Past Events

Catalyst Convening Summary

San Diego is a binational area and has multiple distinct bioregions, so solutions must be tailored to the specific conditions in each region: i.e. beach, mountain, urban. San Diego can be a great example for the state of how to achieve climate goals and have broad benefits for the community.
Focusing on climate and resilience, pay attention to what indigenous stewards of the land have known for at least 12,000 years (time immemorial), because these are the people who have always been the stewards of this land and continent. Keep in mind where longevity comes from, and the mistakes that have been made by people who don’t know this land as well.
Climate is not a separate bucket from housing, water, energy, and food. It’s all connected. Many governments are not seeing climate as intersectional and instrumental to all the issues we care about it, but these investments must be protected in budgets. For example, the energy transition requires basic infrastructure investments, ensuring access for tribes.

Prioritize partnerships with tribes to develop the energy sources and work with tribes’ sovereign status to develop tribal owned utilities.
Make state grant application process easier and ensure that applications and program guidelines consider and prioritize tribal sovereignty.
There is a need to bridge the gap in funding and programs given the limiting and uncertainty around federal funding.

The state should tap into and invest in what is already happening in the region. There are already folks providing technical assistance, so there is no need to reinvent the wheel.
Organizations want non-competitive block grants where they themselves can decide where the money is distributed within their region.
There is an interest in developing a directory of groups who can provide technical assistance and other programs and are ready to connect with the CBOs who know local communities and can ensure that the appropriate agencies/organizations are applying to funding opportunities.