Mountain View honored with ILG Beacon award for Day Worker Center's zero-emission landscaping program
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Summary
The Institute for Local Government presented Mountain View with a Beacon Leadership and Innovation Award for the city's Day Worker Center partnership to train day workers on zero-emission landscaping tools and run a tool-lending library, a program staff said advances climate and worker-health goals.
The Institute for Local Government presented the City of Mountain View with a 2025 Beacon Leadership and Innovation Award Thursday for the Day Worker Center's Zero-Emission Landscaping Training and Tool Lending Program.
"We are really impressed that by providing trainings and incentives to help day workers transition to zero-emission landscaping tools, the city has advanced both climate goals and community health," said Nikita Sinha, program manager at the Institute for Local Government, the nonprofit affiliate of the League of California Cities. Sinha joined the council via Zoom to make the presentation.
Mountain View Sustainability Officer Danielle Lee told the council the program represents cross-sector collaboration: the city, the Day Worker Center of Mountain View and other partners provide training, access to zero-emission equipment and incentives to reduce emissions from gas-powered leaf blowers and similar devices. "The zero-emission landscaping training and tool-lending library truly represents the best of how we are addressing sustainability at the local level," Lee said.
Maria Marroquin, executive director of the Day Worker Center of Mountain View, noted the program's workforce and job-quality benefits: "Besides all the benefits you already mentioned, the idea to create jobs for the workers is really important in our community," she said, adding the center's decades of worker support and local partnerships.
Why it matters: Staff said the program reduces greenhouse-gas emissions, addresses environmental-justice issues by reducing operators' exposure to pollutants, and creates a model for clean-equipment adoption combined with workforce training.
What the council did: The council accepted the award and thanked program staff and the Day Worker Center; no council action was required, and staff said the program will continue with anticipated further collaboration.
Ending: The award was presented electronically from the League of California Cities conference; city staff and Day Worker Center representatives stood at the lectern to accept and highlight next steps in the program.
