA Conservation Corps, LA Cleantech Incubator, UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge and the City of Los Angeles today announced that it had received a grant of $23 million from the California Strategic Growth Council’s Transformative Climate Communities Program. (TCC) The grant will go towards the Pacoima/Community Partners: Green Together project.

“The people of Pacoima-Sun Valley have been tireless in their pursuit of a healthier, more prosperous future for their children and grandchildren — and today that hard work is paying off,” said Mayor Garcetti. “These funds will help to improve public health, create good-paying jobs, and enhance the quality of life for Angelenos in an extraordinary community.” 

Pacoima Beautiful Executive Director, Veronica Padilla says, “Our community members have been working with us for the past ten years to envision the projects that will be implemented as part of the TCC grant.  This project will truly transform Pacoima and Sun Valley. This investment in our community is a reminder that genuine community organizing and engagement leads to a sustainable, healthy community for us and our future generations.”

The TCC Program, established in 2016 by Assembly Bill 2722 (Burke), delivers substantial investments to fund the development and implementation of neighborhood-level transformative climate community plans that include multiple, coordinated greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects that provide local economic, environmental, and health benefits to disadvantaged communities – and that is what will be delivered to Pacoima with this award.

“This project represents the best of what can happen when community based nonprofits work together,” said Guillermo Rodriguez, California State Director for The Trust for Public land, “I’m proud that with our partners from across the region, we’re making the Northeast San Fernando Valley an even better place to live and get outside. As our region grows and we face a changing climate, multi-benefit projects like Green Together that focus on low-income and disadvantaged communities are needed more than ever.”

This grant will fund multi-benefit green infrastructure projects like parks and greening urban spaces to protect the community from heat and flooding, while also funding projects that improve clean transportation options and provide renewable energy sources. These projects will transform Pacoima into a community that lowers its carbon emissions, and is more resilient to impacts from climate change. The Green Together project also will focus on workforce development and land-use policies to mitigate against displacement of low income families.

“This is a tremendous win for the Northeast San Fernando Valley,” said a Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez. “I look forward to working with our partners to reverse decades of injustice and accelerate greener, healthier neighborhoods for our kids and future generations.”

The Northeast San Fernando Valley is one of the most environmentally-impacted neighborhoods in the state. This area suffers from numerous environmental hazards including three elevated freeways, industrial uses, and a commercial airport. It is also one of the most vulnerable areas in the City of Los Angeles to climate change with the number of extreme heat days predicted to multiply in the coming decades.

“The residents of the Northeast San Fernando Valley have always been about solving problems, rather than complaining. Fed up with decades of incompatible land uses and the burden of negative health impacts and poor quality of life, these residents came together and crafted a real plan with real deliverables. Through the Strategic Growth Council’s proposed award of $23 million to the Community Partners: Green Together, NE Valley proposal, it is clear that environmental justice neighborhoods not only have a voice, but they are the front line in the fight against climate change.”

“As a champion of environmental justice and longtime representative for the Northeast Valley, I have watched residents develop a transformative vision for this region over the last two decades,” said Senator Hertzberg, who represents Pacoima in the California State Senate. “I have also watched this same community be adversely impacted by polluting industries, climate change, and economic disinvestment. This grant will have immense economic and environmental benefits for the San Fernando Valley.”

The Green Together proposal epitomizes the central goal of the TCC Program which is to demonstrate how meaningful community engagement coupled with strategic investments can reduce greenhouse gas emissions while advancing social equity, economic opportunity, and community resilience of the TCC program. Funding for the writing of this grant was made possible through a generous contribution by LA n Sync and Wells Fargo.