Guidance. Collaboration. Connection. In the last 12 months, a new Equity Sounding Board supporting CalMTA’s initiative development delivered on all three of these themes in a big way. This work kicked off in December 2024 and has resulted in a journey of shared learning and discovery with the formation of this eight-member panel of experts to advise CalMTA’s work in applying an equity lens as we take ideas for efficient technologies and practices and form them into full-fledged market transformation initiatives (MTIs). This group of diverse professionals who advocate for or work within Environmental and Social Justice (ESJ) communities, is guiding CalMTA’s outreach to those communities in order to help mitigate any unintended negative impacts of our work and provide feedback at key stages of development.  

While many best practices for prioritizing equity in energy efficiency work exist, engagement with equity audiences can be transactional in nature (e.g., participation in income-qualified utility programs) or timebound (focus groups or listening sessions). Building ongoing, mutually beneficial relationships that allow ESJ representatives to play a more central role in program design are much rarer – particularly in market transformation work, which often focuses on upstream interventions and demand aggregation through consumers perceived to be traditional early adopters, who are typically more able to accept risk. 

Throughout 2025, our ongoing partnership with the Equity Sounding Board has enabled CalMTA to integrate ESJ community perspectives into market research, MTI logic model development, project strategy and implementation approach, and evaluation metrics. In addition to four full Equity Sounding Board meetings focused on specific components CalMTA’s developing portfolio of MTIs, members also provided more than 60 consulting hours to address specific questions or issues aligned with their unique skills and experience.

Equity Sounding Board engagement has directly enhanced the equity approach for multiple MTIs in some of the ways described below: 

• Feedback received during development of the Commercial Rooftop Unit MTI Plan helped shape an intervention focused on addressing the limited availability of accessible and experienced contractors in rural or lower-income communities to mitigate the associated higher cost of installation in those areas. After hearing that complex rebate processes with widely varied requirements posed a barrier for contractors serving businesses in less affluent areas who required incentives, CalMTA developed an intervention focused on consistent and streamlined upstream incentives.  
  
  Equity Sounding Board insight into potential evaluation metrics contributed to two equity-centered market progress indicators: (1) a goal of siting 50% of demonstration projects in ESJ communities and (2) parity between trained workforce availability in Disadvantaged Communities (DACs) and the general population. 
  
• Collaboration around market research for the Foodservice Water Heating MTI resulted in objectives focused on measuring awareness in ESJ communities, availability of equitable financing offerings, addressing code interpretation challenges​, and contractor training needs. In the outreach, Equity Sounding Board engagement helped identify diverse restaurant owners for participation and provided translation support in Spanish and Korean.  

• Consulting hours with the Equity Sounding Board during Commercial Replacement & Attachment Window Solutions MTI market research connected CalMTA’s team with contacts in California health care facilities located in ESJ communities.  

• Equity Sounding Board participation in the Aug. 2025 Residential HPWH Market Acceleration Summit​ hosted by CalMTA elevated insights into small and diverse businesses’ market experience, equitable education/training approaches, and ESJ community needs during workshops with statewide market actors. 

• A consulting session conducted during development of CalMTA’s first implementation RFPs (for the Room Heat Pumps and Induction Cooking MTIs) informed inclusive RFP design to encourage participation from diverse firms and specific considerations related to RFP outreach, teaming strategies, and scoring criteria.  
  

Our first year together has resulted in more equity-informed market research and program design, authentic relationship-building within ESJ communities, and lessons learned that will inform future work. CalMTA is deeply grateful for the time and expertise shared by the Equity Sounding Board and looks forward to productive collaboration in 2026.