OVERVIEW
Through our partnership with California Resilience Partnership, the California Project Preparation Initiative (CPPI) will support communities in advancing infrastructure projects that build equity and resilience and show great promise for community impact by preparing these projects to capitalize upon unprecedented levels of federal and state funding.
The passage of the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, and of California’s historic 2021 and 2022 State budget, have unlocked a once in a generation amount of federal and state resources to support critical infrastructure investments. The need for these investments has never been more urgent, as communities across the state face mounting existential climate risks and historic inequality only exacerbated by the pandemic. The California Project Preparation Initiative aims to ensure that communities most in need of these investments can overcome barriers and achieve inter-generalization impact.
Program scope within a typical infrastructure project cycle
The Program will identify promising, community-supported projects and work with partners and key stakeholders to:
Create Stronger Project Narratives
Incorporate Additional Equity and Resilience Benefits
Mitigate Obstacles to Success
Identify State and Federal Funding Sources, Including Options for Meeting Local Match Requirements
Build Lasting Capacity to Develop Future Projects
Project leaders from selected communities may receive:
Assistance on writing competitive grant applications
Technical design and cost-benefit analysis support from leading global design and build firms
Capacity support in producing materials to help secure project funding, including a concept note and roadshow
Support for community engagement, including through small grants
Technical support in incorporating global best practices in project design in a way that best supports community needs
This program is funded to cover the following activities:
Project level kick-off sharing current state of project detail
Project diagnosis and planning for in-person workshops
Project Agenda Setting Workshop
Enhancing the impact story: Maturing the project goals
Mapping and understanding the Funding landscape
Community stakeholder input and design
High-level project work plan
Deeper project definition through Direct Technical Assistance
Could include:
Preliminary Design Drawings
Cost benefit analysis
Improved costing estimates & funding strategies
Enhanced project-benefits
Enhanced and competitive project narrative and roadshow
Clear funding roadmap
Federal and State Grant writing support
Action plan for next phases of project
ELIGIBILITY
PROJECT ELIGIBILITY
Project Size: The overall project cost must be between $5 million to $200 million
Infrastructure Component: The project must include an infrastructure component that serves under-resourced populations and the public at large as part of the design.
Beyond the Planning Stage: Projects aiming to develop climate action/resilience plans, hazard and feasibility studies, vulnerability assessments, and any other form of report/plan that does not involve a physical infrastructure component are NOT eligible.
Climate Change Component: The projects must address climate change through adaptive and/or mitigative measures.
Building Equity: The project must address community socio-economic inequities
Local Leadership Commitment: Local leadership is committed to this work and it's a local priority for state and/or federal funding.
Grounded in Community-based Planning: The project—or at least the general concept —has emerged from previous community-based planning efforts (like a general plan, resilience strategy, climate and resilience plans, or economic development plan).
In addition, project owners will aspire to incorporate the following principles as part of this process:
PROJECT LEADER ELIGIBILITY
Eligible project leaders include:
** State and Federal agencies are NOT eligible to apply for this program but can be a sub-contracted partner with a consortium of local public or non-profit entities.