From Solar to Shuttles: San Diego Community Power Announces Nearly $1 Million in Local Grant Winners
- Sep 3, 2025
- by Jill Monroe
For third year, San Diego Foundation, Community Power support local projects that combine clean energy with housing, transportation and green technologies
SAN DIEGO – Today, San Diego Community Power, San Diego Foundation and Calpine Community Energy announced the recipients of the 2025 Community Clean Energy Grants at the site of one of the award recipients, the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans. This is the third year Community Power has awarded grants to local organizations to support the region’s clean energy needs.
“This year’s awardees show that climate action can be a tool for tangible improvements in our communities,” said Karin Burns, Community Power Chief Executive Officer. “By pairing clean energy with affordable housing and green transportation, we’re not just fighting climate change — we’re building stronger, healthier neighborhoods for everyone.”
This year’s Community Clean Energy Grant Program invests nearly $1 million in 14 innovative community projects that integrate clean energy solutions with housing stability, transportation access and neighborhood resilience.
“These projects are community-led, community-driven, and will provide great benefits to residents,” said San Diego City Councilmember and Community Power Board member Sean Elo-Rivera. “They address immediate needs like housing and transportation while also tackling the long-term challenge of climate change. When we talk about reinvesting dollars into communities instead of corporate profits, this is what it looks like.”
San Diego Foundation is administering the grants on behalf of Community Power and Calpine Community Energy, which provides back-office support to Community Power and other energy providers throughout California.
“Through this strengthened partnership, we’re empowering communities across San Diego to shape a cleaner, healthier and more resilient future together,” said Pamela Gray Payton, San Diego Foundation vice president and Chief Impact and Partnerships Officer.
The grant award winners were announced in City Heights at a project spearheaded by the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA). PANA will use its grant to advance its Global Village Refugee and Immigrant Cultural Hub — a landmark development featuring over 150 affordable housing units, a global marketplace and community space, all designed with sustainable energy features.
With nearly 50,000 African, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian immigrants in this community, the PANA project will help immigrants create community and a sense of belonging in San Diego.
“The Global Village Refugee and Immigrant Cultural Hub will be a permanent anchor for our community — a place where families can put down roots, cultures can be celebrated and clean energy can power a more resilient future for generations to come,” said Rachel Lozano Castro, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Development with PANA.
Also on display at the event was the Mid-City GO! Shuttle, one of the programs that will be funded by a 2025 Community Clean Energy Grant.
A collaboration between City Heights Community Development Corporation and North Park Main Street, the Mid-City Go! Shuttle is a free, on-demand electric shuttle program that connects residents of City Heights and North Park to jobs, services, schools, healthcare and transit hubs, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled. The shuttle runs through most of Mid-City, running from El Cajon Boulevard south to Upas Street in North Park and Fairmont Avenue in City Heights.
“We’re grateful for this support from San Diego Community Power, which allows us to expand a service that is already making a real difference,” said Jesse Ramirez, Director of Urban Planning with City Heights CDC. “The Mid-City GO! Shuttle is bridging big transportation gaps, and as a result we’re able to connect people to their jobs, doctor appointments, schools and other community spaces – all with clean, electric vehicles. We’re excited to keep building a more connected, accessible and sustainable future for our neighborhoods.”
Grants totaling $914,000 were awarded to 14 organizations:
Circulate San Diego – $46,305 for green transportation education and transit trainings, which will engage 500 students with hands-on clean transportation education and Youth Opportunity Pass enrollment to promote sustainable mobility and green careers in Chula Vista and San Diego.
City Heights Community Development Corporation – $67,564 for enhancing Mid-City GO outreach and clean mobility in City Heights, which will expand service and outreach for the all-electric Mid-City GO Shuttle, boosting zero-emission mobility and energy literacy in San Diego.
GRID Alternatives San Diego – $50,000 for Energy For All, which will install solar and battery storage systems for 48 low-income households (at or below 80% of the area median income), and install battery storage for another 34 past customers who have previously received the single family home solar systems in National City, Chula Vista and San Diego.
