UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation

(TCC) is an innovative investment in community-scale climate action, with potentially broad implications. Launched in 2017 by the California State Legislature, TCC funds the implementation of neighborhood-level transformative plans that include multiple coordinated projects to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The program is also designed to provide an array of local economic, environmental, and health benefits to disadvantaged communities, while minimizing the risk of displacement. TCC empowers the communities most impacted by pollution to choose their own goals, strategies, and projects to enact transformational change — all with data-driven milestones and measurable outcomes. The California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) serves as the lead administrator of TCC. At the time of this report, it had awarded 11 TCC implementation grants to 11 communities across the state (ranging from $9.1 million to $66.5 million per site). Additionally, SGC has awarded 25 TCC planning grants to communities that are in the early stages of forming a coalition to address local climate action goals (ranging from $94,000 to $300,000 per site). The state legislature has allocated funding to distribute two additional rounds of TCC grants.1 The UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI) serves as the lead evaluator in five communities that have received TCC implementation grants: all three Round 1 sites (Fresno, Ontario, and Watts), one Round 2 site (Northeast San Fernando Valley), and one Round 3 site (Stockton). LCI researchers are working with these communities to document their progress and evaluate the impacts of TCC investments. This progress report is the third in a series of five annual reports that will provide an overview of the funded projects, key accomplishments, and estimated benefits of TCC activities in the Northeast San Fernando Valley, collectively referred to as Green Together.2 This specific report documents progress through the end of FY 2021-2022, which overlaps with about 42 months of program implementation for leveraged projects (December 2018 to June 2022), almost 25 months of implementation for funded projects (May 2020 through June 2022), and three years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Leveraged projects were allowed to begin when the grant was awarded; funded projects could begin at the time of grant execution. Project partners’ responses to the pandemic are also highlighted throughout the report.