California Air Resources Board

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is seeking a diverse and representative pool of Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and California Native American Tribes (tribes) to work with CARB to develop environmental justice research ideas to guide potential projects for the 2025-2030 time period.

CARB is looking for CBOs and tribes experienced in environmental justice research, policy, or advocacy in California around topics including air quality, climate change, land use planning, natural and working lands,  transportation planning, infrastructure, building decarbonization, public health, or a combination of these topics.

CARB will be contracting with a group of 10-12 CBOs and tribes from 5-6 major regions in California for their expertise over a period of 6-9 months, starting in the spring of 2024. CBOs and tribes will prepare for and join approximately four meetings on-line and in-person, co-develop research priorities, provide comments and edits to research topics, and guide CARB in designing public processes to further refine environmental justice research.

Some of the skills and experiences CARB is looking for can include any of the following:

• Involvement with a CBO or tribe (must have a federal tax I.D. for the contracting process). For this application, tribe refers to either a federally recognized California tribal government or non-federally recognized California tribal governments, including those listed on the California Tribal Consultation List.
• Lives in or does environmental justice research, policy, or advocacy work in SB 535 communities.
• Leads or participates in community engagement efforts related to environmental justice topics or research.
• Experience listening to and gathering information on community or tribal research priorities.
• Experience working with academic researchers to co-develop and carry out environmental justice research.

Please note that an individual applicant cannot be a part of existing CARB advisory committees including the Assembly Bill 617 Consultation Group, Environmental Justice Advisory Committee, Research Screening Committee, and the Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants. This rule applies only to individuals and not larger organizations or tribes. For example, an individual who is a member of an existing CARB advisory committee cannot apply, but other individuals from the same organization or tribe can apply to join.

If interested, please fill out this questionnaire by November 13, 2023. CARB has provided a detailed selection criteria below.

Our funding is limited and depending on the level of interest, we may not be able to work with all interested parties. Our criteria for selecting the group of 10-12 collaborators includes capturing a wide geographic representation in different settings (cities, suburbs, rural communities, tribal communities), having experience developing or advocating for environmental justice research in SB 535 communities, and including a wide range of lived experiences. The selected group will coordinate with CARB to set up a contract for the work to be performed in 2024.

By the week of November 27, 2023, we will notify all interested parties who filled out the questionnaire of our final decision.

CBO and tribal applications will be scored on the criteria below.

Criteria

• CBO or Tribal Involvement: Works with a CBO or tribe (must have a federal tax I.D. for the contracting process).

• Community Engagement: Demonstrates experience engaging local community members, tribal members, and other public entities from SB 535 communities on environmental justice topics.
• Topic Experience: Describesexperiences in environmental justice research, policy, or advocacy around topics including air quality, climate change, natural and working lands, land use planning, infrastructure, building decarbonization, transportation planning, public health, or a combination of these topics.
• Research Efforts: Describes experiences engaging with academic researchers, CARB, or other government entities to develop or implement environmental justice research. This can include but is not limited to experience with participatory action research, community engaged research, community science, or advising academic or government entities on research needs.
• Advocacy and Policy Efforts: Describes experiences engaging with CARB or other government entities to address environmental justice concerns at a variety of scales (e.g., local, county, regional, state, federal).

Scoring Rubric and Criteria

Additional notes are offered below as a guide for scoring of each question:

Question: Are you affiliated with a CBO or tribal community with a federal tax I.D.? If so, which one/ones?

• The Applicant will receive 10 points if they answer the question fully, and if they are affiliated with a CBO or tribe with a federal tax I.D.
• The Applicant will receive 5 points if they answer the question fully, but they are not affiliated with a CBO or tribe with a federal tax I.D.
• The Applicant will receive 0 points if they do not answer the question or if their CBO or tribe does not have a federal tax I.D.

Question: Do you live in or does your tribe or CBO work in an SB 535 community? If so, which one/ones. Guide to using the map: 1) locate the search bar, it is on the upper right-hand side of the screen; 2) type your location [e.g., zip code, address, city, or census tract]; 3) click on your census tract, a box will appear with the designations identifying your census tract as a SB 535 community or not.  

• The Applicant will receive 15 points if they answer the question fully, they live in or work in an SB 535 community, and are the only applicant from a certain region of the state that is not represented by another applicant. The regional criteria will help provide a balance of participants.
• The Applicant will receive 10 points if they answer the question fully, and they live in or work in an SB 535 community.
• The Applicant will receive 5 points if they answer the question fully, but they do not live in or work in an SB 535 community, and there are multiple applicants from their region.
• The Applicant will receive 0 points if they do not answer the question.

