The City of Barstow is a severely disadvantaged community located in central San Bernardino County on Route 66, almost midway between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. It is one of the few cities left with the longest stretch of historic Highway 66 still functioning as the city’s Main Street through downtown. Once a booming destination for travelers with many roadside attractions, hotels and restaurants, the development of Interstate-15 demolished the local economy, routing tourists away from the vibrant downtown.

The City of Barstow is now looking to reinvent itself. The city is going through a General Plan Update aimed at setting a new community vision that will increase housing and economic opportunities in the city. One of the key goals will be to revitalize its downtown and diversify its economy through land use decisions.

In Spring of 2022, the BOOST Team helped the city craft an almost $5 million grant application for the CalTrans Clean California Grant Program to help clean up and beautify the its downtown by adding gateway monuments, proper lighting, public art, landscaping, shade structures, a park and a public right-of-way that aimed at increasing access and celebrating the city’s rich history. Unfortunately, due to technical issues, this application was not accepted. While this was devastating, the team vowed to continue its efforts to get Barstow the funding and support it needs to reach its goals of revitalizing its community and preparing for its new future.    

The team quickly got to work on the CalOES JumpStart grant, an innovative program aimed at supporting socially vulnerable and high-risk communities with developing and implementing climate resilience plans. In June of 2022, CalOES named the City of Barstow as one of just six organizations to receive this first-of-its-kind grant. The $732,000 grant will allow the City of Barstow to hire a Chief Resilience Officer to develop and implement local climate resilience strategies and initiatives over the next three years. This effort will be incredibly important to the future of this desert community, which suffers from more than 25 days over 100 degrees each year. The addition of a Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) will add much needed capacity to the city’s small but mighty staff, who already wear many hats.

Much of Barstow’s success can be attributed to its dedicated staff. The BOOST Team works frequently with Domingo Gonzales, the Engineering Services Administrator, who has been working with the city of 33 years. Domingo has stayed on much past his expected retirement date because he is excited about the city’s new possibilities and enjoys mentoring the city’s up and coming staff, like the new Planning & Community Development Administrator, Genesis Jordan.   

Domingo goes after almost every grant opportunity he sees for the city, knowing that the city has limited funding to upgrade its aging infrastructure and meet the needs of its community. Our BOOST partners, Farallon Strategies, came up big this month by stepping in to support the City of Barstow in the development of an application for the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration Bridge Investment Program with just one week before the deadline. Working many evenings and through the weekend, the team completed the application with just minutes to spare. If awarded, the City of Barstow will receive over $57 million to replace the structurally deficient Mojave River Bridge, which has been the source of three fatalities and several injuries over the past two decades. The new bridge will be safer and allow for cars, bikes and pedestrians to use this critical route, to advance the city’s vision of equity, environmental stewardship and economic vitality.

On October 1, 2022, the city will host a 75^th Anniversary Celebration with a big block party celebration as it honors its past and looks towards its future.