Prioritizing Equity
The Coastal Conservancy recognizes that we have not done enough to address inequities along the California coast and are committed to addressing injustices and inequities. In 2020, the Coastal Conservancy Board adopted Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Guidelines (JEDI Guidelines) that recognize the history
of injustice, exclusion, displacement, and extractive processes towards California’s Native Americans, Black people, people of color, and other frontline communities which has resulted in inequitable access to the coast and its resources that persists today.
More about the development and implementation of the JEDI Guidelines can be found here.
Commit Funding to Benefit Systemically Excluded Communities
The Conservancy will commit 40% of its funding to projects that benefit systemically excluded communities. This objective will be measured across all of Conservancy funding from 2023-2027 (current Strategic Plan period). Projects that benefit systemically excluded communities are projects where the community’s interests and concerns are integrated into the project design and implementation and/or where benefits have been identified by the community that address its needs.
Return Power to Tribes
The Conservancy will support projects that return control of ancestral lands to California Native American Tribes through acquisition or that provide California Native American Tribes access to land through easements or cooperative agreements. These projects could provide California Native American Tribes access to lands for cultural practice, ceremony, tribal management, and subsistence hunting and harvesting.
The Conservancy will work with tribes to advance tribal co-management of lands and to incorporate tribal expertise and traditional ecological knowledge in land management throughout our jurisdiction, including support for cultural burning. Potential projects will be identified in partnership with California Native American tribes through early, often, and meaningful government-to-government consultations and collaborations. The Conservancy will support projects that provide tribal entities with capacity building support, including tribal workforce development. The Conservancy will support efforts to build tribal capacity to prioritize acquisition of unprotected lands, protect cultural resources, sacred sites, and other important locations, and address both recreational access and tribal rights to access lands for cultural, subsistence, or ceremonial purposes.
More information can be found on our Tribal Relations page.
Support Meaningful Engagement for Systemically Excluded Communities
The Conservancy will support projects that meaningfully engage systemically excluded communities in public co-visioning processes to develop projects anchored in community priorities and expertise. The Conservancy will support planning of on-the-ground projects through processes that build capacity of community-based organizations staffed by or serving systemically excluded communities. The Conservancy will support meaningful engagement processes that address unequal power dynamics between communities and government, historic inequity, injustices, and trauma. The Conservancy will support engagement processes that make it easy for community members to participate by providing stipends, meeting in convenient locations, using virtual venues, providing childcare and food, and developing materials in appropriate languages and messages for the community.
Incorporate Workforce Development in our Projects
Conservancy grants create jobs, many of which require unique skills, training, and equipment. Incorporating workforce development into our projects and providing pathways for workers to get training in ecological restoration, wildfire resilience, trail construction, or other work funded by Conservancy grants will amplify the benefits of our project funding.
The Conservancy will support pathways for local and systemically excluded communities to access skills and economic opportunities with jobs that include living wages and benefits, technical training, and job advancement opportunities. The Conservancy will collaborate with project partners to identify opportunities to include workforce development objectives in their projects.
Resources:
- Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Guidelines
- September 2020 Board Memo regarding Final Guidelines
- State Coastal Conservancy JEDI Guidelines in Action
- Reports from Focus Groups
- Synthesis of Survey Results
- December 2019 Board Memo regarding Draft Guidelines
- Recording of January 2020 Webinar
- Notes from February 2020 Public Workshop
- Frequently Asked Questions on the JEDI Guidelines
- Tribal Relations page
Recursos en Español: