USDOT Thriving Communities Program: Santa Cruz County, CA
15 minutes Date Launched/Enacted: Apr 21, 2025 Date Published: April 23, 2025
About the Thriving Communities Program (TCP)
The Thriving Communities Program (TCP) funds tailored technical assistance to under-resourced and disadvantaged communities, helping them better access historic infrastructure investments and deliver transformative projects. The USDOT FY 2022 Thriving Communities Program supports 64 communities across the country with access to a team of capacity builders to develop innovative community engagement methods, identify funding opportunities, and grow long-term capacity to develop and deliver transportation projects that strengthen communities.
TCP Complete Neighborhoods Community of Practice
TCP Communities are grouped into three Communities of Practice: Main Streets, Networked Communities, and Complete Neighborhoods. The 15 communities included under the Complete Neighborhoods Community of Practice are:
| Atlantic Beach, SC | Isabela, PR | Santa Cruz, CA |
| Billings, MT | Lansing, MI | St. Louis County, MO |
| Decatur, IL | Lima, OH | Suffolk, NY |
| East Orange, NJ | Providence, RI | Sumter, SC |
| Indianapolis, IN | Roanoke, VA | Waukegan, IL |
The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) selected a capacity building team led by RMI, including: the American Council for Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Equitable Cities, Nelson\Nygaard, and the Shared-Use Mobility Center (SUMC), to provide technical assistance to these 15 communities.
A Snapshot of Santa Cruz County, California
Santa Cruz County, CA, one of the communities selected under the Complete Neighborhoods Community of Practice, is a county bordered by the San Francisco Bay Area and Monterey Bay on the Central Coast of California. The county encompasses more rugged mountainous areas to the north, rural and suburban unincorporated towns, the coastal cities of Santa Cruz and Capitola, Scotts Valley, and the south valley dominated by agriculture, which includes the City of Watsonville. While Santa Cruz County is not a great distance from the population and technology centers of San Jose and San Francisco, the area’s main economic sectors are quite distinct with a much greater focus on agriculture and tourism. About 10% of jobs in Santa Cruz County are food producing/processing jobs, which are low-paying jobs. A significant portion of residents also work in service; tourism, recreation and hospitality; and retail and restaurants.
In Santa Cruz County, lower income and communities of color are concentrated in south county and pockets of the City of Santa Cruz and unincorporated communities of Live Oak and rural areas. Approximately 50% of Santa Cruz County’s residents are transportation disadvantaged based on race/ethnicity, income, ability, age, or access to a car. The Thriving Community lead, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (SCCRTC), is an autonomous regional transportation planning agency created by the State of California in 1972 to carry out transportation responsibilities that cross city-county boundaries in Santa Cruz County.
Map 1. Location of Santa Cruz County in the state of California. The City of Watsonville and the City of Santa Cruz were pinpointed. Credit: Google Maps.
Key Initiatives for Transportation
Santa Cruz County is working to advance several equity-focused initiatives:
Safety projects and programs
- Vision Zero Watsonville – In 2021, the City of Watsonville approved their Vision Zero Action Plan and is now working to implement the action items and priority projects.
- Freedom Boulevard is a major arterial in Watsonville with no bike lanes and high pedestrian crash rates and is a major focus area of Vision Zero corridor work.
- Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety – Local cities, the County of Santa Cruz, RTC and other local partners have been improving pedestrian and bicyclist safety countywide through educational programs like the Community Traffic Safety Coalition, Bike and Walk Safe to school, and sidewalk, bicycle and transit capital projects.
- Pajaro Valley High School – A new bike/ped bridge over Highway 1 is being added in Watsonville to make it safer for bikes and pedestrians to get to school.
Figure 1. View of Pajaro Valley High School in Watsonville. Credit: SUMC
Transportation improvements through downtown Watsonville – safety and improving access
- Downtown Watsonville Specific Plan
Main Street/SR152 – downtown Watsonville – discussion area for road diet and Downtown Specific Plan (link).
- Traffic calming through downtown area – implementation of the Downtown Watsonville Specific Plan (chapter 4) – Union/Brennan and other local and residential streets (see DWSP pp. 104 & 106)
- Decoupling Main/Beach/Lincoln – Converting E. Lake Ave and E. Beach St from one-way into two-way streets (see DWSP, pp. 94, 95, 101, & 102)
- Watsonville Transit Center – Santa Cruz Metro is working with a housing non-profit and the City of Watsonville to redevelop METRO’s Watsonville Transit Center into an affordable, transit-oriented housing development (link).
- Greening urban areas: Adding street trees and slough trails to reduce heat islands and provide access to the Watsonville sloughs network.
