Hidden Heroes of the Greenbelt 2026
Wednesday, September 23, 2026
5:30 P.M.
Prescott Market, West Oakland
Honoring Climate Changemakers Across the Bay
As environmental and climate protections continue to be rolled back at the national level, local leaders are our most important line of defense.
This year’s Hidden Heroes of the Greenbelt award recipients are three extraordinary leaders from jurisdictions in Marin, Contra Costa, and Santa Clara counties. Their work advancing climate and land-use policies is creating lasting change, with positive impacts rippling through communities across the region.
Now in its sixth year, this celebration has become a powerful platform for amplifying those stories — and for reminding us that progress is still being made, right here, right now.
Join us in Oakland at Prescott Market for an end-of-summer bash as residents, nonprofits, government, and businesses come together to celebrate this year’s honorees and reaffirm our collective commitment to the Bay Area we’re building together.
2026 Hidden Hero Recipients
Nature-Based Adaptation Awardee
Ryan Hernandez serves as Assistant Deputy Director for the Contra Costa County Department of Conservation and Development (Planning & Building).
In this role, he advises the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors on water and climate-related policy. Ryan leads the development of the Contra Costa Resilient Shoreline Plan, a subregional plan to meet the requirements of Senate Bill 272, which directs cities and counties to prepare for sea level rise in accordance with newly adopted state guidelines.
The Plan spans approximately 90 miles of shoreline and involves collaboration with eight shoreline cities that connect the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to the San Francisco Bay.
Assistant Deputy Director for Contra Costa County Department of Conservation and Development
Planning For Resilience Awardee
Kate was previously the Resilience Program Manager for Adaptation within Miami-Dade County’s Office of Resilience. There, she led the implementation of the County’s Sea Level Rise Strategy, including incorporating sea level rise considerations into capital planning, water management systems, and management of natural areas.
She led the vulnerability assessment of Miami-Dade’s critical infrastructure to future flood risks and integrated resilience into County policies and programs. She also helped create the Adaptation Action Area program focused on addressing the most vulnerable areas.
Before Miami, she also worked on coastal climate adaptation during the post-Sandy Rebuild by Design and National Disaster Resilience competitions. She earned her Master of Environmental Science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Science, where she studied how cities can use a hybrid of grey and green infrastructure to adapt to rising sea levels.
Climate Adaptation and Resilience Planner for the City of San Rafael
Abundant SMART Housing Awardee
Over the past ten years, Wayne has overseen a doubling in the number of permanent affordable housing units in Mountain View from approximately 900 to over 2,100 homes. Five projects in 2026 have either completed construction, begun construction, or will start construction, totaling over 550 units once completed.
Wayne also leads major initiatives, such as developing a comprehensive tenant displacement response strategy and a low- and middle-income homeownership strategy, as well as forming external partnerships.
Wayne and his team completed the first interim housing project in California in partnership with LifeMoves through HCD’s Project Homekey grant program, which was awarded the Urban Land Institute’s America’s Award for Excellence in 2022, and was the first city in Santa Clara County to receive the State’s Prohousing Designation (2024).
Before joining Mountain View, Wayne was with the City of San José Housing Department. Wayne has a master in public policy from UC Berkeley and a master in urban planning from Harvard University.
Housing Director at City of Mountain View
Hidden Heroes of the Greenbelt is an annual benefit for Greenbelt Alliance that honors the often unseen yet remarkable government staff leading extraordinary work at the intersection of land use and climate change in the Bay Area.
Throughout our nearly 70-year history, we’ve worked alongside dedicated government staff, catalyzing impact in their communities across the Bay Area. Many of these heroes are creating systemic change for our cities by taking on complex projects to increase housing opportunities while protecting nature, expanding outdoor access, and building climate resilience. From launching parklet plans during the pandemic to facilitating wildfire education and building living levees, these local climate champions are creating lasting change.
The Hidden Heroes of the Greenbelt event is a festive day when residents, nonprofits, government, and businesses come together and celebrate our collective commitment to this work.
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS
BECOME A SPONSOR
By becoming a 2026 Hidden Heroes of the Greenbelt sponsor, you are signaling your organization’s support of local champions and enabling us to continue to be a resource to local government when it’s needed most. Learn more about sponsor benefits and support our work today!
