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Date: |
September 15, 2026 |
23 |
Title
Authorization to apply for the Community Resilience Centers Implementation Grant with the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans for Global Village (District: 4)
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Overview
The California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) has recently announced the availability of grant funding from the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024 for Round 2 of the Community Resilience Centers (CRC) Program. The CRC Program aims to fund the construction or renovation of neighborhood resilience centers that provide shelter and resources during climate-related emergencies and support year-round community services and programming. The CRC Round 2 Implementation Grants provide up to $10 million per award. The CRC Program prioritizes facilities that serve priority populations, including residents with limited English proficiency, older adults, people with disabilities, and low-income households. It also requires that each funded facility develop a CRC Emergency Plan in coordination with their County Office of Emergency Services, and a year-round Community Resilience Plan.
The Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA) is developing Global Village, a 2.2-acre mixed-use affordable housing and community resilience development located in the Mid-City community of the City of San Diego. Global Village will serve as the region's first culturally responsive community resilience hub for refugee and immigrant communities, providing 144 units of deeply affordable housing alongside approximately 50,000 square feet of civic, cultural, and community wellness space. San Diego has been among the nation's leading refugee resettlement cities for decades, with thousands of newly arrived refugees resettled annually and tens of thousands of refugee and immigrant residents across the region. These residents are among San Diego County’s most climate-vulnerable populations, yet they remain systematically underserved by existing emergency response systems that lack multilingual capacity, cultural competency, and trusted institutional relationships within their communities.
PANA is seeking a CRC Round 2 Implementation Grant to fund the resilience infrastructure, programming, and emergency planning components of Global Village, and has requested the County of San Diego to serve as a co-applicant and emergency management partner. The County of San Diego's co-applicant role is important to satisfy this requirement and to ensure that Global Village is formally integrated into the County's regional emergency management and planning.
Today's proposed action authorizes the Chief Administrative Officer, or their designee, to partner with lead applicant PANA in submitting a CRC Round 2 Implementation Grant application for the Global Village project, and to prepare all required application components in collaboration with PANA and other co-applicants.
The Implementation Grant application period closes on September 30, 2026, prior to the next Board of Supervisors General Legislative Session. Due to this deadline, a waiver for Board Policy A-72 is required.
Body
Recommendation by Vice-Chair Monica Montgomery Steppe
1) Waive Board Policy A-72 Agenda and Related Process, Section 2.C.2.ii, which establishes required timelines for review when preparing a Board Letter.
2) Authorize the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), or their designee, to partner with the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA) as a co-applicant in the submission of a Community Resilience Centers (CRC) Round 2 Implementation Grant application to the California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) for the Global Village project, including the authority to conduct all negotiations, sign co-applicant certifications, apply for and accept grant funds, and execute all required grant documents, including any extensions or amendments thereof that do not materially impact or alter the grant programs or funding levels.
3) Authorize the CAO, or their designee, to support lead applicant PANA in the development and execution of all CRC Implementation Grant application components that require co-applicant involvement.
4) Authorize the CAO, or designee, upon selection for award, to execute all grant agreements, memoranda of understanding, and related documents with PANA and/or SGC, and execute all documents necessary to implement the County of San Diego's role as co-applicant and emergency management partner for the Global Village project, subject to availability of funds and consistent with CRC Program requirements.
5) Waive Board Policy B-29, Fees, Grants, Revenue Contracts - Department Responsibility for Cost Recovery, which requires prior approval of grant applications and full cost recovery for grants.
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Equity Impact Statement
This proposed action centers the County's emergency response infrastructure around San Diego’s refugee and immigrant communities that have been historically underserved by mainstream emergency systems. The Global Village project directly advances the County's commitment to equity in emergency preparedness and climate resilience by creating the region's first culturally responsive resilience hub designed to serve residents speaking more than 30 languages, including communities from East Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and beyond.
Residents of City Heights and surrounding Mid-City neighborhoods are among the County's most climate-vulnerable populations. The neighborhood ranks in the top 25 percent of CalEnviroScreen-designated disadvantaged communities, reflecting elevated burdens of air pollution, poverty, limited English proficiency, housing cost burden, and reduced access to cooling resources. During the County's most severe recent heat events, refugee and immigrant households lacked access to multilingual emergency communications, culturally appropriate shelter options, and trusted community institutions capable of navigating the emergency response system on their behalf. The shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego underscored that the safety needs of this community extend beyond climate emergencies to include physical security and community trauma response.
By partnering with PANA to establish Global Village as a formal component of the County's emergency response infrastructure, this action dismantles structural barriers to safety and dignity for some of the County's most underserved residents, ensuring that the promise of emergency protection extends equally to all San Diegans, regardless of the language they speak.
Sustainability Impact Statement
This proposed action supports the County of San Diego’s sustainability goals of economic stability, local resilience and climate hazard mitigation. Global Village is designed to remain operational when the power grid fails, through rooftop solar energy generation, full battery backup systems, and an emergency generator, ensuring that its cooling and shelter functions are available precisely during the extreme heat and wildfire events most likely to cause grid disruptions. The facility will be constructed with fire-resistant materials and windows throughout, providing a hardened resilience infrastructure asset within a neighborhood that has experienced increasing wildfire smoke exposure and extreme heat frequency due to climate change.