Hammond Climate Solutions Foundation – $75,000 for its South County Clean Energy Resilience Initiative, which will install solar and storage at the Boys & Girls Club of South County and a local family’s home, while educating youth and developing the clean energy workforce through hands-on learning and community engagement in Imperial Beach.
In Good Company – $60,000 for Community Clean Energy Microcredential (CCEM), which will deliver climate and energy literacy, career training and advocacy tools to residents in Communities of Concern in San Diego.
La Mesa Park & Recreation Foundation – $35,000 for clean energy education and equipment in La Mesa parks, which will transition parks to electric landscaping and event equipment while delivering public clean energy education and staff training in La Mesa.
Little Saigon San Diego – $75,364 for the Umbrella Trees project, which will install 20 solar-powered structures along El Cajon Blvd., combining clean energy infrastructure with Vietnamese American storytelling to enhance safety, cultural engagement and energy literacy in San Diego.
Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee on Anti-Poverty of San Diego County, Inc. (MAAC) – $45,000 for its Electric Vehicle Access Program, which will expand to include EV charging stipends and a peer ambassador network to advance clean mobility equity and financial resilience for low-and-moderate-income households in Chula Vista, Escondido, Encinitas, Imperial Beach, San Diego, San Marcos, Oceanside and Vista.
Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA) – $100,000 for Powering the Future, which will explore transforming the RICH Campus into a clean energy resilience hub by electrifying commercial spaces and engaging refugee and immigrant communities in clean energy planning in San Diego.
Prophet World Beat Productions – $56,000 for South Bay Solar Learning Center, which will educate underserved youth on solar energy and sustainability through hands-on farming, solar installations and cultural education in the Tijuana River Valley in Chula Vista, National City and San Diego.
Strategic Energy Innovations – $99,646 for Energy Literacy through Student Campaigns & Career Technical Education program, which will engage 375 students and 10 teachers in energy-focused challenges and curriculum to build clean energy literacy and career readiness in Chula Vista, El Cajon, Imperial Beach, San Diego and the unincorporated communities of San Diego County.
South Sudanese Community Center – $94,185 for East African EcoEmpower 2025, which will deliver clean energy education, appliances and multilingual workshops to improve energy use and engagement among East African refugees in San Diego.
Tree San Diego – $35,000 for Canopy Power, which will train 50 underrepresented individuals in urban forestry and clean energy skills while engaging communities through bilingual outreach and environmental action in Chula Vista, Encinitas, Imperial Beach, La Mesa, National City, San Diego and the unincorporated communities of San Diego County.
UNCI, Inc. (Uniting Natives Culturally and Intertribally) – $75,000 for the Energy Resilience as an Indigenous Concept project, which will install solar panels on five community buildings and integrate clean energy education into its Intertribal Explorers program to promote cultural and environmental resilience among Indigenous youth and families in unincorporated communities in San Diego County.
The Community Clean Energy Grant program continues to grow each year, reflecting San Diego Community Power’s mission to reinvest in the people and places it serves.
B-Roll of the Community Clean Energy Grant press event is available here. San Diego Foundation grants local media permission to use this footage on-air and online for coverage of the event.
About San Diego Community Power
San Diego Community Power is a community choice energy program that gives customers an option to run their businesses and homes on significantly higher levels of renewable power at competitive rates. San Diego Community Power serves nearly a million customers in San Diego, Chula Vista, Encinitas, La Mesa, National City, Imperial Beach, and the unincorporated communities of San Diego County. Learn more at SDCommunityPower.org.
About San Diego Foundation
San Diego Foundation believes in just, equitable and resilient communities where every San Diegan can prosper, thrive and feel like they belong. We partner with donors, nonprofits and regional leaders to co-create solutions that respond to community needs and strengthen San Diego. Since our founding in 1975, our community foundation has granted $1.8 billion to nonprofits to improve quality of life in San Diego County and beyond. Join us in commemorating 50 years of impact — and looking toward the next 50 — by learning more at SDFoundation.org.