Figure 2. View of Main Street and 2nd Street in Downtown Watsonville. Credit: SUMC
Figure 3. Watsonville Transit Center. Credit: SUMC
Bike & Pedestrian Access in Watsonville
- Watsonville and RTC Coordination – Through the Thriving Communities Program, the City of Watsonville and RTC have been meeting with community members to discuss the highest priority areas for biking and walking.
- Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail Network/Coastal Rail Trail (MBSST) – The MBSST is a proposed 50-mile bicycle and pedestrian trail network, including a trail adjacent to the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line. Segments 18-20 will connect the trail to Watsonville and Pajaro (link).
- Pajaro River Levee Trail: The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers has been meeting with agencies in Monterey and Santa Cruz County to rebuild the river levee. The Watsonville Trails Master Plan and the Santa Cruz County Active Transportation Plan call for extending trails along the levee, ultimately providing clean transportation alternatives to access to the ocean.
New transit services
- METRO service expansion and zero-emission buses – Santa Cruz Metro aims to fully electrify their bus fleet by 2037. METRO currently has 9 Zero-Emission buses in operation and has 57 additional hydrogen-powered, fuel cell electric buses on the way (link).
- Potential new rail transit service (Zero Emission Passenger Rail and Trail-ZEPRT): The RTC is analyzing options to provide new rail transit service between Pajaro/Watsonville and job and tourist centers in Santa Cruz, as well as working with local jurisdictions to build a trail adjacent to the rail line. This includes analysis of options for a potential train station downtown Watsonville (link). Planned new Pajaro Station just past the community of Pajaro (over the Pajaro River) – will be served by trains to Salinas, San Jose and beyond.
- Expanded Paratransit and TNC Service: The Community Bridges’s Lift Line paratransit has expanded its services through its Access for All program. Now, all residents with disabilities in Santa Cruz County can access Lift Line’s door-to-door transportation, regardless of income level! The program is partially funded by TNC fees collected by the state from rideshare operators like Lyft and Uber.
Activities through the Thriving Communities Program
The Capacity Builder team has supported Santa Cruz County in developing various equity resources, including a mapping tool that shows priority areas and communities based on specific transportation equity metrics to support prioritizing equity in grant applications and funding investments.
Equity Priority Communities map
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission worked with its Transportation Equity Workgroup and three advisory committees to identify criteria (with readily available data) and map Transportation Equity Priority Communities in Santa Cruz County, sometimes referred to as “disadvantaged communities (DAC),” “priority populations,” “historically marginalized,” “underserved,” and/or “communities of concern.”
This map was created to identify that a lack of transportation facilities and services can hinder access to jobs, health care, food, recreation, families, schools, and our communities and to acknowledge that historical and present racism and discrimination and transportation conditions can create inequitable outcomes for people based on race, income, gender, ability, sexuality, immigration status, and other identities and experiences. In recognition that priority populations too often experience more crashes, face longer commutes to jobs and school, have fewer choices for how to get where they need to go, and have higher health risks, the RTC is using this tool to better identify these areas as priorities for transportation improvements and public engagement.
The Transportation Equity Priority Communities map [DRAFT] shows areas meeting priority community thresholds through eight indices and their thresholds to determine priority communities. The indices were developed based on extensive input from the RTC’s Transportation Equity Workgroup, established with the support from the TCP.
Map 2. Illustration of the draft equity priority communities map. Credit: SUMC & SCCRTC
| Draft Transportation Equity Priority Communities – Santa Cruz County.
Eight indices chosen based on community input are layered on top of each other in the same purple color. Therefore, the darker the purple, the more thresholds the area meets, with areas where more than 40% of the residents are also low income shown with hatch marks. Low-Income: ≥ 40% Poverty: ≥ 20% People of Color: ≥ 50% Limited English Proficiency: ≥ 10% Individuals with Disability: ≥ 15% Seniors, Above 75 Years Old: ≥ 10% Youth, Under 18 Years Old: ≥ 20% Renter: ≥ 50% |
The Transportation Equity Priority Communities map [DRAFT] shows areas meeting priority community thresholds through eight indices and their thresholds to determine priority communities. The indices were developed based on extensive input from the RTC’s Transportation Equity Workgroup, established with the support from the TCP.
Partnership and Coordination
RTC is strengthening partnerships and coordination with local partners such as the City of Watsonville. RTC staff met with City of Watsonville staff to outline the highest priorities for the community regarding biking and walking. RTC is also facilitating conversations and collaboration between state, local and regional stakeholders such as the City of Watsonville, Santa Cruz METRO, Caltrans and Army Corps of Engineers to ensure alignment in goals for various projects.
Equity Project Screening
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission team has compiled a list of questions that will be developed into a resource or tool to help SCCRTC and other partner agencies to review and screen projects based on equity-focused factors related to a project’s goals, expected outcomes, outreach strategies, and target population.
Outreach Toolkit
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission team is developing an outreach and engagement toolkit to help SCCRTC and other partner agencies on how to prioritize underrepresented communities and groups in the outreach process. The toolkit will have strategies, examples, and checklists.
Equity Outreach Plan
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission team is conducting extensive bilingual outreach in English and Spanish in Spring 2025 to get input from the community, local CBOs and stakeholders on the draft Equity Priority Communities map, the Equity Project Screening toolkit, and the Outreach Toolkit. Outreach will include community meetings, pop-up tabling at community events, and one-on-one engagement with individuals and community organizations.
TCP Direct Funding Mini-grants
Through direct funding, Santa Cruz County allocated $76,000 for direct investment in local Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) working to improve transportation options in the community. The county selected six CBOs that were granted between $10,000 to $16,000 to develop their transportation-related work, and the capacity builder team supported them, facilitating the connection and learnings between awarded entities and coordinating their outreach.
| Organization Name | Project Name and Description |
| The Bike Church | Community Engagement, Community Education, and Resilience Planning at The Bike Church
The Bike Church aims to fund two existing unfunded programs and help seed a brand new project. (1) Community Education Program to offer free monthly workshops; (2) Community Engagement Program to host school and afterschool group visits and volunteer events; (3) Resilience Planning to support The Bike Church to maintain existing storefront by hiring internal staff to create Eviction Response Plan, hire a financial management and facility planning consultant and send 2 mechanics to upcoming conference of community bike shops or visit a successful community bike shop. |
| Bike Santa Cruz County | Watsonville Community Bike Rides – Paseos en bicicleta por Watsonville
Bike Santa Cruz County will organize and lead 2 community bike rides in Watsonville between February and May 2025 and outreach and organizing will be conducted in Spanish and English. Rides will accommodate children, adults, and seniors and will collaborate with local community organizations, schools and public officials. Pre- and post-ride gatherings will focus on transportation, recreation, reducing GHGs, promoting physical and mental health, and fostering community connections. |
| Community Bridges | Thriving Communities Assistance on Public Awareness Outreach and Transportation Disparity Identification
Community Bridges is assisting the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (SCCRTC) and City of Watsonville in developing a Thriving Communities Program supported equity analysis of the existing transportation network, transportation projects and services, plans, policies, and procedures; a public outreach toolkit to proactively engage disadvantaged communities; enhancing equity-focused participation in transportation projects and planning; and a data-based effort to identify and address current and past inequities. Community Bridges will increase public awareness of existing transportation ecosystem within Santa Cruz County, targeting equity designated census tracts based on equity workgroup findings and assist with identification of transportation inequities and priorities for investments – including as part of transit Unmet Needs List process. |
| Ecology Action | Walk and Roll to School Enhanced Staffing for City of Watsonville
Ecology Action will support 14 school sites in Pajaro Valley Unified School District with the biannual Walk and Roll to School Day event in May 2025. Funding will go to additional staff time to allow the Multi-Regional Coordinator to focus on deepening relationships at school sites, promoting events within school campuses, ensuring linguistic and cultural relevance, representing and promoting events, ensuring all supplies are delivered, supporting event day food and prizes, and gathering student participation data. |
| Regeneracion – Pajaro Valley Climate Action | Capacity Building for Equitable and Sustainable Transportation Projects and Planning for Santa Cruz County
To support Regeneracion – Pajaro Valley Clime Action’s participation in current and future anticipated transportation projects and project development focused on Latine working class residents in Watsonville and other sections of Santa Cruz County. The funding will allow Regeneracion to dedicate staff time to unfunded planning and project development meetings, public workshops, survey distribution and advising as well as collaborative grant writing, and support uncompensated costs of participating in an existing project. |
| Santa Cruz Community Health | Live Oak Health Center’s Bike and Pedestrian Safety Initiative
Santa Cruz Community Health will use funding for program design and evaluation, facility storage, public outreach materials, and bike safety materials (reflectors, lights) which will be kept in possession by Community Health. Santa Cruz Community Health will provide helmets at their Live Oak clinic for their patients (approximately 75% are MediCal members), distribute them at local community events, and offer them during their food distribution program, where many community members—beyond just Live Oak patients—come to collect fresh produce. This strategy ensures that Santa Cruz Community Health reaches a broad population, including underserved families who rely on these services, reinforcing both safety and community health. |
Site Visits
In Spring 2024, the TCP team met twice with community organizations and local, regional and state agencies to discuss transportation planning efforts, studies, projects and programs focused on Pajaro Valley, including Watsonville, Freedom, and Interlaken areas of Santa Cruz County and areas in and around the town of Pajaro in northern Monterey County, which sits just over the Pajaro River from Watsonville. The group discussed opportunities for coordination and collaboration, including leveraging resources, community engagement, and data sharing. RTC staff provided the TCP consultant team with a site tour of the Watsonville area.
