Resilience Hubs Grant program

The program awarded $25,000 each to four Feasibility Projects to fund an assessment of resilience hub needs and/or conceptual ideas for a resilience hub. Grant recipients are the following organizations:

• African American Network of Kern County
• California State Parks Foundation
• City of Oakland
• Willow Creek Youth Partnership DBA Dream Quest

Additionally, the program awarded $100,000 each to three Design and Build Projects toward the design and/or creation of a resilience hub to the following grant recipients. Through these projects, the organizations will either plan and design new physical spaces or mobile resources, or retrofit existing buildings or structures to support community resilience.

• Community Organized Relief Effort
• Mariposa County
• Playhouse Arts (CUNA)

Feasibility Projects: Profiles of Grant Recipients

African American Network of Kern County is building a comprehensive disaster preparedness plan, conducting risk assessments, and establishing communication systems to ensure the timely dissemination of information and instructions during emergencies.

“Communities controlling their energy sources, controls their future.” -Dee Slade, President, African American Network of Kern County

California State Parks Foundation is studying the feasibility of establishing a resilience hub in Candlestick Point State Recreation Area and building a methodology for establishing resilience hubs at parks statewide.

“For nearly 30 years, California State Parks Foundation has been thrilled to partner with PG&E on annual Earth Day Climate Action activities to protect and improve state parks. With PG&E’s continued support, we will develop a methodology to determine how individual parks can serve as resilience hubs during extreme weather events. This framework will give California State Parks Foundation and others a tool to build not only climate resilient parks, but also climate resilient communities.” - Emily Doyle, PhD, Climate Resilience Program Manager, California State Parks Foundation

City of Oakland is conducting community engagement around developing a resilience hub in East Oakland.

“We appreciate this grant funding for the City of Oakland’s work with resilience hubs in East Oakland, a frontline community significantly impacted by pollution and historic impacts of disinvestment. The city, as a part of its Equitable Climate Action Plan, is developing at least three Municipal Resilience Hubs in Oakland’s frontline communities. Support from PG&E will allow City staff to develop partnerships with East Oakland’s community-based organizations and recruit community members to help plan resilience hub locations and design, building day to day community resilience and bringing solutions for climate disasters, earthquakes and other adverse events to communities that are the most impacted and least able to quickly recover from such events.” - Nick Kordesch, Energy Program Manager, City of Oakland

Willow Creek Youth Partnership DBA Dream Quest is assessing the resilience needs and partners for a future community youth center.

“Dream Quest is thrilled to have PG&E’s support in helping to plan for the new Community Youth Center’s emergency response capacity and development of community resiliency. Multiple disasters have highlighted and compounded the Greater Willow Creek area’s vulnerability to climate hazards, resulting in emotional and socioeconomic impacts. The Community Youth Center is an opportunity for community members to turn their shared trauma into action towards community resilience.” -Trish Oakes, Executive Director, Willow Creek Youth Partnership DBA Dream Quest

Design and Build Projects: Profiles of Grant Recipients

Community Organized Relief Effort is collaborating with Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland to further develop a resilience hub for vulnerable communities.

"The PG&E Resilience Hubs Program is an incredible opportunity for both CORE and Allen Temple Baptist Church to better prepare East Oakland residents for climate-related disasters and other emergency events. East Oakland's unique geography makes it particularly vulnerable to a range of hazards, yet, statistically speaking, its residents are among the Bay Area's least resourced populations. We hope this grant will help shrink existing inequalities in emergency planning and create stronger, more resilient neighborhoods in East Oakland and beyond!" - Yosef Jalil, California Area Director, Community Organized Relief Effort

Mariposa County is designing and developing the site for a community resilience hub that simultaneously supports local climate change adaptation, recreation, and economic development objectives.

"Living in this dynamic time, we understand the need for adaptability and resilience. This grant funding is a major step in providing a space and sanctuary in Mariposa that is specifically designed for our resiliency needs. We are very grateful to PG&E for their support." - Steve Engfer, Planning Director, Mariposa County

Playhouse Arts/CUNA (Communidad Unida del Norte de Arcata/Community United of North Arcata) is designing and building a resilience hub including backup power, filtered air, coordinated communication, food and water distribution, and disaster preparedness training.

“A resilience hub in Valley West has been a long time coming. Throughout the execution of our resilience hub feasibility study, we heard repeatedly in our empathy interviews with Valley West residents that there was a tremendous lack of resources in North Arcata. CUNA is thrilled to be a recipient of PG&E’s $100,000 Resilience Hubs Grant and we are extremely excited to develop and operate this community-based resilience hub, for the betterment of the Valley West/ North Arcata community.” - Kimberley White, CUNA (Communidad Unida del Norte de Arcata/ Community United of North Arcata) -Co-coordinator

The program awarded $25,000 each to four Feasibility Projects to fund an assessment of resilience hub needs and/or conceptual ideas for a resilience hub. Grant recipients are the following organizations:

• LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired
• Little Manila Rising
• Mattole Restoration Council
• North Valley Community Foundation

Additionally, the program awarded $100,000 each to three Design and Build Projects toward the design or creation of a resilience hub to the following grant recipients. Through these projects, the organizations will either plan and design new physical spaces or mobile resources or retrofit existing buildings or structures to support community resilience.

• Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
• Marin Center for Independent Living
• Support Life Foundation

Feasibility Projects: Profiles of Grant Recipients

LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired will assess the feasibility of turning Enchanted Hills Camp for the blind and visually impaired into a Resilience Hub. They will focus on a building feasibility study and stakeholder engagement.

“LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired is grateful for PG&E’s support of our feasibility study for a fire resiliency hub at its 311-acre Enchanted Hills Camp in Napa, California; this is the only camp serving blind, DeafBlind, and low vision students west of the Mississippi. This support will help to enhance the safety of the thousands of blind and low vision students we serve, as well as our surrounding community.” - Sharon Giovinazzo, CEO, LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Little Manila Rising will assess opportunities to turn their existing community center into a Resilience Hub. They will conduct building level analyses and market research for best value procurement of necessary equipment.

“The PG&E Resilience Hubs grant will not only help Little Manila Rising understand its role in providing a safe place for vulnerable residents during climate risk days, it will also jump start a long overdue conversation about who residents can turn to and what an auxiliary role for community organizations and community leadership looks like in the world of emergency services.” - Matt Holmes, Environmental Justice Director, Little Manila Rising

Mattole Restoration Council will create a Resilience, Education and Research Center (“Resilience Center”) for the Lower Mattole. This portion of a larger project will focus on obtaining broader understanding of community needs and completing conceptual planning.

“This planning grant award will help the Mattole Restoration Council make meaningful strides in collaborative planning in our remote coastal community. The needs in our rural community are vast. We as a community must plan to address economic transition, social isolation, food security, housing, elder and youth needs, access to healthcare and other services, and many other challenges. Improving the land’s ecological resilience to climate change and our community’s abilities to prepare for, survive, and adapt positively after disruptions are key. The Mattole Restoration Council cannot do this alone. This grant will help us bring a wider swath of the community to the table to participate in collaborative planning, and will propel us further down the path towards one day having an actual Resilience, Education, and Research Center.” – Flora Brain, Mattole Field Institute and King Range Alliance Coordinator, Mattole Restoration Council

North Valley Community Foundation will create a collective impact group across Butte County to identify and evaluate sites, and then conduct a feasibility analysis for each location and identify community partners.

"The resilience of our communities is dependent on strengthening the collaboration of our diverse individuals, organizations, and agencies. North Valley Community Foundation is grateful for the partnership with PG&E to build a network of resilience hubs in our region to provide the resources our communities need while being prepared for the challenges that lie ahead." - Jovanni Tricerri, Vice President, Programs, North Valley Community Foundation

Design and Build Projects: Profiles of Grant Recipients

Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano will install two refrigerated container units to store food for distribution to food-insecure individuals to deploy during emergencies.

“The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano is thrilled to receive funding to strengthen our partners’ ability to serve their communities, especially in times of acute crisis. By storing emergency food in central locations, we will ensure the community has access to critical services—without delay.” - Joel Sjostrom, President and CEO, Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano.

Marin Center for Independent Living will provide both an onsite and a digital “hub” for people living with disabilities to better navigate the disaster-related services and support available to them.

"If there's one thing the last few years have taught us, it's that we as community-based NGOs have to be ready for anything. The immediacy in which we now provide support within our communities means that we have to be both responsive and reactive. Projects like this where a partner like PG&E invests to make local communities more resilient are definitely needed. We are in an all hands on deck moment." - Eli Gelardin, Chief Executive Officer, Marin Center for Independent Living

Support Life Foundation will upgrade an existing well-known community building into a Resilience Hub including solar panels and batteries, electric lift, and air filter and conditioning units, as well as relevant communication and programs.

"To transform our program at the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California into a resilience hub is truly a dream coming true. We are already serving Oakland every single day; all that was needed was some financial investments in infrastructure to transform this community center into a resilience hub." - Salah Elbakri, Executive Director, Support Life Foundation

The program awarded $25,000 each to four Feasibility Projects to fund an assessment of resilience hub needs and/or conceptual ideas for a resilience hub. Grant recipients are the following organizations:

• Albany CERT Inc.
• Blue Lake Rancheria
• Cooperation Humboldt
• County of Santa Barbara

Additionally, the program awarded $100,000 each to three Design and Build Projects toward the design and/or creation of a resilience hub to the following grant recipients. Through these projects, the organizations will either plan and design new physical spaces or mobile resources, or retrofit existing buildings or structures to support community resilience.

• City of Richmond
• Hopland Band of Pomo Indians
• The Latino Equity Advocacy and Policy Institute (LEAP)

Feasibility Projects: Profiles of Grant Recipients

Albany CERT Inc. is an all-volunteer organization focused on the safety of City of Albany residents, especially during emergency situations. The organization will conduct outreach to collect community input on potential locations for resilience hubs, components and resources for hubs, and opportunities for training citizens on disaster preparation.

Blue Lake Rancheria will conduct a feasibility study of a Food-Anchored Resilience Hub at the site's Tribal Convenience Store and identify strategies to ensure access to food and other emergency items for identified vulnerable populations.

Working directly with community members, Cooperation Humboldt will conduct analyses to determine the site for a resilience hub and what functions it will provide to serve highest priority needs.

The County of Santa Barbara will use community input and data to identify a site and conceptual design for a pilot resilience hub to serve indigenous migrant communities and develop a design toolkit to further the practice throughout the County.

Design and Build Projects: Profiles of Grant Recipients

The City of Richmond will install portable solar panels at two existing community centers to create "power hubs" for residents to use electricity and WiFi during outages and emergencies. The clean electricity will be available for both outdoor and indoor use at the centers.

The Hopland Band of Pomo Indians' 'Pomo Inter-Tribal Resiliency Hub' will provide year-round workshops on climate adaptation, including demonstration projects on rainwater catchment systems, greywater systems, firesafe landscaping, aquaponics, and emergency response.

The LEAP Institute will build 16 Mobile Resilience Hubs, using the grant funding complemented by additional funding, and will provide training to community members to build and operate resilience hubs.