Agenda and Meeting Notes: October 24, 2023 Outreach & Education Workgroup Meeting

Agenda

  • Welcome/Introductions 
  • Summary of September 2023 meeting  
  • Proposed Fiscal Year 2023-24 Funding Plan for Clean Transportation Incentives, Nick Nairn-Birch, CARB
  • New statewide Clean Cars 4 All and Clean Vehicle Assistance Programs, Virgil Looney, Community Housing and Development Corporation 
  • Discussion

Attendees:  

Natalie Reavey (CARB), Lisa Chiladakis (CARB), Virgil Looney (Community Housing and Development Corportation), Robyn Marquis (CalStart), Aaron Hiliard (CARB), Ali Koohestani (CARB), LaDonna Williams (All Positives Possible), Patty Breslin (San Leandro 2050), A.R. Briseida (San Leandro 2050), Chelsea Lee (Better World Group), Gennet Paauwe (CARB), Gia Vacin (GO-Biz), Heather Hickerson (GO-Biz), Lonnie Mason (First Generation Environmental Health & Economic Development), Melissa Meuser (CARB), Nick Nairn-Birch (CARB), Raquel Leon Cardenas (CARB), Tom Knox (Valley CAN), Whitney Richardson (Electrify America), Zach Hill (Tesla), Kevin Hamilton (Central California Asthma Collaborative) 

Proposed Fiscal Year 2023-24 Funding Plan for Clean Transportation Incentives, Nick Nairn-Birch, CARB 

The Funding Plan is an annual policy and funding document that covers a wide range of clean transportation and incentives. This comes together every year and will be presented to CARB’s Board in November – Access the funding plan and supplemental documents 

New statewide Clean Cars 4 All and Clean Vehicle Assistance Programs, Virgil Looney, Community Housing and Development Corporation 

Community Housing and Development Corporation (CHDC) provides a broad range of affordable housing opportunities and services to enable low/moderate income residents to gain better housing and financial stability. Their approach to community development engages residents at the grassroots level and ensures that the whole neighborhood benefits from the affordable housing and neighborhood services provided. They saw the joint program as a way to provide hands on assistance and support for folks who might otherwise not be able to get a loan or are forced into a predatory loan (huge problem). CHDC started locally in the Bay Area with the vision to expand statewide. Key engagement techniques include:  

  • Focus on the uniqueness of different communities – what works in one place does not necessarily work in other communities.  
  • Partnerships are key! It is important to have trusted messengers. The communities they’re trying to reach already have existing leaders. The strategy is to connect with them and recognize each outreach/education strategy is unique.
  • Meet people where they are. 

Accessibility is important – outreach materials must be developed with that specific community in mind (i.e., in other languages dependent on the community) 

CHCD’s overall approach and philosophy is to partner with other CBOs and community leaders across the state to both help with outreach in communities and to help inform CDHC and CARB on what works and how to tailor the programs accordingly. 

Discussion: 

Once the grant was approved, community members shared concerns about the lack of any updates on any progress or next steps about implementation. Communication is the key, and regardless of whether a contract has been signed, outreach with communities should have been ongoing and regular updates should have been provided.  

There was a question asking CHDC who they have engaged with and how. There was a feeling that has not been enough engagement or outreach with local community groups and environmental justice advocates. There was a question about what processes should be in place to work with communities. How do we align our statewide strategies by ensuring we are embedding equity in this work? What processes should be in place to ensure all folks/communities are at the table? How can we be better? How can we move forward together? 

Environmental justice advocates and community representatives expressed concerns that Black populations continue to be left behind and are unable to get the funding or partner with the right entities.  Moving forward, we need to move toward solutions and look at ways to provide processes for all state agencies to follow that can help them improve how they work with and include a more diverse range of communities as well as improve the equity of airtime in public meetings.   

There was further discussion about what value this workgroup can have to help CHDC implement their program and engage more community members to add more EJ voices to the table. Providing a forum for open conversation and discussion among participants from numerous backgrounds is essential in this type of work. 

Finally, concerns were raised about the varied language employed by different groups during interactions – agency, community organizations, NGO terminology is all different. It is imperative that we remain cognizant of these linguistic nuances to ensure our communication fosters trust and avoids potential challenges in collaborating with diverse groups and partners in this endeavor. 

Next Steps: 

Our team will carefully analyze the feedback received today and collaborate with other members of the CARB staff to identify opportunities for enhancing communication.