What you need to know: California is doubling down on Governor Newsom’s Clean California initiative with $114.5 million to support 60 projects throughout the state to clean and revitalize public spaces, including transit centers.
SACRAMENTO — Today, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that cities and local agencies throughout the state will receive $114.5 million in grants to remove litter, beautify neighborhoods and transform public spaces into points of pride. The funding is the latest piece of Governor Newsom’s Clean California initiative, a sweeping $1.2 billion, multiyear clean-up effort led by Caltrans to remove trash, create thousands of jobs and engage communities to revitalize public spaces.
What Governor Newsom said: “The trash we see on our roadsides and public areas is completely unacceptable – Californians deserve better. Cleaning up public spaces will help us restore a sense of pride and a sense of community throughout the state.”
Why it’s important: The 60 projects receiving funding will improve parks, tribal lands, neighborhoods, transit hubs, walking paths, streets, roadsides, recreation fields, community gathering spots, and places of cultural importance or historical interest in underserved communities. This funding builds on the nearly $300 million in grants to more than 100 local Clean California projects statewide that Governor Newsom announced in March of 2022. Following the positive community response, Governor Newsom and the state legislature approved another $100 million last year for a second round of local projects.
Grant examples include $3.3 million to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to clean transit stations and bus stops throughout the city, $1 million to the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System for South Bay Transit Beautification and $1.1 million to the City of Fullerton to enhance the Fullerton Transportation Center. This is part of a specific $14.5 million in funding set aside from today’s total announcement to support 18 projects to clean stations and other areas around public transit systems. In addition, there are 42 local grant projects ranging from $88,000 to $5 million, and all benefit underserved communities.
Since launching Clean California in July 2021, Caltrans has removed an estimated 1.9 million cubic yards of litter from state highways. The program has created more than 4,000 jobs that have helped Californians overcome barriers to employment, including 357 people who had been experiencing homelessness, and drawn more than 10,000 volunteers to events ranging from community cleanups to large debris collections for appliances, tires and mattresses.
To learn more, visit Clean California.
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