What’s Next
Green Stormwater Infrastructure by and for Communities began in the summer of 2023 and is in its early phase. The timeline and additional info below highlight the ongoing initiatives that will produce resources and events to build community capacity and to drive future planning efforts. As the project moves forward, new sections of the project outcomes will be added to the website.
Project timeline
Additional info
The info below highlights key pieces captured in the timeline and provides additional info about their purpose, focuses, and if appropriate, more detailed timing of specific efforts. As the project moves forward, new sections will be added to the website.
Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) learning materials
The team will develop a curriculum to introduce participants to the purpose of GSI, its underlying science, history, and fundamentals, intersections with environmental justice (EJ), and strategic community planning/mapping for GSI. Curriculum will include short group projects, model demonstrations, site visits.
GSI monitoring and maintenance protocol
A standardized Monitoring and Maintenance Protocol will be developed to characterize the hydrologic and water quality impacts of GSI installations, and simply but effectively identify maintenance needs.
Richmond completed one training session in Spring 2024. Two additional training sessions are planned.
Three training sessions are planned for Oakland, running through the end of the project.
Monitoring data collection will be collected Winter 2024 – Summer 2025. The data will be reported from Spring 2026 through the end of the project.
Web-based tours
The team will develop web-based, guided community tours in the East Oakland and Richmond communities.Tours will highlight local urban ecosystems and specifically GSI, as well as incorporate neighborhood cultural narratives.
Plans and Visions
Community visions (in progress): The project team believes in empowering communities to co-create visions for themselves. We will build and hold space for these conversations and perspectives throughout the engagement process.
Content for web-based tours is in development, through Summer 2026. A neighborhood workshop and community co-design series is kicking off in Oakland, with Richmond engagement soon to follow. Engagement activities will run through approximately Fall 2025. (See Events.)
Neighborhood GSI plans: These plans are envisioned to a) summarize each neighborhood’s most relevant environmental, scientific, and community planning considerations for GSI planning and implementation, as identified through engagement and co-learning, b) provide a comprehensive summary of this project’s community process and highlight key outcomes of that process, and c) explore potential next steps, with an emphasis on amplifying community voices.
Preliminary research for these plans has begun. The plans will be completed around Fall 2026, following the completion of the engagement series.
Groundwork
Community installed groundwork projects: The information and tools developed through community engagement will inform the implementation of community-installed groundwork projects, which will allow exploration of on-site ways to access improved water quality, flood risk reduction, restored habitat, and community resilience. Groundwork will offer community members the opportunity to see the real-world application and tangible outcomes of their participation in the design of GSI, offering a point of connection with the local landscape through GSI and urban greening implementation.
Groundwork in Richmond began in Summer 2023 at Fred Jackson Way. Additional work is planned through Fall 2025.
Groundwork in Oakland is anticipated to begin in Fall 2025, through the end of the project.
Process model
A process model provides the opportunity to further inform the practices that municipalities are using to develop and implement co-designed and co-constructed GSI with underserved communities. Given that this proposal integrates the many key elements and players involved in the process of GSI development, it provides an opportunity to examine and refine our current strategies for planning, designing, and implementing GSI.