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Nonprofit says expanded outreach and grant boosted East Palo Alto safety and EJ input
Summary
Climate Resilient Communities staff described multilingual workshops, stakeholder meetings and an expanded survey funded by a Climate Smart Communities grant; commissioners pressed for details on participation and next steps for the safety and environmental justice elements.
Camille Lang, director of outreach and education at Climate Resilient Communities, told the Planning Commission the nonprofit co‑led extensive public outreach for East Palo Alto's Environmental Justice and safety element updates and that a Climate Smart Communities grant expanded that work.
Lang said the team conducted workshops in English, Spanish and Pacific Islander languages and ran a survey that grew from an original scope of 133 respondents to 266 after the grant-funded expansion. "So for the safety element in 2024, we... met with 83 residents that attended our phase 1, safety element workshops," Lang said.
Staff presented the project timeline, saying the safety element kickoff was July 2023, the first engagement round took place last summer, phase two began in February and will continue through fall 2025. Staff told commissioners comments to the project consultant are due at the end of August and a public draft will be released mid‑September, with expected commission and council consideration in late winter or early 2026.
Commissioners asked how many community‑based organizations were contacted; Lang said CRC scoped 10 CBOs, reached out to 12 and seven had capacity to participate. Staff added the workshops and surveys reached additional organizations and residents beyond those formal partners.
The presentation emphasized multilingual outreach and targeted focus groups; staff said the disadvantaged‑community maps and PlaceWorks vulnerability assessment informed follow‑up questions and focus groups. The next procedural step is release of the public draft and an additional opportunity for commissioners and residents to comment before the element returns for adoption consideration.
