Inclusive Planning - California Climate and Energy Collaborative

Barrier 2: Inclusive Planning

Barrier Statement

Authentic community resilience is hindered by shallow, inequitable engagement processes that exclude marginalized, tribal and rural communities, devalue Indigenous and lived knowledge, and fail to build trust, safety, and long-term collaboration across government and community.

Filterable Database

How communities are experiencing this barrier

View the details on what communities have shared with SLECC from across the state.

Key challenge discussed in - San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Statewide

Resilience Planning Excludes Indigenous, Tribal, and Frontline Leadership. Resilience planning often marginalizes Indigenous knowledge, Tribal sovereignty, and the lived experience of frontline, rural, immigrant, and unhoused communities. Structural, geographic, cultural, and logistical barriers—including misaligned timelines, language access gaps, digital inequities, and exclusion from regional decision-making—prevent authentic leadership and result in strategies disconnected from on-the-ground conditions.

Key challenge discussed in - San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Statewide

Transactional Engagement and Trust Deficits Undermine Participation. Resilience engagement is often tied to short-term grants or one-off processes, resulting in shallow participation that devalues lived and Indigenous knowledge. Historic harms, competitive funding, generational disinvestment, and safety concerns—particularly for undocumented residents—have eroded trust, reducing community willingness to engage or sustain involvement in resilience planning.

Key challenge discussed in - Statewide

Power Imbalances Undermine Community-Led Resilience. Participants described resilience efforts where institutions retain decision-making authority while community-based organizations and residents are asked to provide input without shared power or control. These dynamics limit community ownership of resilience outcomes.

Key challenge discussed in - San Francisco Bay Area

Community-based organizations face severe capacity constraints, compounded by siloed and duplicative agency engagement: CBOs are underfunded, administratively overburdened, and stretched thin while multiple agencies approach them separately with overlapping requests.

Key challenge discussed in - San Diego

Breakdowns in communication across government levels: Community organizations, local governments, and state agencies often communicate in silos, creating gaps in information flow that limit collaborative climate action

Local Solution Opportunities

SLECC stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by local leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.

Local Solution

Integrate Indigenous Knowledge and Leadership as Core Resilience Expertise. Local and regional resilience planning should recognize Traditional Ecological Knowledge and lived experience as foundational expertise by centering Indigenous leadership and stewardship practices through long-term, compensated partnerships. Authentic application of practices such as cultural burning and land stewardship strengthens fire resilience, adaptation outcomes, and trust.

Existing Examples of Progress:

Further Progress Pathways

Region(s): San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Statewide

Local Solution

Co-Lead Resilience Efforts with Trusted Community Partners. Local governments can partner with trusted, culturally rooted CBOs—including promotoras, Tribal partners, youth networks, and faith-based groups—to co-design and deliver resilience activities using multilingual, trauma-informed approaches in community-based settings, improving participation and relevance for frontline residents.

Existing Examples of Progress:

Further Progress Pathways

Region(s): San Francisco Bay Area, Statewide

Local Solution

Use Culturally Grounded Engagement Approaches. Local governments and community partners can strengthen resilience planning by acknowledging and integrating cultural diversity as an asset, tailoring engagement methods to cultural context—particularly for Tribal and rural communities—to build trust and enable meaningful participation.

Existing Examples of Progress:

Further Progress Pathways

Region(s): San Diego, Statewide

State Solution Opportunities

SLECC stakeholders have brainstormed the following solution opportunities that can be taken by state leaders. Existing examples of progress or pathways to make further progress are highlighted if known.

State Solution

Invest in Community-Embedded and Regional Engagement Infrastructure. The state can strengthen resilience outcomes by directly funding trusted community-based and Tribal organizations as long-term partners, rather than relying on external consultants or one-off contracts. Supporting regional and subregional engagement structures—such as collaboratives or networks—helps ensure consistent frontline, Tribal, and rural participation across jurisdictions, improving trust, access, and program effectiveness.

Existing Examples of Progress:

Further Progress Pathways

Region(s): San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Statewide

State Solution

Recognize and Institutionalize Indigenous Knowledge as State-Level Resilience Expertise. The state should formally recognize Traditional Ecological Knowledge and lived experience as legitimate resilience expertise—particularly for fire, land stewardship, and ecosystem-based adaptation—and operationalize this shift by removing administrative barriers, compensating Tribal practitioners, and funding long-term partnerships that center Indigenous leadership in regional and local resilience planning.

Existing Examples of Progress:

Further Progress Pathways

Region(s): San Francisco Bay Area, Statewide

State Solution

Fund multi-year, flexible engagement efforts that recognize relationship-building as essential work—covering community stipends, access supports, and the sustained time and resources needed to build trust with frontline, Indigenous, rural, and immigrant communities.

Existing Examples of Progress:

Further Progress Pathways

Region(s): San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego

Solution Spotlight

Climate Science Alliance is an organization facilitating collaborative, community-based climate initiatives in the San Diego region. Their work was presented as a trusted convener and connector between local communities, tribes, and scientific partners.

Wellspring Consortium – A bioregional collaborative planning model focused on integrating ecological and cultural priorities in climate crisis response

Tippe Hua’s work to secure indigenous access to preserved areas for cultural practices

Johnny Bear described creating a project about lightning/shaluk and waterways, which ties into Kumeyaay family orientation and cultural knowledge. The emphasis was on storytelling and cultural education as a method to reintroduce traditional ecological knowledge into contemporary community contexts.

Groundwork San Diego’s Resident Empowerment Training in traditional ecological knowledge, blue-green infrastructure, and neighborhood-scale planning. The training involved 25 residents, who learned technical and cultural approaches and then developed climate-safe neighborhood concept plans.

Cultural signage (Hear Our Names project) – Signs in Kumeyaay, Spanish, and English connect communities with landscapes through Indigenous language and cultural recognition

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Additional Resources

Please share any additional resources you would like to include by emailing eecoordinator@civicwell.org.