From Commitment to Action: Community Resilience in California’s State Budget
Right now in California, many communities are facing intensifying pressures. From extreme heat and rising costs to increased ICE activity, daily life is being disrupted across communities of color and working-class neighborhoods throughout the state. As the climate crisis rages on, these same communities bear the worst consequences with the least support to build community resilience and respond when disaster strikes. They are more likely to live near freeways, heat islands, refineries, and industrial corridors. They breathe dirtier air, endure higher heat, and face greater flood risk.
Against this backdrop, state leaders are increasingly recognizing these intersecting risks and the need for sustained investments in community resilience. One of the clearest actions will come through the state Legislature’s budget choices this year.
Funding Community Climate Resilience
In January, Governor Newsom put forward a proposed budget that included $137.4 million in funding for Transformative Climate Communities and $55.3 million for Community Resilience Centers – two critical programs that support community climate resilience. Dollars for these programs will come from Prop 4, a voter-approved measure to fund climate projects, with 40% of Prop 4 funding to go towards communities most impacted by the climate crisis. This proposal reflects a broader commitment to ensuring that the communities most impacted by climate change have the resources they need to thrive.
Now, as the Legislature works to finalize the state budget, state leaders are affirming the value of these programs by advancing funding for them in the budget process.
The Impact of Transformative Climate Communities and Community Resilience Centers
TCC is one of California’s most effective climate resilience programs – and one of the state’s strongest examples of what it looks like to invest in community power where it has long been denied. It invests directly into neighborhoods that have been redlined, disinvested in, and saddled with excessive pollution – supporting affordable housing, clean transportation, local jobs, and community-led resilience projects. Unlike top-down decision-making models that contributed to the disparate impacts these communities face today, TCC projects are shaped by the people who live there and understand what their communities need to thrive.
The CRC program complements this work by investing in trusted local facilities that can serve as essential community anchors before, during, and after climate disasters. CRCs support places like community centers, libraries, schools, and neighborhood hubs that provide cooling during extreme heat, protection from smoke during wildfires, and access to emergency resources and services during crises. As the frequency and intensity of climate disasters grows, these trusted spaces matter more than ever.
Why These Investments Matter Now
The communities these programs support are the same communities now living under daily threat.
When ICE activity increases, families pull back from public life. Parents avoid schools and clinics. Workers leave jobs. People stop attending community meetings because they are afraid. That fear undermines everything from public health to emergency preparedness. You cannot build climate resilience in a community that is being destabilized by state-sanctioned terror.
By strengthening community resilience and building neighborhood anchors, TCC and CRC help ensure California’s most underserved and at-risk communities have safe, accessible places to turn when disasters strike.
These programs strengthen trusted local institutions, community-based organizations, clinics, transit hubs, and more that people continue to rely on when fear spreads. They create stability in the very places where instability is being imposed. With strong support from both the Governor’s office and legislative leaders, this year’s budget is a chance to reaffirm that stability in communities. Preserving and strengthening these investments is how California turns its values into durable systems that communities can rely on.
Even as we work to maintain these investments this year, we must be clear about what comes next. Prop 4 funding is not permanent. Without a long-term, stable funding strategy, programs like TCC and CRC will once again face uncertainty just as communities are beginning to see their benefits take root. At the same time, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund remains volatile, with declining revenues and growing competition for limited dollars. If California is serious about climate equity, the Legislature must start working to identify sustainable, ongoing funding sources that can weather future budget deficits and ensure these programs are not left behind.
Investments in TCC and CRC demonstrate the value of good government and civic community spaces, especially in times of crisis. It is necessary repair where harm has and continues to occur. It is the state following through on its commitment to its people.
At a moment marked by uncertainty and fear, investing in TCC and CRC is exactly the kind of leadership this moment demands.
