diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 99517b65cd..b49064017f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -111,7 +111,6 @@ jobs:
       !contains(needs.*.result, 'cancelled')
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     outputs:
-      commit_sha: ${{ steps.gradle-push.outputs.commit_sha }}
       release_branch: ${{ needs.get-or-create-release-branch.outputs.release_branch }}
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v3
@@ -124,20 +123,18 @@ jobs:
       with:
         action: upgrade-gradle-properties
         action-arguments: ${{ inputs.semantic_version }}
+    - name: Download all artifacts
+      uses: ./smithy-rs/.github/actions/download-all-artifacts
     - name: Push gradle.properties changes
       id: gradle-push
+      working-directory: artifacts
       shell: bash
       env:
         SEMANTIC_VERSION: ${{ inputs.semantic_version }}
         DRY_RUN: ${{ inputs.dry_run }}
       run: |
-        if git diff-index --quiet HEAD; then
-          # The file was actually changed, we need to commit and push the changes
-          git commit gradle.properties --message "Upgrade the smithy-rs runtime crates version to ${SEMANTIC_VERSION}"
-          echo "Pushing upgraded gradle.properties commit..."
-          git push origin
-        fi
-        echo "commit_sha=$(git rev-parse HEAD)" > $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+        echo "Pushing upgraded gradle.properties commit..."
+        git push origin
 
   release:
     name: Release
diff --git a/tools/ci-scripts/upgrade-gradle-properties b/tools/ci-scripts/upgrade-gradle-properties
index 5ba010b244..8e65369e1a 100755
--- a/tools/ci-scripts/upgrade-gradle-properties
+++ b/tools/ci-scripts/upgrade-gradle-properties
@@ -6,4 +6,23 @@
 
 set -eux
 
-publisher upgrade-runtime-crates-version --version ${1} --gradle-properties-path smithy-rs/gradle.properties
+SEMANTIC_VERSION="${1}"
+SMITHY_RS_DIR="$(pwd)/smithy-rs"
+ARTIFACTS_DIR="$(pwd)/artifacts"
+mkdir -p "${ARTIFACTS_DIR}"
+
+pushd "${SMITHY_RS_DIR}"
+publisher upgrade-runtime-crates-version --version "${SEMANTIC_VERSION}"
+if git diff-index --quiet HEAD; then
+  # The file was actually changed, we need to commit the changes
+  git commit gradle.properties --message "Upgrade the smithy-rs runtime crates version to ${SEMANTIC_VERSION}"
+fi
+popd
+
+# Clone smithy-rs repo changes (changelog updates) into
+# the `smithy-rs-release` artifact for push to GitHub
+pushd "${ARTIFACTS_DIR}"
+git clone "${SMITHY_RS_DIR}"
+# Copy over the original remotes so that it's possible to push to `origin`
+cp "${SMITHY_RS_DIR}/.git/config" .git/config
+popd