SAN JOSE, Calif. - Marylandian -- Most people have never heard of CalEnviroScreen, but it has a major impact on neighborhoods like East San José. CalEnviroScreen is California's environmental justice mapping tool, created by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). It identifies communities facing the greatest environmental, health, and economic challenges. The tool examines factors such as air pollution, traffic, contaminated drinking water, asthma rates, poverty, and other conditions that affect people's quality of life. Every neighborhood in California receives a score based on these combined factors. Those scores help state agencies determine which communities receive priority for billions of dollars in state grants and public investments.

Why is CalEnviroScreen so important? CalEnviroScreen does not provide funding directly to the City of San José or Santa Clara County. Instead, it serves as one of California's primary tools for determining which communities qualify for many state grant programs. Communities identified as disadvantaged often receive priority for funding that supports:

• Cleaner air and pollution reduction
• Affordable housing
• Tree planting and neighborhood greening
• Extreme heat and climate resilience projects
• Safe streets and transportation improvements
• Public health programs
• Energy efficiency and home electrification
• Community development and neighborhood revitalization

For frontline communities like East San José, CalEnviroScreen has become one of California's most important tools for directing resources to neighborhoods with the greatest environmental and public health needs.

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Why are community leaders concerned? California is preparing to finalize Draft CalEnviroScreen 5.0, and many environmental justice organizations, public health experts, local governments, and community advocates are raising concerns. The issue is not that the State is updating its data. Updated information is essential. The concern is that changes to the scoring methodology could cause some communities to lose their disadvantaged community designation even though the environmental and health conditions affecting residents have not significantly improved. If that happens, neighborhoods may become less competitive or even ineligible for funding that supports cleaner air, affordable housing, climate resilience, public health, and community development. "A community shouldn't lose access to critical resources because the formula changes while the challenges remain the same," said Adam Ybarra, Executive Director of The Tenacious Group. "Families in East San José continue to face poor air quality, traffic pollution, extreme heat, and economic hardship. Environmental justice tools should reflect those realities and ensure communities continue receiving the investments they need to thrive."

What could this mean for East San José? If portions of East San José are no longer identified as disadvantaged under CalEnviroScreen 5.0, the community could experience significant impacts, including:

• Reduced access to millions of dollars in state environmental and climate funding.
• Fewer investments in parks, tree canopy, clean transportation, and neighborhood improvements.
• Reduced funding for affordable housing, public health, and climate resilience projects.
• Greater financial pressure on local governments to replace lost state funding.
• Slower progress toward reducing long-standing environmental health inequities.

Why this matters? Environmental justice means every family regardless of their ZIP code deserves clean air, safe neighborhoods, healthy housing, and the opportunity to thrive. CalEnviroScreen was created to help ensure that public investments reach communities with the greatest need. As California updates this important tool, it is essential that neighborhoods with persistent environmental and socioeconomic challenges are not unintentionally left behind.

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A call to action. The Tenacious Group respectfully urges state, county, and local leaders to carefully evaluate the proposed methodology before finalizing CalEnviroScreen 5.0. We encourage California to adopt transition strategies or supplemental safeguards that prevent communities from suddenly losing eligibility for environmental justice and climate funding because of changes to the scoring methodology.

For East San José and many frontline communities across California, this is about far more than a score on a map. It is about protecting investments that help families breathe cleaner air, prepare for climate change, improve public health, create safer neighborhoods, and build stronger, healthier communities for future generations.

The Tenacious Group is a nonprofit organization based in East San José that advances and advocates environmental health, community climate resilience, and youth leadership. "When people understand how environmental conditions affect their health, they become powerful advocates for change," said Ybarra. "Our mission is to ensure every resident has the knowledge, resources, and opportunity to help build a healthier East San José for generations to come."