People of color and historically underserved communities have long been left out of environmental education conversations. When Caltrans set out to promote sustainable stormwater practices statewide through the “Let’s Change This to That” campaign, the challenge wasn’t just awareness — it was relevance. Language barriers, limited access to information, and outreach that didn’t reflect local culture meant that the communities most impacted were the least engaged.

D&A led the community engagement and activation strategy for the campaign — grounded in how people actually encounter waste in their daily lives. We delivered multilingual outreach, built partnerships across all 12 regional water districts, and developed creative activations that made environmental education tangible and accessible. The centerpiece was the Trash Castle — a commissioned art installation by Marin County artists that transformed beach-collected waste into a striking public sculpture, sparking conversation and earning local and statewide media coverage during Coastal Cleanup Day at Huntington Beach.