2020-54 - Council Budget Priorities FY2021

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058 Project Title: Zero -Emissions Lakewood: Building Thriving, Healthy, and Resilient Neighborhoods Request Amount: $io,000 Total Project Budget: $60,000 Requested Grant Period: January 2021- August 2021 Purpose of Project: Establish Lakewood as a leader in climate action by significantly reducing carbon pollution and improving outcomes in health, access to green jobs, resiliency, and equity. Project Goals, Strategy, and Rationale: It's time that Lakewood join other leading cities to lead on climate. We will do this by establishing a zero -emissions goal and creating a plan to get there, for both government operations and the city as a whole. While Lakewood has taken critical steps in building momentum for climate action, much work remains to engage more stakeholders, scale initiatives, and improve equitable outcomes related to health and resiliency. Creating Lakewood's first CAP through an equity lens will help meet the city's l00% renewable energy goal and ensure everyone benefits from this transition. We can realize significant impacts where they are needed most by supporting equitable approaches to energy efficiency and renewable energy, reducing transportation emissions and providing equitable access to transportation options, re -growing our tree canopy and creating vibrant green space in all Lakewood neighborhoods, expanding access to local food, and more. Climate action projects can address a wide array of neighborhood concerns and disparities in the areas of youth development, safety, job training, passing down cultural traditions, and more. In designing this project, we realize that a systems approach and wide variety of partners are needed for climate action in Lakewood to be both equitable and comprehensive. This CAP will also pull together a variety of isolated mitigation and resiliency initiatives into an aggressive and comprehensive plan, creating momentum and accountability within the City, its Resiliency Task Force, and additional partners. The process of establishing key performance indicators and setting goals for reducing disparities will be an important part of the CAP development process. The City plans to track indicators and progress against goals on an annual basis, at minimum, and report out to City Council and the Mayor. Where possible, we also plan to begin CAP implementation during the process of planning, creating more widespread, equitable, and lasting climate leadership.