Grants worth $900K awarded to support clean energy projects, education in San Diego

A total of 14 local organizations received $914,000 in grants designed to incorporate clean energy in a range of projects.

San Diego Community Power, San Diego Foundation and Calpine Community Energy on Wednesday awarded the 2025 Community Clean Energy Grants at the site of one of the recipients, the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans. The organization received $100,000 to transform the Refugee & Immigrant Cultural Hub into a “clean energy resilience hub.”

“This year’s awardees show that climate action can be a tool for tangible improvements in our communities,” said Karin Burns, Community Power CEO. “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.”

The foundation is administering the grants, while Community Power awarded them.

“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.”

Other large grants went to Strategic Energy Innovations, which received $99,646 to support efforts at building energy literacy for hundreds of students around the county and the South Sudanese Community Center, which received $94,185 for clean energy education, appliances and multilingual workshops in San Diego’s East African refugees community.

The other grants include:

• Circulate San Diego, $46,305 for green transportation education and transit training
• City Heights Community Development Corporation, $67,564 for enhancing outreach and clean mobility
• GRID Alternatives San Diego, $50,000 for Energy For All, which will install solar and/or battery storage systems for 82 low-income households
• Hammond Climate Solutions Foundation. $75,000 for its South County Clean Energy Resilience Initiative
• In Good Company, $60,000 to deliver climate and energy literacy, career training and advocacy tools
• La Mesa Park & Recreation Foundation, $35,000 for clean energy education and equipment in local parks
• Little Saigon San Diego, $75,364 to install 20 solar-powered structures along El Cajon Boulevard
• Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee on Anti-Poverty of San Diego County, $45,000 for its Electric Vehicle Access Program
• Prophet World Beat Productions, $56,000 to educate underserved youth on solar energy and sustainability,
• Tree San Diego, $35,000 for Canopy Power, which will train 50 underrepresented individuals in urban forestry and clean energy skills
• UNCI, Inc. (Uniting Natives Culturally and Intertribally), $75,000 for the Energy Resilience as an Indigenous Concept project.