Resilience Building in Action

California Resilience Partnership’s Project Preparation Program

The California Resilience Partnership’s California Project Preparation Initiative (CPPI) supports 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. CRP PPP aims to ensure that communities most in need of these investments can overcome barriers and achieve inter-generalization impact. RCC is fundraising towards a $10.8M Project Prep Fund to advance 20 projects across the State of California.

With generous support from Conrad N. Hilton in 2022, Resilient Cities Catalyst kickstarted the California Project Preparation Initiative, moving the program from design thinking into project selection. With demonstration projects launching in the Greater Los Angeles and Sacramento regions, the RCC team has been focused on enabling and engaging multiple project owners and city stakeholders across the two regions to discuss infrastructure projects that intersect climate and address socio-economic inequities that serve historically marginalized communities. Project owners and stakeholders have begun nominating projects that vary from creek restoration, mobility, affordable housing upgrades and redevelopment. Judging for the project selection process will be conducted by RCC and the CRP Advisory Board, with an independent Environmental Justice advisor supporting in both regions to ensure a strong equity component is built into the center of the program’s design.