Northern California

Emerald Cities Bay Area was founded to bring labor and community together to ensure inclusive economic opportunities in greening our cities. EC Bay Area develops sustainable projects such as clean energy, green infrastructure, and food procurement, which aim to contribute to the resilience of our metropolitan region while providing low-income communities of color with an equity stake in the green economy. To achieve this, EC Bay Area is leveraging the purchasing power of local anchor institutions, building the capacity of minority-and-women-owned contractors, and advocating for equitable approaches to residential building and electrification. Over the years, the organization has collaborated with local community partners, city and regional agencies to achieve a just transition to residential building decarbonization. This has involved facilitating energy and water efficiency retrofits projects in affordable housing. Emerald Cities Bay Area is committed to advocate for deep community engagement, establishing equity-first hubs, promoting high road labor standards, and building the capacity of environmental justice communities to engage in this important work.

Local Initiatives & Programs

Resources

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the research and findings conducted for The Building Electrification Equity (The BEE) Project. The BEE Project was established with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the costs and benefits of building electrification for low-income communities of color, and to ensure that these communities are included as active participants in the major policy arena of the electrification movement.

In collaboration with PODER and ECC Bay Area, this toolkit shares perspectives and best practices for community engagement around equity and climate resiliency through anchor-community strategies, with a focus on addressing the social and economic vulnerabilities of low-income communities and communities of color. The toolkit aims to promote institutionalized community engagement in building decarbonization and electrification initiatives to move towards equity, climate resilience, and economic inclusion.

Establishing a shared understanding of purpose is a critical first step to advancing equity in buildings work. A clearly articulated purpose statement serves as a compass for navigating the decisions and tradeoffs inherent in addressing the complexities of inequity while advancing sustainability. Creating a “why statement” together with stakeholders and partners is an important first step toward mutual understanding and shared power.
As the Road Map to Emerald Cities explains, the engine of the Emerald Cities Initiative is a dynamic partnership between labor and community and a common pledge to work together: to green our cities in ways that address the threat of climate change and chart a high-road path to economic revitalization; to build our communities in ways that create good jobs and promote equality; and, to strengthen our democracy in ways that give greater voice to community and labor and increase access to consequential decisionmaking about the urban future.

This toolkit is intended to help communities across the United States take meaningful steps toward equitably electrifying their existing housing stock through a planning process designed to maximize engagement and co-ownership between local governments and frontline community groups. The content was developed jointly by RMI and Emerald Cities Collaborative for the 2021–2022 Equitable Home Electrification Program, a community of practice between 10 teams representing local governments and community organizations

Our Team

For more information about work being done in the region, feel free to reach out to the 

Northern California team.

Regional Director, Northern California  

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Economic Inclusion Manager, Northern California

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Senior Economic Inclusion Manager, Northern California

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Community Engagement and Policy Manager,
Northern California

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Program Coordinator,
Northern California

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