CRC has teamed up with another Bay Area non-profit, Fresh Approach , to increase awareness and education about climate change and its impacts. This project is intended for East Palo Alto residents and other community based organizations (CBOs) who will contribute to effective community-driven adaptation and mitigation strategies. Together we will build community awareness around nature-based solutions for climate resilience and how climate change is contributing to negative health outcomes in the community i.e. asthma, mental health. The community resilience hub will also instate two retrofitted public spaces for folks to access resources and cooling centers to find refuge during the hottest days of the year.

The resilience hubs will be established through a series of training sessions that will engage folks on the importance of rain gardens, rain barrels, and other small-scale solutions that help to mitigate flooding, extreme heat, and other climate change impacts. A series of 6 community workshops will be implemented for East Palo Alto residents and 10 workshops will be held for CBOs over the next couple of years. The training sessions will cover topics such as rain gardens (what the benefits are to how to install and maintain them), health & climate change, droughts, fires, heat, water management, flooding, sea level rise, pollution, air quality and much more! The two retrofitted public community hubs will also serve as training and demonstration spaces to show participants how to install, maintain, and manage nature-based solutions in addition to helping folks access resources and to cool off.

Stay connected with us to see updates on when and where the first demonstration rain garden will be built and the first workshop series implemented!