FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 4, 2025
Contact: Veronica Marquez, [email protected], 408-772-1986
$9 Million in State Funding Awarded to Bay Area Initiatives Advancing Climate Resilience and Economic Opportunity
As federal budget cuts loom, California has committed over $500M of funding towards high-quality jobs in disinvested communities
Ten Bay Area organizations leading pilot projects focused on equity, high-road jobs, climate mitigation, and resilience are set to receive $9 million awarded by the Bay Area Jobs First Steering Committee. This funding is part of the $287 million the state has invested since 2022 to drive bottom-up economic planning that creates good-paying, accessible jobs and sustainable economic growth across the state’s thirteen regions.
Last week the Governor Newsom announced an additional $245 million investment alongside the State Economic Blueprint, which lays out a plan for sustainable economic growth, innovation, and access to good-paying jobs over the next decade. The Catalyst projects funded by the Bay Area Jobs First Collaborative reflect the Blueprint’s key industries to address urgent needs, such as Clean Economy, Manufacturing, and Working Lands and Water.
“These projects meet long-term workforce and economic development needs in every corner of the Bay Area. They are varied and practical, creating job opportunities and building capacity in pre-apprenticeship programs, child care and early childhood education, transportation electrification, climate-resilient housing construction, and more,” said Kim Tavaglione, Executive Director of the San Francisco Labor Council, co-chair of the Bay Area Jobs First Collaborative’s Steering Committee.
The funding for projects came from the California Jobs First Regional Investment Initiative, launched in 2021 by Governor Newsom. California’s thirteen regional Collaboratives were each awarded $9 million through the Catalyst Pre-Development Phase of the Initiative to invest in project development that aligns with the region’s economic vision. This funding aims to move projects from pilots (“pre-development activities”) to ready-to-go projects that can compete for other funding opportunities from federal, state, and private sources.
“We are thrilled to support these ten projects, which will create long-lasting regional economic development infrastructure that centers and empowers communities and workers, creates quality jobs, and addresses long-standing inequalities and climate vulnerabilities,” said Aaron Burnett, Director of Policy & Civic Engagement of Canal Alliance, another co-chair of the Bay Area Jobs First Collaborative’s Steering Committee.
Following a competitive application process, the Bay Area Jobs First Collaborative’s Steering Committee chose the following projects to receive funding.
- Anchoring Worker Cooperative Hubs, led by SOMOS Mayfair in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, will develop a viable plan to create new Worker Cooperative Hubs that offer technical assistance, capital access, leadership development, and climate and labor rights education.
- Bay Area High-Road Manufacturing Initiative, led by Working Partnerships USA in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Solano Counties, will develop a high-road manufacturing ecosystem centered on job quality, equity, and sustainability.
- Catalyzing Quality Careers in Building Decarbonization led by Rising Sun Center for Opportunity in all nine Bay Area counties will address two critical barriers to successful residential building decarbonization: ensuring job quality and preparing a skilled workforce.
- High Road Clean Transportation Career Pathways led by the West Oakland Job Resource Center in Alameda and Marin counties will research, design, and pilot a model to create equitable access to quality transportation careers that address the climate crisis.
- High Road to Early Childhood Education Consortium led by the Santa Clara County Office of Education in Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, and San Mateo counties will increase the availability and affordability of childcare and early childhood education, improve job quality, climate resilience, and opportunities for workforce mobility.
- Indigenous and Immigrant Farm Workers Building a Climate Resilience Workforce led by North Bay Jobs with Justice in Marin, Napa, and Sonoma counties will develop and implement a first-of-its-kind training series to equip Spanish speakers with the experience and skills to do fuel reduction and vegetation management work.
- Providing High-Road Jobs to Latina Women Serving Their Community led by UpValley Family Centers of Napa County will support Latina women volunteering as community health workers (promotoras) to enter high-road, quality jobs.
- Regenerative Jobs Program led by Greenbelt Alliance in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, and San Francisco counties will provide underrepresented groups with equitable access to environmental education and workforce training, aligning with the expressed needs of disadvantaged communities.
- The East Contra Costa Healthy Homes Collaborative led by Richmond Community Foundation Connects in Contra Costa County will support California’s net-zero emissions goals by prioritizing equity and raising the floor for residential trade workers through building electrification.
- TWI High School Girls Construction Camp led by Trades Women, Inc. in Marin and Sonoma counties will tackle the underrepresentation of women in the construction industry by introducing high school students to career opportunities in the trades.
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Find more information about the Catalyst projects selected here. All Home, regional convener for the Bay Area Jobs First Collaborative, can provide more information and/or connect reporters to spokespeople at each organization if you would like to profile particular projects in your area.
