High transportation costs and access barriers can make it difficult for community college students to manage employment, household responsibilities, and education, negatively affecting their academic success. Understanding the state of existing transportation services and programs at California community colleges is a first step to addressing these barriers. We inventoried the transportation services, programs, and costs at 115 of the 116 California community colleges as advertised on each campus’ website. We found that most community colleges offer some form of parking or public transit student subsidies but little else. Due to the state education code, parking costs were similar across campuses. In contrast, transit pass costs varied from $0 to more than $100 per semester. On average, students paid more for transit passes than for parking permits. Throughout the search process, information on the campus’ transportation programs and services was difficult to locate since each campus posted this information in different places on their websites. The findings suggest that more colleges should consider offering low-cost transit passes by assessing a transportation fee or enacting partnerships with other government entities. California community colleges may also want to consider expanding how they provide transportation support and better publicizing information on transportation and standardizing how information is provided. Overall, community colleges, with the support of the State, have opportunities to better support students’ transportation needs to ensure that transportation access is not a barrier to educational outcomes.

The climate emergency and its dire impacts on frontline communities in the City of Los Angeles inspired the creation of the Climate Emergency Mobilization Office (CEMO) by January 2021, although the idea dates back to 2019. The office, guided by the principles of environmental justice, coordinates with the Mayor and City Council, and collaborates with City departments through meaningful engagement with frontline leaders and their communities. CEMO has also begun broader work to identify and enact equitable strategies and policies to prevent, mitigate, and undo impacts from past pollution and economic disinvestments, and to ensure that frontline communities have a strong voice in policy and decision-making in the City of Los Angeles. This work has been done in partnership with many advocacy groups, students, and scholars at UCLA including graduate-level Public Policy and Public Health students. Based on conversations between UCLA Urban Planning Professor Gregory Pierce, and Marta Segura, an agreement was reached for a “Comprehensive Project.” Thirteen graduate-level Urban Planning students worked with CEMO on heat equity planning and strategies over the course of UCLA academic year 2022-2023. This report reflects their efforts and the results of that partnership. The aim of this study was to identify gaps in the City’s intervention strategies that focus on populations most in need during extreme heat events: those who needed to make informational or emergency calls, bus transit riders, and those without indoor cooling access.