Bay Area Coalition Awarded Grant for Unprecedented Regional Green Jobs Initiative

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 27, 2022

Contact: Edie Irons, [email protected], 510-334-1344

The Bay Area High Road Transition Collaborative, a new group of 52 organizations led by All Home and the Bay Area Good Jobs Partnership for Equity, have been awarded a $5 million Community Economic Resilience Fund planning grant by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research to develop and implement inclusive, sustainable economic strategies in the Bay Area. 

The Community Economic Resilience Fund (CERF) is a $600 million fund to build a more environmentally sustainable and equitable economy across California over the next several years, with a focus on historically marginalized communities. 

The purpose of CERF is to:

  • Support the development of inclusive regional planning processes that produce roadmaps for economic development efforts that prioritize the creation of accessible, high-quality jobs in sustainable industries. 
  • Invest in projects proposed by regional planning tables that meet criteria for equity, job quality, and sustainability, among others. 
  • Align and leverage state, federal, philanthropic and private-sector investments in regions to maximize economic development efforts and advance a carbon-neutral economy. 

The State is funding planning processes in 13 regions, including the Bay Area, to advance “high-road economic development,” which supports environmentally sustainable businesses that pay living wages and create opportunities for career growth.

“We believe the CERF process can unlock access to quality jobs and real economic opportunity, especially for people who’ve been excluded in the past, while moving us towards a carbon-neutral regional economy,” said Jay Banfield, Chief Economic Mobility Officer of All Home, the regional convener of the Bay Area High Road Transition Collaborative (Bay Area HRTC). “Ensuring everyone in our region can thrive is key to addressing our biggest challenges, including climate resilience, income inequality, and housing insecurity.” 

The Bay Area HRTC’s Fiscal Agent is the Bay Area Good Jobs Partnership for Equity (BAGJPE), an association of ten workforce development boards covering the entire nine-county Bay Area region and coordinated by the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development. By working closely with government agencies across Bay Area cities and counties, the Bay Area HRTC will help leverage state investments with local programs and partnerships to help reach those underrepresented communities that CERF is designed to serve. 

BAGJPE is enthused to support this unique new regional collaboration,” said Tamia Brown, Executive Director of the Workforce Development Board of Contra Costa County and member of the Bay Area Good Jobs Partnership for Equity. “Humanizing access to opportunity and working toward a more equitable economy for marginalized communities across the Bay Area will strengthen our communities and the entire Bay Area.”

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See quotes and press contacts from Bay Area elected officials and HRTC members including the BlueGreen Alliance, Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), Working Partnerships, The Bay Area Council Economic Institute, Labor Council leaders and more.

See more details about the Bay Area High Road Transition Collaborative, including a list of all 52 inaugural members.

Learn more about CERF from the State of California.