Electricity provider Southern California Edison (SCE) recently announced it will sponsor this year's California Resilience Challenge.
"@edisonintl is proud to support the @BayAreaCouncil's #CAResilienceChallenge, which awards grants to help underserved communities adapt to climate change," SCE wrote in an April 2 Twitter post. "The Santa Barbara Regional Climate Collaborative is just one awardee transforming their community."
According to the official website, the California Resilience Challenge is "a statewide effort, led by businesses and a diverse range of partners, to build local climate resilience and support a shared vision for a resilient California in the face of increasing climate threats."
The Santa Barbara Regional Climate Collaborative will be using funds raised by the challenge to crowdsource planning for two "resilience hubs," according to an article posted by Energized by Edison. The hubs will be built for underserved communities in the region to provide resources for climate-driven emergencies. The Santa Barbara collaborative plans to assemble an online toolkit outlining the planning phases and processes for putting together this project so that other groups intending to do similar projects have something to help guide them.
"The California Resilience Challenge is a great example of what we can accomplish when we pull together resources from within our communities," SCE Vice President of State Public Affairs Andrew Baldonado said in a statement. "We’re proud to sponsor this initiative because it enables amazing projects in very diverse communities."
The California Resilience Challenge is run by the Bay Area Council Foundation, a nonprofit corporation, according to Empower Innovation. The challenge has a grant fund of $2 million, which has been funded through donations from businesses, utilities, nongovernmental organizations and foundations.