Commission approves zero-waste grants for 14 community organizations

The San Francisco Commission on the Environment voted unanimously to approve a slate of zero-waste grants to 14 community organizations, authorizing department staff to allocate roughly $1 million in grant funding after a competitive application process.

Department staff said the department issued the request for proposals on March 5, received 27 proposals totaling roughly $2.7 million in requests and selected 14 grantees to receive funding. Sean Rosenmoss, senior environmental specialist, told commissioners the awards will support work ranging from neighborhood-based composting and textile diversion to youth workforce-development and reusable container pilots.

Among recommended grantees were the Asian Pacific American Community Center (work in Sunnydale), Bike Hut (bike repair and youth training), the California Product Stewardship Council (textile diversion), Garden for the Environment (compost and backyard-training programs), San Francisco Produce Market (food-rescue distribution), and the YMCA (establishing a reuse center). Staff also recommended two youth-education awards to Literacy for Environmental Justice's Eco Adventures and the Center for Urban Education and Sustainable Agriculture to serve dozens of students.

Eric Brooks, a community advocate speaking during public comment, urged stronger multilingual signage and tenant-facing outreach in multifamily buildings to improve recycling and composting effectiveness. Christine Farren of Quasa thanked the commission for supporting youth education funding.

Commissioners praised the breadth of projects and the equity and workforce-development elements in the recommendations. President Stevenson called the awards "one of the best days" of commission work, and the roll-call vote recorded unanimous approval.

The commission's action authorizes staff to finalize awards as detailed in the department's grant materials and to report back on implementation progress.