Question: What is your, your tribe’s, or your CBO’s experience with engaging local communities or tribal members on environmental justice topics?

• The Applicant will receive 15 points if they answer the question fully and have five or more years of experience working with local communities or tribal members on environmental justice topics.
• The Applicant will receive 10 points if they answer the question fully and have one to five years of experience working with local communities or tribal members on environmental justice topics.
• The Applicant will receive 5 points if they answer the question fully and have less than one year of experience working with local communities or tribal members on environmental justice topics.
• The Applicant will receive 0 points if they do not answer the question.

Question: Please describe your, your tribe’s, or your CBO’s experience with environmental justice research, policy, or advocacy around topics including air quality, climate change, natural and working lands,land use planning, infrastructure, building decarbonization, transportation planning, public health, or a combination of these topics? Please provide details regarding each topic you, your tribe, or your CBO have conducted environmental justice research or advocacy on.

• The Applicant will receive 15 points if they answer the question fully and experience working on two or more topics, including a topic that is not represented by another applicant. The topical criteria will help provide a balance of topical expertise.
• The Applicant will receive 10 points if they answer the question fully and have experience working on one topic, but that topic is not represented by another applicant.
• The Applicant will receive 5 points if they answer the question fully and experience working on one topic.
• The Applicant will receive 0 points if they do not answer the question.

Question: Please describe your, your tribe’s, or your CBO’s experience working with communities, tribes, academic researchers, CARB, or other government entities to develop or implement environmental justice research. This can include but is not limited to experience with participatory action research, community engaged research, community science, or advising academic or government entities on research needs.

• The Applicant will receive 15 points if they answer the question fully and if they provide examples of working on environmental justice research with more than one group. Groups include tribes, local communities, academic researchers, CARB, or other government entities.
• The Applicant will receive 10 points if they answer the question fully and if they provide examples of working on environmental justice research with one group. Groups include tribes, local communities, academic researchers, CARB, or other government entities.
• The Applicant will receive 5 points if they answer the question fully and if they provide examples of working on environmental justice research, but without interacting with tribes, local communities, academic researchers, CARB, or other government entities.
• The Applicant will receive 0 points if they do not answer the question.

Question: Please describe your, your tribe, or your CBO’s experience working with CARB or other government entities to address environmental justice concerns at a variety of scales (local, regional, state, federal).

• The Applicant will receive 15 points if they answer the question fully and if they provide examples of experiences working on environmental justice concerns with CARB or other government entities at two or more scales (local, regional, state, or federal).
• The Applicant will receive 10 points if they answer the question fully and if they provide examples of experiences working on environmental justice concerns with CARB or other government entities at a single scale (local, regional, state, or federal).
• The Applicant will receive 5 points if they answer the question fully and if they provide examples of experiences working on environmental justice concerns at two or more scales (local, regional, state, or federal), but without interacting with CARB or other government entities.
• The Applicant will receive 0 points if they do not answer the question.

Background

CARB works toward a future where all Californians breathe healthy and clean air, benefit from actions to address climate change, and where race is no longer a predictor of life outcomes. CARB commits to just social change by working at all levels within the organization and externally to address environmental injustices and advance racial equity in the achievement of its mission.

CARB’s Racial Equity Framework provides a shared foundation for an anti-racist organization and describes racial equity as:

• An outcome—achieving racial equity means race will no longer predict life outcomes and outcomes for all groups are improved.
• A process—ensuring those impacted by structural racial inequities are meaningfully involved in the creation and implementation of CARB’s policies, programs and practices that impact their lives.

In line with this commitment, the CARB Board adopted Resolution 20-33, on October 22, 2020, to establish and advance racial equity and social justice measures in all CARB actions. In this resolution, the Board called for all staff to identify and implement best practices for community engagement, and to apply these practices throughout all of CARB’s activities.

In support of Resolution 20-33, the Research Division is proposing an inclusive community engagement process to support the 5-Year Research Plan (Plan) development. The Plan describes CARB’s research priorities for the next five fiscal years (2025-2030) and guides the selection of research projects on an annual basis. For this Plan, CARB is incorporating environmental justice into each of the major research topics and conducting an in-depth community engagement process for the environmental justice portion of the Plan. Applicants selected from this solicitation process will work with CARB to develop environmental justice research ideas to guide potential projects for the Plan.

Applications must be submitted by 5 P.M. PST on November 13, 2023, to be considered. All applications that are submitted by the due date will be reviewed by CARB staff. Due to budget limitations, we are only able to select up to 12 applicants to move forward in this process. For questions, please email research@arb.ca.gov.