The Stanislaus Sustainable Communities Coalition (SSCC) is a regional collaborative of community-based organizations in the Modesto area that has spent several years working to ensure that the Environmental Justice element of Modesto’s General Plan reflects the priorities of frontline residents rather than being shaped exclusively by city staff and consultants. Beginning before the city’s own General Plan process was underway, the SSCC used a two-year $50,000 grant from ClimatePlan, managed by the California Health Collaborative, to conduct 11 community watch parties (10 in Spanish) reaching 135 residents through guided discussions on General Plan basics. CivicSpark fellow Zoe Jonick spearheaded the outreach process, and direct investment went back into the community through stipends for watch party hosts and food for participants. The coalition then hired a consultant to translate community themes into formal policy recommendations, returning to residents at each stage to verify that the document reflected what they had actually said. When the City of Modesto subsequently presented the coalition’s own community-generated data as city work without consent, the SSCC responded by building a formal, independently owned policy document that tied resident input directly to specific General Plan recommendations, shifting the coalition’s role from advisory to accountable co-author. The SSCC is currently engaged in active advocacy with both the City of Modesto, which is in the land use and policy development phase, and Stanislaus County, which is in the outreach phase of its own General Plan, with both jurisdictions expected to finalize their processes by 2027.