About the Equity Checklist:

OCAC’s Equity Checklist includes provisions for workforce development and training; projects which serve residents of affordable housing; anti-displacement protections; benefits for residents of communities with CalEnviroScreen scores in the 75th percentile or higher; engages and/or educates people of color, people with disabilities, youth and elders, and transgender people; mitigation of environmental hazards; improvement of quality of life; buffers from harmful or hazardous infrastructure; and creating public spaces that promote people’s health, happiness, and well-being.

About Priority Conservation Areas (PCAs):

Priority Conservation Areas (PCA) are part of the implementation plan for Plan Bay Area, a joint initiative of Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) intended to bring the region into compliance with SB 375, the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008, which mandates that California’s metropolitan areas take steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. PCA designations include two main categories, Urban Greening and Natural Lands. Urban Greening projects provide community health and climate and resilience benefits to environmentally disadvantaged communities and communities of concern, and can include everything from reforestation projects such as planting street trees in areas lacking sufficient tree canopy; to projects which improve low-income access to food, such as community gardens and edible fruit; to mitigation of polluted industrial lands and areas in close proximity to freeways; to restoration of creeks and streams.

To see ABAG’s definition of PCAs, visit here.