Richmond Rising partners report early gains on trees, solar and health programs; city opens annual contract-amendment window

Richmond Rising partners reported progress across neighborhood transportation, energy, greening and workforce programs at the Stakeholder Collaborative Committee’s regular meeting on June 4, 2025, where UC Berkeley researchers highlighted first-year indicators and city staff opened a one-time annual window for contract modifications.

The committee heard project-by-project status updates — including the Richmond Wellness Trail, an e-bike lending library, Resilient Homes installations, tree-planting and food access work — and cross-cutting items such as a new cohort of youth fellows and a paid solar-installation training (IBT 200). Jason Corburn, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said the year-one progress report documents early outcomes across the portfolio: “Just based on the trees that were planted last year and the solar installations . . . the projects reduced over 568 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in the project area,” he said, and reported reductions in nitrogen oxides and PM2.5 from tree plantings and other activity.

The meeting also included a public comment expressing frustration over maintenance needs on completed amenities. Jim Becker, a community member, said he walked the Wellness Trail and was disappointed by weeds and lack of upkeep. “It was disappointing to see the wellness trail full of weeds and everything, because it’s such a beautiful space,” Becker said. Matthias Husterbrock, a City of Richmond staff member supporting partners, responded that staff have logged the concern with city service channels and urged residents to report locations through the city app or 2-1-1 so the city can document requests and build a case for funding maintenance.

Why it matters: Richmond Rising is a $35 million Transformative Climate Communities award managed by the City of Richmond and local partners to deliver climate, health and economic benefits in the Iron Triangle, Santa Fe and Coronado neighborhoods. The collaborative committee provides guidance and recommendations to project leads but does not hold final decision-making authority. Committee members and residents use the meetings to track progress, ask for clarifications and surface problems such as vandalism of shared bikes and long-term maintenance of new public assets.

Program and budget updates: Project leads provided current expenditures, remaining budgets and near-term plans. Highlights reported to the committee included:

- City of Richmond (program coordination and Neighborhood Complete Streets): expenditures to date about $342,000; remaining budget $351,000. The city is facilitating Collaborative Stakeholder Committee meeting number 15 and coordinating invoices to the state.

- Neighborhood Complete Streets (Harbor Way segment): the City reported a project subtotal of about $95,000 spent and a remaining project budget of approximately $5,080,000; design comments are under review and consultants will produce 65% plans in coming weeks.

- Richmond Wellness Trail (Trust for Public Land): $250,000 spent to date; remaining budget about $4.5 million. Work includes 60% construction document review and coordination with PG&E and PlaceWorks; schedule anticipates continued design and art/wayfinding planning.

- E-bike lending/library (Rich City Rise): roughly $200,000 expended; remaining budget about $2.2 million. Staff are preparing an updated budget for a June city council meeting and coordinating outreach, including a Juneteenth raffle.

- Resilient Homes (GRID Alternatives, MCE): $818,000 expended; remaining budget about $6.1 million. Activities include client installs, outreach and partnership with Rebuilding Together on ADU permitting assistance.

- Urban Tilth (water-efficiency and distributed orchards): about $287,000 expended; remaining budget about $1.3 million. The group reported six installed water-conservation systems and annual water savings estimated at 38,100 gallons from completed installs.

- Tree planting / Posca Del Barrio: $170,000 expended; remaining budget about $900,000. The project has planted nine trees since the last meeting, adding to a prior total of 142 trees in the project area, and will recruit a summer green team starting June 17.

- ADA-accessible garden at Unity Park: $93,000 expended; remaining budget about $861,000. Plans were revised per city plan-review comments; the project expects to advertise in June with a bid opening in mid-July and potential construction start in September.

- Orchard for All and VeggieRx food-access activities: Orchard for All reported $173,000 spent and $994,000 remaining; VeggieRx reported $772,000 spent and about $2.4 million remaining. VeggieRx and climate health promoters distributed thousands of veggie boxes and have hosted cooking demonstrations and climate-friendly diet workshops.

- Workforce development / IBT 200 (GRID Alternatives): GRID reported graduation of a five-person IBT 200 cohort (solar installation basics) on May 16 and plans for a new cohort starting June 23. Alex Shade, workforce manager at GRID Alternatives, described the five-week, 200-hour paid training that combines classroom instruction, field installation and employment-readiness work: “It is a full-time program . . . the ones for Richmond residents are always going to be paid thanks to this grant,” Shade said.

- UC Berkeley indicator tracking and evaluation: UC Berkeley researchers reported completion of a year-one progress report and described ongoing data collection and a series of case studies to illustrate impacts, with year-two reporting scheduled as the grant year ends in July.

Youth, engagement and events: The committee confirmed expansion of youth fellow seats: five youth fellows joined the Collaborative Stakeholder Committee and will help lead outreach and events, including a community bike ride on July 5 (Lucas Park, 10 a.m.–noon). Partners also promoted a community celebration at Unity Park on Aug. 23 (10 a.m.–2 p.m.) and participation in the Juneteenth parade and festival.

Contract modifications window and next steps: City staff announced the annual amendment period with the state’s Strategic Growth Council — the one-time yearly window for contract and budget modifications. Matthias Husterbrock and implementing staff asked project leads to prepare proposed changes, supporting documents and redlined budgets/work plans and to meet with staff promptly; the city will bundle and submit amendment requests to the state. Staff emphasized that missed items must wait until next year’s window.

Public-safety and operations notes: Committee members raised two operational issues during Q&A. Jim Becker described maintenance needs on the Wellness Trail; Matthias Husterbrock urged residents to log requests via the City of Richmond app or 2-1-1 so the city can document locations and costs. Project leads and city staff also reported recent coordination to address vandalism affecting e-bike charging stations and said the city appointed a primary contact to manage repairs.

Votes at a glance: The committee moved and seconded acceptance of the minutes from the May 7, 2025 meeting; the motion text was recorded as “receive and accept with the necessary corrections.” The transcript records the motion and second, but does not record a roll-call tally or final vote outcome.

What’s next: Project leads will continue design and permitting steps (neighborhood complete streets, ADA garden, Wellness Trail), coordinate upcoming community events and finalize amendment requests for the state. UC Berkeley and partner interns will continue indicator tracking and prepare a year-two progress report for public release later this summer.