CalEnviroScreen 5.0 Press Release & Advocacy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Brightline Defense
Wednesday, April 1, 2026
Contact: Carolina Correa, Eddie Ahn
caro@brightlinedefense.org, 415-252-9700
Thousands of Bay Area Residents and over 100 Organizations Demand Fixes to Broken State Mapping Tool for Funding
SAN FRANCISCO – Today, over 100 organizations and groups in San Francisco and across the Bay Area united to file three comment letters to the California Environmental Protection Agency to demand improvements to a state mapping tool. In addition, approximately three thousand affected community members have signed a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom and California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) Secretary Yana Garcia, calling for the latest version of CalEnviroScreen to be fixed. This petition was distributed through Brightline’s community organizing programs - from Tenant Leaders organizing door-to-door in San Francisco’s Single-Room Occupancy (SRO) Hotels to all corners of the Bay Area.
Dogged by controversy for over ten years, CalEnviroScreen (CES) has been used to map “Disadvantaged Communities” across the state and shapes funding for transit, housing, energy, and much more. This definition has shaped more than $12.8 billion in Cap-and-Invest funding for 117 programs within 27 state agencies. Due to its repeated use in state legislation and regulations, this mapping tool and definition have evolved from their original intended use of equitably targeting climate-related funding to becoming the de facto state definition applied to many equity-oriented policies and programs.
Unfortunately, the newly proposed Draft CES 5.0 worsens inequality and access to state resources for many communities in the Bay Area, with a San Francisco coalition of 30 organizations noting the tool failing to capture well-known communities of need, and the unique conditions in the Bay Area like extreme income inequality and rising poverty rates. In San Francisco, for example, South of Market, the Mission District, Chinatown, and parts of the Tenderloin and Bayview-Hunters Point still do not qualify as DACs despite increased need. An unprecedented regional coalition of 32 organizations has come together to note inexplicable gaps in CalEnviroScreen: East Palo Alto, Belle Haven, Marin City, Canal area of San Rafael, Alviso, key communities in Contra Costa County (Bay Point, Pacheco, portions of Monument Corridor), East San Francisco, and parts of East and West Oakland.
“The CalEnviroScreen tool plays a critical role in identifying communities most impacted by pollution and directing resources to those who need them most,” said Mayor Daniel Lurie. “Too many of our most vulnerable neighborhoods are still being left out, putting critical funding for housing, public health, and sustainability at risk. Improving this tool is essential to supporting San Francisco communities and advancing sustainability in our city, and will help ensure every community gets the support it deserves from the state.”
“Communities are fighting for existence under CalEnviroScreen, the state’s most influential tool for equity and resources - which includes not only key funding from the State but also the private sector,” said Eddie Ahn, Executive Director of Brightline Defense, which has led multiple coalitions standing up for San Francisco and the Bay Area region. “The Bay Area exhibits some of the most extreme economic disparities in California, but this tool continues to exclude many communities of greatest need in San Francisco and beyond, including South of Market (SoMa), Tenderloin, Mission District, Chinatown, and Bayview Hunters-Point.”
Malcolm Yeung, the Chief Executive Officer of Chinatown Community Development Center, has been advocating for better representation of San Francisco, and particularly Chinatown, for over a decade: “40,000 of the City’s residents–and many families—live in single-room occupancy hotels, or SROs, with highest concentrations in immigrant communities like Chinatown. Our communities are not showing up in CalEnviroScreen and we hope this effort sends a clear message that everyone should be counted.”
“I have been talking to my neighbors and collecting signatures to make sure our voice is heard,” said Rosa Alvarado, who is a community tenant leader for Brightline's air quality monitoring programs, La Voz Latina SF, and a resident of the Tenderloin. “If you lived in my community, you would know that we need support. My neighbors and I are so confused about why Tenderloin would not receive funding. I love my community, but the pollution and burdens we face have real impacts on our health. We must be considered for additional funding.”
Leading a 50+ member coalition signing onto these efforts, Cally Wong the Director of API Council commented, “Asian and Pacific Islander communities make up nearly 40% of San Francisco's population and many are constantly navigating compounding economic, social and environmental pressures. These communities have diverse needs and we are glad to join the effort to ensure our communities do not fall through the cracks in CalEnviroScreen and are eligible for key investments."
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Brightline Defense is an environmental justice nonprofit that works across the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, fighting for empowered communities and sustainable environments.
Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) is a place-based community development organization, with 38 properties in San Francisco neighborhoods, providing affordable housing to over 5,000 San Franciscans - low-income families, adults, and seniors
La Voz Latina is a community organization, offering weekly meals, housing case management, community events, and women's group programs for over 20 years to Latinx, African, Asian and Pacific American community living in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods.
API Council is a 50+ member coalition that advocates for equitable policies and resources on behalf of API communities, serving over 250,000 API residents.