Resources for Revitalization

Vision to Action: Community-Driven End Use Planning for Land Reuse Projects

Community engagement can make or break grant eligibility, community backing, and project success – it’s a process that should not be taken lightly! To assist communities with planning, visioning and community engagement, CCLR offers Vision to Action: an intensive 3-6 month program where you and your community will develop a plan to transform your brownfield site. CCLR is able to offer a limited number of Vision to Actions cost-free within EPA Regions 9 and 10.

View our New Planning & Visioning Webpage to learn more!

Vision to Action... In Action!

This summer, CCLR facilitated Vision to Action services for the City of Plummer, Idaho and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe to develop a plan for a large former brownfield in the center of the community. The community engagement and end-use planning CCLR provided have contributed to a Community Change Grant application and EPA Land Revitalization Funding.



Watch the video

CCLR Celebrates Reuse Success:

Uplifting Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) at the 32nd annual EPA R9 Tribal Conference.

Sebastian Harris (Center) with EPA R9 Brownfields Team at the Hayes Mansion, San Jose.

TEK can extend back more than 12 generations. The EPA Region 9 Tribal Conference recognized, honored and built on this knowledge. Tribal representatives from across the region shared experiences, programs, and successes in efforts to protect and restore the environment. Representatives from U.S. EPA, Cal EPA and other state agencies also hosted listening sessions and shared program updates and grant opportunities. Brownfield Revitalization Specialist, Sebastian Harrison, presented with Brooklyn James and Lisa Hanusiak of the EPA R9 Office of Brownfields about EPA brownfield grants, 128a programs, and opportunities for tribes to restore and reclaim polluted lands.

San Francisco’s India Basin Waterfront Park Is Now Open!

On Oct. 19th CCLR attended a ribbon cutting ceremony for San Francisco's newest park! In 2014 CCLR helped the San Francisco Parks Alliance secure its first EPA Brownfield Grant at 900 Innes Ave. After several rounds of investigation and cleanup grants, plus other restoration and construction activities, the once derelict industrial site has been transformed into the new India Basin Waterfront Park! We are so proud to see all this hard work pay off to deliver environmental justice for the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood.

CCLR's Lead Program Consultant Ignacio Dayrit smiles alongside Nova Blazej, Senior Policy Advisor at EPA, and Toni Moran, Analyst for the City and County of San Francisco. If you're in San Francisco, be sure to visit 900 Innes Ave to experience the waterfront park in all its beauty!

DTSC ECRG Grantees Hold Groundbreaking & Ribbon Cutting Events

On September 26 the City of Santa Ana and County of Orange hosted a ribbon cutting at the Crossroads at Washington. Residents have started to move into the new community, which features 85 deeply affordable housing units that would provide permanent support to residents with less than 30% AMI. A $1.05 million ECRG Round 1 Cleanup grant helped carry this project over the finish line.

On October 17th, The East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC) hosted the Groundbreaking celebration for a 98-affordable unit "Chinatown TOD Senior Housing" at Lake Merritt BART. EBALDC received a $145K ECRG Site Investigation grant in Round 1. 

Congratulations to ECRG Grantees for their successes in bringing affordable housing to communities facing environmental justice concerns!

EVENTS & WEBINARS

November 14 | 1p.m. ET | Federal Tools for Environmental Justice: Understanding and Addressing Health Disparities and Community Impacts. Register today!

And be sure to catch up on the first Silo-Breaking Session, Advancing Equity: A Practical Guide to Engaging and Activating Community Voices. Groundwork USA and the Center for Creative Land Recycling detail practical steps to embed equity and environmental justice principles in every phase of the land reuse process.

New Webinar from CCLR & the Center for Community Energy and Environmental Justice

In Case You Missed It!

• Slides and Recordings of CCLR’s Art of the ARC Webinar are available on our resources page
• Watch recordings of the Oct. 9 EPA Webinar on 2024 Revisions to 2 CFR Part 200 Regulations and read more about the revisions.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Seeking leaders in community gardening and agriculture: Share the impact of your community garden or farm!

UC Irvine and California Climate Investments invite participants to fill out this online survey:

https://uci.questionpro.com/t/AbD4eZ3aJF

For each site, a representative may receive a $20 gift card if they provide their name and email in the survey.

Fair Shake and Riverwise have released the first version of their Community Benefit Guide. This guide is for community advocates and leaders who want to implement community benefit agreements, plans, or ordinances.

Watch EPA’s Brownfield Job Training Professional Learning Community Call about Student Recruitment The October PLC call focused on a discussion of the evolving challenges and opportunities of brownfields job training programs as well as four best practices for student recruitment: Planning for Recruitment, Establishing Relationships, Conducting Strategic Marketing, and Focusing on Quality over Quantity.

Next City is hiring an Equitable Cities Fellow for Anti-Displacement Strategies. Learn more about the role here.

Read the River Network’s new Equitable Development Toolkit: Community-Centered Solutions for Green Gentrification and Displacement

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

EJ4Climate: Environmental Justice and Climate Resilience

Proposals due 14 November 2024 (5:00 p.m. EST)

The CEC established this grant program in 2021 to fund projects that target underserved and vulnerable communities, and Indigenous communities, in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, to prepare them for climate-related impacts. Read more and apply!