Fiscal Impact
There is no fiscal impact associated with this recommendation. Matching funds are not required for this grant. There will be no change in net General Fund cost and no additional staff years.
Business Impact Statement
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Advisory Board Statement
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Background
The California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) has recently announced the availability of grant funding from the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024 for Round 2 of the Community Resilience Centers (CRC) Program. The CRC Program aims to fund the construction or renovation of neighborhood resilience centers that provide shelter and resources during climate-related emergencies and support year-round community services and programming. The CRC Round 2 Implementation Grants provide up to $10 million per award for a grant term of approximately five years, with eligible activities including capital construction, resilience infrastructure (including solar, battery storage, and backup generation), emergency planning, community engagement, workforce development, and ongoing programming. The CRC Program prioritizes facilities that serve priority populations, including residents with limited English proficiency, older adults, people with disabilities, and low-income households. It also requires that each funded facility develop a CRC Emergency Plan in coordination with their County Office of Emergency Services, and a year-round Community Resilience Plan.
The Partnership for Advancement of New Americans (PANA) is a San Diego-based nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to the advancement of refugee and immigrant communities through affordable housing, economic development, environmental resilience, and community empowerment. Since 2015, PANA has advocated for the full economic, social, and civic inclusion of refugees and other displaced populations in the San Diego region, throughout California, and across the country. In early 2023, PANA's affiliate, PANA Holding Corporation, completed the acquisition of the 2.2-acre site in the Mid-City community of City Heights in the City of San Diego, adjacent to the planned Chollas Triangle Park. They led an 18-month process to engage community members in the design and development of the Global Village project.
As a regional emergency facility, Global Village will serve underserved communities during wildfires, floods, extreme heat, public health emergencies and other events that affect the health and safety of some of our most vulnerable residents. It will be a place equipped for crisis, staffed with multilingual teams, and built to reach communities traditionally left out of the emergency systems. Constructed with fire-resistant materials and powered by solar energy with full backup systems, Global Village will remain open when the grid goes down, serving as a reliable cooling zone and emergency shelter.
Global Village is planned as a mixed-use development integrating 144 units of deeply affordable housing with approximately 50,000 square feet of civic and community wellness space, including co-working and gathering space for grassroots ethnic-based community organizations, multilingual programming and resource centers, cultural event venues, and resilience infrastructure. A dedicated multilingual resilience information center will provide residents with year-round access to emergency preparedness materials in more than 30 languages, including guidance on family emergency planning, wildfire evacuation, extreme heat response, and public health emergencies.
San Diego has been among the nation’s leading refugee resettlement cities for decades, with thousands of newly arrived refugees resettled annually and tens of thousands of refugee and immigrant residents across the region. In fact, refugees and immigrants make up approximately 21.5 percent of the county’s population. A culturally responsive resilience hub like Global Village, capable of serving the region’s large and growing refugee and immigrant population is much needed because these residents are among the county’s most climate-vulnerable populations yet systematically underserved by existing emergency response systems that lack multilingual capacity, cultural competency, and trusted institutional relationships within their communities.
PANA is seeking a CRC Round 2 Implementation Grant to fund the resilience infrastructure, programming, and emergency planning components of Global Village. The CRC Program requires that the lead applicant for the Implementation Grant includes at least two partners under a Collaborative Governance Structure and further requires that the lead applicant develop a CRC Emergency Plan in consultation with the local county’s Office of Emergency Services. The County of San Diego's co-applicant role is important to satisfy the Implementation Grant requirement and to ensure that Global Village is formally integrated into the County's regional emergency plan. The City of San Diego has already agreed to be one of the two partners for the Implementation Grant.
Today's proposed action authorizes the Chief Administrative Officer, or their designee, to partner with lead applicant PANA in submitting a CRC Round 2 Implementation Grant application for the Global Village project, and to prepare all required application components in collaboration with PANA and the other co-applicants. If awarded, the CRC Implementation Grant will provide Global Village with up to $10 million in state climate bond funds to construct and operate the region's first culturally responsive community resilience hub for refugee and immigrant communities. The Implementation Grant application period closes on September 30, 2026, prior to the next Board of Supervisors General Legislative Session. Due to this deadline, a waiver for Board Policy A-72 is required.
Linkage To The County Of San Diego Strategic Plan
Today's item supports the Sustainability and Equity initiatives of the County’s 2026-2031 Strategic Plan. Regarding Sustainability, this action supports the County's commitment to climate resilience by embedding a fire resistant and solar-powered resilience facility into one of the region's most climate-vulnerable communities. Regarding Equity, this action directly addresses one of the most significant structural gaps in the County's emergency response infrastructure - the absence of a trusted, multilingual, culturally responsive resilience hub for refugee and immigrant communities.
Respectfully submitted,
Monica Montgomery Steppe
Supervisor, Fourth District
Attachment(s)
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