Catalyzing Social Infrastructure in California
The Role That ‘Capacity Building’ Plays in Building Thriving Communities
In California, communities facing historic inequities resulting from structural racism and longstanding disinvestment are often those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, economic disruptions, and public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. In building relationships with under-resourced communities and California Native American tribes across the state, the California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) recognizes that it is these same communities that have expertise and knowledge to inform targeted solutions yet may lack the capacity or are challenged in navigating various state resources to address community challenges. While several of SGC’s pilot programs aimed at tackling this lack of community-level capacity are showing great promise as these statewide technical assistance assessment findings makes clear, more action is needed.
Over the past several years, SGC, its Council Members, and the agencies they represent have led on racial equity by formally adopting the first-ever state-level racial equity action plan and last month committing to the creation of a peer-to-peer racial equity resource hub. This month, SGC Council Members will take further action by adopting a resolution that identifies ‘capacity building’ as a foundational strategy in building thriving, resilient, and healthy California communities.
Within the resolution, Council Members will vote on ‘capacity building’ is defined as:
The process of strengthening local coordination, leadership, knowledge, skills, expertise, and access to resources in California Native American Tribal and under-resourced communities with the goal of helping to develop or increase the ability of that community to compete for grants and implement projects in the future.
Paired with existing technical assistance efforts, capacity-building investments will build the social infrastructure of communities — the knowledge, partnerships, and access to critical resources — foundational to the health and wealth of California’s communities as well as the reach and impact of state resources.
Technical Assistance and Capacity Building in Action
To date, staff at the Strategic Growth Council have stood up pilots which are showing promising results, with a few highlights outlined below:
BOOST Pilot Program
In 2019, SGC partnered with the Institute for Local Government (ILG) to run the BOOST Pilot Program — creating partnerships with 10 cities and two regions to build capacity to advance their climate and equity goals.
BOOST was made possible with a $1 million investment by Governor Newsom and the State Legislature. Through proper and with proper capacity building and technical assistance, participating communities went on to secure over $50 million in additional ‘leverage’ funding to support their planning, affordable housing, equitable transportation, and climate mitigation and resilience projects.
“Salinas has embraced its unique and diverse community and used it as a stepping stone for creating a cohesive and vibrant place in which its residents can work, play and thrive.“
— Megan Hunter, Community Development Director, City of Salinas
As part of the BOOST pilot, the Strategic Growth Council learned that in addition to providing funding to plan and implement projects, the state must also support communities in accessing resources.
Partners Advancing Climate Equity Program (PACE)
Launched in February 2021 by SGC’s CACE team, Partners Advancing Climate Equity (PACE) is a pilot program focused on increasing the capacity of local leaders from across California to advance community-driven, equitable climate solutions.
PACE’s inaugural cohort was composed of 22 leaders representing California’s diverse communities, organizations, and lived experiences. The pilot reflects SGC’s commitment to long-term capacity building and advancement of health and racial equity in under-resourced communities. The members of the inaugural cohort work on an array of issues at the intersection of climate and equity, including affordable housing, air quality, youth and resident empowerment, water and wildfire resilience, and urban greening.
Elevating Capacity Building
Recently, SGC’s CACE team partnered with the California Air Resources Board (CARB), GRID Alternatives, and community leaders across California to host a Capacity Building Summit.
The event uplifted the role community-based organizations (CBOs) play in creating a climate-resilient California and showed how the state, through technical assistance and capacity-building programs, can support CBOs in strengthening and expanding their impact in environmentally and economically burdened communities.
During the conversation, key learning and themes emerged that demonstrate the importance of capacity building in building thriving communities:
- Knowledge and expertise already exist within the most environmentally impacted communities; therefore, state agencies and other funders should acknowledge community knowledge as equally important to technical climate expertise.
- To better recognize this expertise, funders should structure capacity-building programs to provide additional resources to help community leaders and community-based organizations to achieve their goals, while also making space to learn from communities about how we can remove barriers and make changes to our grant programs to better meet their needs.
- Coalition-building as a proven outcome capacity building, and furthermore that these coalitions help in shifting mindsets from one of competition to one of sharing, maximizing, and advocating for more funding and other resources to achieve collective, community-wide goals.
- The need to provide flexibility in funding requirements to allow communities to better meet their needs. For example, shifting from reimbursement models to an advanced pay system, allowing funding to go right to CBOs rather than passing through local agencies.
- The need to take an intersectional approach to achieve environmental, housing, and mobility goals by acknowledging the different challenges faced by different individuals due to identities such as race, class, gender, and immigration status.
- The need for intergenerational learning and work to address climate, with a focus on the need to invest in and give power to youth.
- Recognition that the longstanding traditions of Native communities and communities of color to act as stewards of natural ecosystems can guide the solutions to the climate crisis.
Looking Ahead
As ever, the SGC and its member state agencies remain steadfast in building thriving, resilient, healthy California communities as a partner to the state’s diverse communities and constituents. Ultimately it is our hope that these critical partnerships will yield best practices, develop knowledge, resources, and capacity at all levels, and maximize the reach and impact of state government resources in our communities.
In partnership,
California Strategic Growth Council
Stay tuned for more updates on our technical assistance and capacity-building work by signing up to our Community Assistance for Climate Equity Program’s (CACE) e-mail listserv or reach out to the CACE team to learn more.
