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The California Air Resources Board recently announced $33 million in grants for supporting planning and implementing clean transportation projects across the state. These grants are in the Planning and Capacity Building, Clean Mobility in Schools (CMIS), and Sustainable Transportation Equity Project (STEP) programs.
The programs are aimed at helping communities work together, make decisions and prioritize projects they want to see, and then plan for those projects to be completed. They are aimed at increasing clean transportation options and supportive infrastructure and programming.
Last fall, grant seekers submitted simplified "concept phase applications" to CARB, which scored them and then invited thirty of those applicants to apply for full funding. CARB received 27 applications in total: ten for Planning and Capacity Building, and seventeen for CMIS/STEP projects.
CARB chose ten of the 27 applications to fund, with two other applicants to receive partial funding.
The list of successful grant applications is below. The descriptions are abbreviated versions of what applicants submitted to CARB. Note that grant amounts are not included below because they could not be determined from the list made available by CARB, which includes requested amounts, and notes some applicants will receive "partial" funding. That complete list can be found here.
Clean Mobility in Schools
City of Hayward (Partial): Safe Routes and Active Transportation for Schools and Underserved Communities in Hayward, in partnership with Bike East Bay, Hayward Unified School District, and TransForm. Most Hayward residents travel by car and have noted that lack of safe infrastructure and secure bike parking are barriers to walking and biking. The proposed project will provide infrastructure upgrades per Safe Routes to Schools recommendations for twelve schools; a bike voucher program; bike parking; and active transportation education and promotion.
Sustainable Transportation Equity Project
City Heights Community Development Corporation: SR-15 Redevelopment Project. A "multi-generational vision advancing multi-modal transportation via sustainable redevelopment and anti-displacement policies" informed by the San Diego's “Development Without Displacement” report. Capacity building workshops to propose and prioritize projects, with a focus on active and clean transportation infrastructure investments, engagement, capacity building, transportation equity plans and displacement prevention.
City of El Monte: El Monte's Clean Mobility Nexus, in partnership with Active San Gabriel Valley. Project will purchase four electric buses for new express shuttle and market shuttle services; install EV charging stations; purchase twenty electric vehicles for a carsharing program; offer subsidized subscriptions for electric-assist bikes; and implement community engagement activities to promote and educate residents of the various programs.
County of Los Angeles (Partial): Empowerment in Motion. Assess community transit needs at 72 public housing campuses and implement a comprehensive, equity-based clean transportation plan, including five electric shuttles, two bike-share stations with 22 e-bikes, chargers to support the shuttles and provide residents EV charging access, and develop a workforce development program to provide training and employment opportunities to residents and maintain chargers.
Ecology Action: ¡Adelante Watsonville! will provide new bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, new EV carshare, and expanded e-bikeshare services supported by bilingual/bicultural education and encouragement programs.
Planning and Capacity Building
City of Napa: Electric Vehicle and Ebike Charging Plan. Will create a community-driven plan that prioritizes future implementation of clean transportation solutions that fill gaps within the City of Napa’s low-income census tracts as determined by the residents who live there; will include a
community transportation needs assessment.
City of Needles: Needles Active Transportation Plan. Despite the lack of safe routes for walking and biking in Needles, people still walk along streets out of necessity. Children and wheelchair users are forced to use the road where there are no sidewalks or inadequate sidewalks, presenting a dire safety risk. The plan process will work with the community to develop much needed projects like repairing and connecting sidewalks, sidewalk Americans with Disabilities Act improvements, creating bike lanes, improving bus stops, and identifying bike share programs.
Sacramento City Unified School District: Safe Routes to School for All. The project will develop a community transportation needs assessment for a one to two-mile radius containing up to 15 Title I-designated elementary, middle, K-8, and high schools serving nearly 7,500 students in South Sacramento.
San Joaquin Valley Community: Expanding Clean Mobility Access in San Joaquin Valley. Miocar will help provide technical assistance to help build community capacity and plan for clean transportation options in priority communities in sixteen Central Valley cities and towns, among them Modesto, Turlock, Merced, and Bakersfield.
Thai Community Development Center: Advancing Community-Centered and Environmentally Sustainable Solutions in L.A. (ACCESS LA). Project will "strengthen a framework for BIPOC organizations in L.A. disadvantaged communities that allows underrepresented communities to move from informing to implementing and owning sustainable clean mobility solutions." Building on partnerships developed over the last eight years with projects like BlueLA, Universal Basic Mobility, and Transformative Climate Communities. Will conduct a community needs assessment, carry out a clean mobility outreach plan, improve public transit network.
TransForm: West Alameda Mobility for All. TransForm will conduct a holistic assessment of the transportation needs of community members living and working on the west side of the City of Alameda. This assessment will focus on education and inactive, public, and shared modes of sustainable transportation. The results will guide mobility plans and inform city decisions that decrease VMT, encourage mode shift, and create safer neighborhoods.
WALKSacramento: SacRT Mobility Hub Implementation Plan. A community-driven approach to identify which of SacRT's 54 light rail stations should be prioritized for inclusion in the Sacramento Region's network of 52 mobility hubs, identifying improvements that can reduce barriers through access to active transportation, EV charging, shared car services, and first/last mile programs.
Some of the applicants that did not receive funding include:
- A project to electrify Yolo County school buses, build charging infrastructure, and increase awareness of zero emission options
- A project to expand zero emission transit and offer youth transit passes in Logan, San Diego County
- A plan for microtransit, expanded bus service, and electric ferry charging infrastructure on Treasure Island, San Francisco
- A program to create "mobility councils" in West Sacramento
- Proposed micro transit in Potter Valley in Mendocino, where there is currently no public transit service
- Clean transportation in Tulare County tribal areas
- Electric buses at Omnitrans in San Bernardino County
- A community-driven active transportation plan in the Pico Union area in Los Angeles
- A sustainable transportation resource center in Modesto
