News

Student showcase winners were invited to attend SCAG’s Regional Conference & General Assembly in Palm Desert as SCAG conference fellows. The “Student Showcase” poster and StoryMap competition challenged students to think innovatively and meaningfully to tell a story, provide insight, showcase plans and projects, engage supporters and stakeholders, illustrate the possibilities of data and highlight the usefulness of open data at the regional level.  

JURY AWARD

A panel of judges selected one poster and one StoryMap for the “Jury Award. ” 

Governor Newsom’s proposed draft fiscal year 2025 state budget could reduce SCAG’s $246 million Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) 2.0 allocation by 50 percent. SCAG staff have already allocated $192 million through formula-based and competitive programs. SCAG, with strong support from state leadership, is advocating for the governor to reconsider these cuts.

The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) awarded $2.28 million in grant funding to SCAG to improve transportation safety, including funding for a new regional safety data analysis and modeling platform and continued work on the Go Human regional traffic safety and community engagement program. 

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Nominations are now open for SCAG’s 2025 Sustainability Awards. The SCAG Sustainability Awards recognize projects for contributing to the goals of the Connect SoCal Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy and for achieving progress toward a more mobile, sustainable, and prosperous region.

On Nov. 7, the SCAG Regional Council approved project nominations for Trade Corridor Enhancement Program (TCEP) funding. As the region’s metropolitan planning organization, SCAG is tasked with submitting project nominations from regional agencies to the California Transportation Commission.  

SCAG is releasing the final update to the Racial Equity Action Early Plan—culminating a three-year process to center equity in SCAG plans and processes.  

Since 2019, SCAG has been partnering with local jurisdictions to support the planning and development of housing through the Regional Early Action Planning program. With two unprecedented waves of funding, in 2019 and again in 2021, SCAG quickly allocated money to local and sub-regional partners, successfully advocated for maintaining the funding through the budget uncertainty of the past year, and negotiated administrative flexibility from the state to support local project delivery. 

Third Quarter, 2024

SCAG’s Economic Roundtable met for its third 2024 quarterly discussion on the state of the regional economy.  Supporting data are available from SCAG’s Economic Trends Tool.  

The following overarching themes emerged from the conversation: 

The Southern California Clean Cities Coalition received two first place awards at the national 2024 Clean Cities and Communities Training Workshop for the “greatest percent increase in gasoline gallon equivalents (GGEs) reduced” (i.e., an alternative fuel source equivalent to one gallon of fossil fuel) and the “greatest percent increase in greenhouse gases (GHGs) reduced.” All 75+ coalitions in the national network of clean cities coalitions were eligible for the awards. 

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REGISTRATION FOR THE 57TH ANNUAL REGIONAL CONFERENCE & GENERAL ASSEMBLY IS NOW OPEN!

Join Southern California’s most influential elected officials and policymakers on May 5–6, 2022 at the JW Marriott Desert Springs

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REGISTER FOR THE 57TH ANNUAL REGIONAL CONFERENCE & GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SCAG’s 57th Annual Regional Conference & General Assembly is just around the corner on May 5–6.

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State Housing Funds Awarded to 29 SCAG Jurisdictions

The California Department of Housing and Community Development approved another 35 jurisdictions for Permanent Local Housing Allocation (PLHA) funds, bringing the tot

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President Harnik Shares Region’s Housing and Transportation Priorities

SCAG President Jan Harnik had the pleasure of hosting a recent meeting with Senate Transportation Committee Chair Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) to di

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33rd Annual Demographic Workshop Dates Announced

The 33rd Annual Demographic Workshop, co-hosted by SCAG and the University of Southern California, will be held virtually on the afternoons of Wednesday, Sept.

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REGIONAL EARLY ACTION PROGRAM (REAP) 2.0 PROGRAM UPDATE

Since the approval of the REAP 2.0 Program Framework by the Regional Council (RC) in July, staff has continued outreach efforts to develop specific programs using

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REGIONAL EARLY ACTION PROGRAM (REAP) 2.0 PROGRAM UPDATE

Continuing development of the REAP 2.0 program, staff have been conducting outreach to identify priorities for transformative planning and implementation.

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State Agency Meetings 

On Nov.

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10 SPOTS STILL AVAILABLE FOR HOUSING SUPPORTIVE GRANT APPLICATION TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

In addition to Permanent Local Housing Allocation application assistance, SCAG is offering technical assistance for jurisdictions an

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CONNECT SOCAL 2024 SUBCOMMITTEES 

In September 2022, SCAG launched three subcommittees to look at emerging issues for the Connect SoCal 2024 plan.