Hear From Our Heroes
“The through lane for my work as an artist, community organizer, sustainability manager, policymaker is the three pillars that I orient my life around: community, connection, and creativity. I'm very much driven by that dedication to the broader good.”
“Having housing near jobs and reducing people's commute patterns and GHG emissions is positive for the climate. But what always excites me is it's actually positive for people's lives.”
“Part of prevention is changing someone's behavior. It isn't always about telling someone what they need to do. It is, how can someone do their part to be part of the solution.”
"People look to the Bay Area and to California as a place of innovation. We have the ability to pilot things to learn from that can be replicated elsewhere. I'm excited about the problem we have to solve but also the level of ingenuity and innovation when we bring nature into the recipe to develop our way forward."
"The whole idea of restoring watersheds—we started in that 30 years ago for the sake of nature, but now it’s nature-based solutions for the sake of climate change."
"Affordable housing along with sustainability go hand in hand. Building permanently affordable housing has been right up there as an agenda in (East Palo Alto) since the get-go. It's great to always live, work, and play in the same place."
“It’s critically important to focus on what we're leaving behind and the state that we're leaving it in. We have a responsibility to conserve land, community character, and a functional way of life for future generations.”
“The decision to preserve Coyote Valley was the last opportunity to say let's not continue with the sprawl from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and let's preserve what really was the last part of Santa Clara County and the valley that was agriculture and open space.”
“When you're looking at land use and transportation and how these interact with each other, if you layer on gender and race, you can see how they intersect with each other and then add on climate. Climate SMART housing is not just about designing a house or a building that's climate-smart. It has to be interconnected.”
JOIN US THIS SUMMER TO CELEBRATE OUR
HIDDEN HEROES
Prescott Market, Oakland
September 23, 2026
Come Discover Our Boldest Community Leaders
FAQS
Hidden Heroes of the Greenbelt is Greenbelt Alliance’s annual awards celebration honoring non-elected local government staff doing extraordinary work at the intersection of land use and climate change in the Bay Area. Now in its sixth year, the event brings together residents, nonprofits, government staff, and businesses to recognize the behind-the-scenes public servants building a more resilient region.
Anyone can nominate a local government staff member (non-elected) from a Bay Area city, county, or public agency. Simply fill out our nomination form describing the nominee’s work and its impact. Nominations are reviewed by an assessment panel, which selects one winner per category. Winners are notified directly, and nominators are also informed whether their nominee was selected.
Nominees must be non-elected local government staff (city, county, or agency) working in the San Francisco Bay Area at the intersection of land use and climate change. We recognize work across three categories: Nature-based Adaptation, Planning for Resilience, and Abundant Smart Housing. Elected officials are not eligible.
Yes, you may submit multiple nominations. Each nominee requires a separate form submission.
Nominations for the 2026 Hidden Heroes Awards close on May 17, 2026. Late nominations cannot be considered.
Winners who accept the award will be featured in a short video produced by Greenbelt Alliance. They will also be honored on stage at the celebration and featured in our communications. Award recipients must be available for a film shoot (date to be scheduled) and to attend the event this late summer in Oakland.
Sponsor the event — Corporate and organizational sponsorships help make this celebration possible and demonstrate your commitment to climate resilience in the Bay Area. Learn about sponsorship opportunities here.
Spread the word — Share the nomination call with colleagues, elected officials, and community members who may know a deserving Hidden Hero.
Nominate someone — You don’t have to attend to make a difference. If you know a local government staff member doing remarkable work, nominate them by May 3, 2026.
Tickets include entry to the full celebration at Preservation Park, including food and drinks, networking with fellow advocates and past honorees, inspiring remarks from this year’s Hidden Heroes, and interactive exhibits showcasing climate solutions from across the Bay Area. It’s a festive community gathering — not a formal sit-down dinner — so come ready to connect and celebrate.
THANKS TO OUR 2026 HIDDEN HEROES SPONSORS
Climate Advocate Sponsors
Land Steward Sponsors
Community Friend Sponsors
Alta Housing | Brookfield Residential | Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates | HOK | MidPen Housing | Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California | PlaceWorks | Port of San Francisco | Second Nature Ecology + Design | SCAPE Landscape Architecture | Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP | Singer Associates Public Relations | Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation & Open Space District | Sonoma Land Trust | The Nature Conservancy | Team CivX
Greenbelt Ambassador Sponsor
Enterprise Community Partners