In December 2024, Santa Cruz County local partners met with and engaged with state and federal partners. The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission and the City of Watsonville identified transportation equity as a top priority for the region.
During the site visit, local partners from government agencies and nonprofit community-based organizations shared with state and federal partners about the projects they are working on and their challenges and roadblocks. The discussion focused on the unique needs of the community, the expected growth and changes for the community, the challenges of securing the needed amount of funding for the implementation of previously funded planning projects, and an in-depth discussion of specific projects and how to improve applications and proposals to increase chances of funding of implementation projects.
Throughout the discussion, local partners emphasized their existing relationships and partnerships. To support greater regional coordination, Federal and state partners also encouraged local partners to connect with their regional Metropolitan Planning Organization (AMBAG) to make sure they are aware of the local community needs and represent those needs. Federal and state partners also encouraged local partners to stay connected and share if they needed specific contacts or had questions about programs or grants they ran or oversaw.
Figure 4. Meeting of local, state and federal stakeholders in Watsonville during the site visit. Credit: SUMC.
Figure 5. Cyclist on Rodriguez St Watsonville during the site visit. Credit: SUMC
Figure 6. Justin Meek from City of Watsonville leading the walking tour through Downtown Watsonville. Credit: SUMC
Funding Opportunities
The Capacity Builder team has been working with Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission to identify suitable funding opportunities that can help support local transportation initiatives in the region. This process includes working to leverage new funding programs that have emerged from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, as well as exploring other opportunities from regional and state sources, and various federal agencies including USDOT, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Environmental Protection Agency, and others.
- Watsonville was awarded a $2.3 million FY23 Reconnecting Communities grant for its Strengthening Watsonville Neighborhoods Feasibility Study focused on the burden that truck routes pose to residential neighborhoods and the downtown core of the City of Watsonville and aims to improve safety, expand multi-modal transportation use, and reducing emissions close to schools and residential neighborhoods.
- In early 2025, the RTC’s Coastal Rail Trail project was approved for a $19 million RAISE grant, which is currently under review by the new administration.
Key Partners
Santa Cruz county is working with several key partners on these initiatives. Some of these partners include:
Figure 7. Project Team Stakeholder Map
RTC is working with several key partners on these initiatives. Some of these partners include:
City of Watsonville: The City of Watsonville is an agricultural and suburban community with a population of approximately 52,500. Over 75% of residents identify as non-white or Latino. Watsonville is working to reduce pollution exposure and improve access to public facilities, goods, housing, physical activity, and addressing needs of its community.
RTC Equity Committee: Established in late 2023, the RTC’s Transportation Equity Workgroup is intended to elevate diverse, historically marginalized, and underrepresented voices, including (but not limited to) Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), low-income and unhoused individuals, and youth. The workgroup has been advising the RTC and partner agencies on integrating equity into transportation plans, programs, projects, and policies.
Transit & Paratransit: Community Bridges-Lift Line and Santa Cruz METRO Transit District provide bus and paratransit services to the community.
Other Public Partners: In addition to the City of Watsonville and METRO, the Cities of Capitola, Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley, and the County of Santa Cruz, and the federally-designated MPO-the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments meet regularly through the RTC’s Technical Advisory Committee to exchange ideas, provide input on major capital projects and regional planning efforts.
Local community organizations and other entities: To address the gap in community engagement, RTC partners with various nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and other entities such as Community Bridges, Bike Santa Cruz County, Ecology Action, Regeneracion, Santa Cruz METRO Transit District, and County Health Services Agency.
Related Resources
- Watsonville Downtown Specific Plan
- Watsonville Vision Zero Plan
- Downtown Watsonville Complete Streets Plan
- Watsonville Safe Routes to Schools Plan
- Watsonville General Plan Update
- RTC Transportation Equity Planning
- RTC Nondiscrimination Plan/Title VI Program
- RTC Elderly and Disabled Transportation Advisory Committee
Capacity building efforts through the Thriving Communities Program are continuing until May 2025. The Capacity Builder team will conduct more technical assistance activities and will update this case study as the program progresses.