A Transformative Clean Mobility Pilot
Clean Mobility in Schools Pilot Project
El Monte Union High School District | A Transformative Clean Mobility Pilot: Connecting Research, Education, and Community in a Disadvantaged School District
May 2020 - June 2024
Project Details
A Transformative Clean Mobility Pilot serves high school and adult education students, parents, and district staff at 6 school sites. The district is adding new zero-emission school buses to their fleet, allowing the district to transport more students while reducing reliance on nearby school bus departments for loaner school buses on a daily basis. Active transportation feasibility studies developed in collaboration with each school community, help the district plan for safe and attractive routes to school. A Clean Energy Fellowship spurs interest in clean energy and transportation careers. New zero-emission motor pool vehicles for district use along with the replacement of custodial vehicles clean the air, reduce noise, and reduce reliance on fossil fuels while actively exhibiting zero-emission technologies at each school community. The project includes onsite energy storage systems that tie into the district’s existing solar system to reduce operational demand costs long-term.
Project Outcomes
Posted May 2026:Final Report
Taking a Healthy Ride on the Green Side and Clean Energy Careers are new animations, produced in partnership with two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Lalo Alcaraz and his team at Pocho Villa Productions. These 90-second shorts (together with 30-second PSA versions) focus on green mobility options and benefits, and career paths in the clean energy field. The animations feature the voices of El Monte Union students and administrators who engaged in a focus group with Alcaraz at the project’s outset.
For more information, please visit the District’s Clean Mobility in School’s Pilot Project website: Animations - El Monte Union High School District Mobility
Funding Details
- Grant Amount: $9,847,660
By the Numbers
Services, Vehicles & Equipment Funded
- 8 Type D Blue Bird electric school buses
- 3 Type A Micro Bird electric school buses
- 28 High powered level 2 chargers
- 3 ABB DC fast chargers
- 2 Locations for bus charging
- 11 Gem Polaris electric utility maintenance carts
- 5 ENGIE battery-based energy storage systems
- 6 Electric vehicles for staff motor pools
- 6 School Mobility & Active Transportation Plans
- 1 Clean Energy Fellow for Workforce Development
Estimated Quantifiable Benefits
- GHG emission reductions: 2,350 MTCO2e
- Diesel PM reductions: 20 lbs
- NOx reductions: 43,582 lbs
- PM2.5 reductions: 1,060 lbs
- ROG reductions: 1,844 lbs
Community Details
El Monte Union High School District is in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley. The District is a severely disadvantaged community where every single school site stands in the top 25% on CalEnviroScreen 3.0 and some as high as the top 10%. The disproportionate pollution burden felt by the community is significant and this project will take diesel and gasoline vehicles off the road and replace them with clean zero-emission vehicles.
Population studies show that approximately 200,000 people reside in the EMUHSD attendance boundaries. The area the district represents a mix of interests, professions, and groups. The source of income for most people in this area is broadly grouped into industrial and factory work, and retail sales. The families who live in this area include many in the middle to lower income economic groups. The project aims to resolve chronic transportation and financial challenges the EMUHSD faces in school busing (where there is existing bus deficit), school transportation safety, and air quality.
Demographics of Community Served by Project
40% Hispanic or Latino, 34% White, 16% Asian, 9% Black or African American, and 1% Other
Median Household Income: $51,283
Partners
Grantee
Subgrantees
- A-Z Bus Sales, Inc.
- Shell Recharge Solutions
- ENGIE
- Gladstein, Neandross & Associates
- University of California, Riverside – Center for Environmental Research and Technology
- Fehr & Peers
- VMA Communications, Inc.
- San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps