Founded by local community members in 2002, Nuestra Casa began as a safety net service provider for low-income communities in East Palo Alto as the community welcomed an influx of new Spanish-speaking residents. Ever since, Nuestra Casa has helped community members access critical services and flex their inherent leadership. Nuestra Casa brings this mission to life through community education, leadership development, and community-driven advocacy.

Residents of communities disproportionately affected by climate change have historically been left out of environmental planning and advocacy efforts. Nuestra Casa is changing that dynamic by putting the community into the drivers’ seat of environmental justice efforts. Unincorporated North Fair Oaks suffers from a lack of tree canopy, causing unsafe summertime temperatures, sea water inundation due to its location below sea level on the Bay, and one of the highest pollution burdens in California. While Sand Hill Foundation has a long history of supporting environmental causes, a new focus in 2021 on local climate change solutions created room for new partnerships and investments.

Nuestra Casa received a multi-year grant in 2023 from Sand Hill Foundation to expand their environmentally-focused work from East Palo Alto into North Fair Oaks. The initial phase of the project involved understanding the magnitude of different environmental issues facing the community. That data was then used to create a community education program that included an annual Environmental Justice Academy. This multi-week course covers climate justice; water justice, including where local water is sourced from; air pollution, including what is in the air locally; and sea level rise and flooding mitigation practices and adaptation policies.

Since the inception of Nuestra Casa’s North Fair Oaks project, 1,800 community members have participated in policy and city planning discussions around climate change mitigation and environmental justice issues and 43 concerned community members enrolled in the Environmental Justice Academy in 2024.