Environmental Justice

  • The California Strategic Growth Council funds the TCC Program for community-led planning, development, and implementation projects that achieve major environmental, health, and economic benefits in the state’s most disadvantaged communities. The program funds the communities most impacted by pollution to choose the strategies and projects best suited to achieve their community vision and enact transformational change.

    The Urban Collaborative Project (UCP) was awarded a two-year TCC Planning Grant to activate the Community Planning Collaborative for a Green Southeastern San Diego, piloting in the neighborhoods of Chollas View, Emerald Hills, and Lincoln Park (TCC Planning Area).

    The planning initiatives include:

    1. Urban Greening Plan

      • Identify and map priority areas for tree planting, green spaces, and community-led maintenance with the intent to provide clean air, environmental cooling, and walkable neighborhoods.

    2. Clean Mobility Vision

      • Identify clean mobility priorities through community walk audits and the Annual Transportation Justice Expo to gauge opportunities for safe walking paths, bike lanes, and electric vehicle infrastructure.

    3. Chollas View Neighborhood Equity Plan

      • Develop a Streetscapes Plan for Chollas View that outlines infrastructure improvements for health and environmental equity.

    4. Health & Environmental Justice (EJ) Education

      • Provide health and EJ education through Resident Leadership Academies, resulting in community improvement projects for greenhouse gas reduction, climate resiliency, and emergency preparedness.

    5. Community Land Trust (CLT)

      • Create a vision for a CLT that identifies land for community benefit and ownership, expanding economic opportunity, shared prosperity, and avoiding displacement.

    6. Anti-Displacement Strategies

      • Develop a holistic displacement avoidance plan by evaluating displacement pressures, researching best practices, and highlighting new developments coming to the area.

  • The Regional Decarbonization Framework (RDF) is a regionwide vision for achieving zero carbon emissions by 2045. It helps understand the greatest challenges this goal faces and envisions the next steps for community-driven climate action. UCP helps lead Community Climate Conversations, a series of community meetings dedicated to facilitating discussions and education surrounding sustainability, decarbonization, and potential community improvement projects.

  • As a historically underserved and redlined community, Chollas View has long been neglected equitable access to resources and investments when it comes to street safety, infrastructure, complete streets, and tree canopies. According to the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment's (OEHHA) CalEnviroScreen 4.0 tool, the Chollas View neighborhood scores at the highest level when it comes to cumulative public health and environmental impacts, and is further categorized as a "disadvantaged community" under SB 535. The Chollas View Neighborhood Equity Project aims to address the health, pollution, and environmental impacts in the Southeast San Diego Community of Chollas View by improving the public right of way through a comprehensive streetscape and infrastructure enhancement project. Our initiative aims to increase tree canopies in Chollas View to reduce the heat island effect and improve health outcomes, produce safer street corridors through infrastructure and street improvements, and will reduce VMT within the project boundaries and surrounding areas by working with local transportation partners to increase clean mobility options.