Petaluma’s Daily Acts gets $1.5 million grant for local school projects
Miwok Valley Charter School and La Tercera are among the four participating schools.
JENNIFER SAWHNEY
PETALUMA ARGUS-COURIER
April 1, 2024
Petaluma nonprofit Daily Acts has received a $1.5 million grant to fund water conservation projects at four local schools, according to a news release.
As part of Daily Acts’ Climate Resilient Schools project – announced March 25 by the California Department of Water Resources – water conservation measures such as rain gardens, rainwater tanks, turf conversion and efficient irrigation will be installed at the schools, along with the planting of native trees to reduce heat from asphalt playgrounds.
The projects will directly benefit four schools and the communities around them in “underserved” neighborhoods of Petaluma, according to the release. Miwok Valley Charter School and La Tercera Elementary are two of the four participating schools, with the other two not yet announced, said Program Director Brianna Schaefer.
“An added benefit of working with the school community” is that the improvements will help them develop “a nice ecological learning landscape,” Schaefer said. The organization also has plans to install pollinator habitats in these school-based projects.
“Stormwater infiltration” tactics help catch or slow stormwater before it runs over the ground and away in drains, Schaefer said – allowing it to be absorbed into the landscape to “recharge the groundwater table,” she said.
Similarly, rainwater tanks are a good method for capturing water to use later for irrigation, offsetting potable water usage.
The new grant funds the third phase of work that began in 2017, when Daily Acts received funding for a needs assessment in partnership with the Sonoma Ecology Center in Sonoma Valley. Both organizations are focused on the water-related needs and issues of local disadvantaged communities.
The project’s specifics were developed in phase two, based on data from the previous phase.
“A significant section” of Petaluma’s disadvantaged communities live along the Highway 101 corridor and have historically faced flooding-related issues, Schaefer said. The group hopes that rainwater capture, school lawn conversions, rain garden installments and other aspects of the project will reduce some of the flooding that flows downstream into these impacted communities.
It also serves as a public education tool to model interventions that families can implement in their own homes, she said.
“One of the main desires is to continue to bring resources into the community to be able to support these type of projects,” Schaefer said.
The Miwok Valley portion will begin this spring, with La Tercera’s portion being implemented in the fall, she said. The organization has until December 2026 to use the funds, of which a majority will go toward project materials and required contractor support.
“A small portion will support the community organizations that are helping,” she said. Daily Acts will team up with two other local nonprofits to carry out the work: Rebuilding Together Petaluma, which will assist with gathering volunteers, and ReLeaf Petaluma, which will assist in the tree planting.
“We’re incredibly grateful to be able to bring these resources into the community to support this work,” she said.
Founded in 2002 by Petaluma resident Trathen Heckman, Daily Acts promotes daily actions to support climate-resilient communities. It is one of several Bay Area recipients to receive a total of $32 million in grants through the Bay Area Integrated Regional Water Management Program, a nine-county effort that implements regional water management projects, funded and overseen by the California Department of Water Resources.
The Bay Area projects are expected to roll out in the next three to five years under the administration of the San Francisco Estuary Partnership, a non-regulatory program under the Environmental Protection Agency that oversees the San Francisco Estuary and its watersheds, according to the release.
You can reach Staff Writer Jennifer Sawhney at 707-521-5346 or [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @sawhney_media.