A total of 14 local organizations received $914,000 in grants designed to incorporate "clean energy" in projects ranging from housing and transportation to bolstering community health.
San Diego Community Power, San Diego Foundation and Calpine Community Energy on Wednesday awarded the 2025 Community Clean Energy Grants at the site of one of the award recipients, the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans.
"This year's awardees show that climate action can be a tool for tangible improvements in our communities," said Karin Burns, Community Power CEO. "By pairing clean energy with affordable housing and green transportation, we're not just fighting climate change — we're building stronger, healthier neighborhoods for everyone."
San Diego Foundation is administering the grants, the third year Community Power has awarded them.
"These projects are community-led, community-driven, and will provide great benefits to residents," said San Diego City Councilman and Community Power board member Sean Elo-Rivera. "They address immediate needs like housing and transportation while also tackling the long-term challenge of climate change.
"When we talk about reinvesting dollars into communities instead of corporate profits, this is what it looks like."
Some of the largest grants include $100,000 to Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans to transform the Refugee & Immigrant Cultural Hub into a "clean energy resilience hub," $99,646 for Strategic Energy Innovations to build "energy literacy" for hundreds of students in cities around the county and $94,185 for the South Sudanese Community Center to deliver clean energy education, appliances and multilingual workshops to improve energy use and engagement among East African refugees in San Diego.
"Through this strengthened partnership, we're empowering communities across San Diego to shape a cleaner, healthier and more resilient future together," said Pamela Gray Payton, San Diego Foundation vice president and chief impact and partnerships officer.
The other grants include:
— Circulate San Diego: $46,305 for green transportation education and transit training;
— City Heights Community Development Corporation: $67,564 for enhancing Mid-City GO outreach and clean mobility in City Heights;
— GRID Alternatives San Diego: $50,000 for Energy For All, which will install solar and battery storage systems for 48 low-income households and install battery storage for another 34 past customers;
— Hammond Climate Solutions Foundation: $75,000 for its South County Clean Energy Resilience Initiative, which will install solar and storage at the Boys & Girls Club of South County and a local family's home;
— In Good Company: $60,000 for Community Clean Energy Microcredential, which will deliver climate and energy literacy, career training and advocacy tools to residents in communities of concern in San Diego;
— La Mesa Park & Recreation Foundation: $35,000 for clean energy education and equipment in La Mesa parks;
— Little Saigon San Diego: $75,364 for the Umbrella Trees project, which will install 20 solar-powered structures along El Cajon Boulevard;
— Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee on Anti-Poverty of San Diego County: $45,000 for its Electric Vehicle Access Program, which will expand to include EV charging stipends and a peer ambassador network;
— Prophet World Beat Productions: $56,000 for South Bay Solar Learning Center, which will educate underserved youth on solar energy and sustainability;
— Tree San Diego: $35,000 for Canopy Power, which will train 50 underrepresented individuals in urban forestry and clean energy skills; and
UNCI, Inc. (Uniting Natives Culturally and Intertribally): $75,000 for the Energy Resilience as an Indigenous Concept project, which will install solar panels on five community buildings and integrate clean energy education into its Intertribal Explorers program.
