AgEE program offers energy efficiency resources Merced County farmers

Agriculture is a huge economic engine for the San Joaquin Valley, with annual gross production values in excess of $25 billion dollars. As with all industries, to be sustainable and remain economically profitable, it is becoming increasingly important for farming operations to find ways to reduce energy consumption, costs and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The new Agricultural Energy Efficiency (AgEE) Internship Program will provide a strategic energy resource for agricultural operations in Merced County. 

The program, which kicked off in April, is offered through a partnership with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the Great Valley Center (GVC).

The goal of the initiative is to provide information and technical assistance to local farmers on energy efficient solutions that may help to reduce energy costs, improve sustainable practices, and build capacity within Central Valley communities.

Five college interns have been hired – four are University of California, Merced students and one is a student from Merced College. The interns are being trained to augment the work being performed by PG&E’s Energy Solutions and Service  team.  Duties will include building relationships with agricultural customers while matching available resources with each customer's operational needs.

Major objectives of the program include promoting energy efficiency, building local presence, workforce development, and fostering a long term relationship between the utility and its customers.

“In order for energy efficiency and climate action to take shape on a regional scale, a broad cross section of community stakeholders must be involved in crafting solutions to preserve the Central Valley,” said Bryce Dias, the program manager who oversees the AgEE program and GVC’s other energy and climate initiatives.

AgEE is just one of the energy and climate strategies on which GVC is working.

Green Communities, another collaborative effort implemented by PG&E, ICLEI and the GVC, provides GHG emissions inventories for budget-strapped local governments, assisting them to quantify and address GHG emissions. The Great Valley Center will soon be hiring seven additional college interns for a third round of Green Communities this spring. The program, dedicated to providing innovative energy efficiency and climate change solutions for governments and communities, has completed 25 projects to date in the San Joaquin Valley.

These programs are funded by California utility customers and administered by PG&E under the auspices of the California Public Utilities Commission. Click here for more information on GVC's Energy and Climate Initiatives.

Tour offers overview of Central Valley water issues

Of the many challenges facing the Central Valley, water issues are perhaps the most pressing.  Water has helped transform the Valley into one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world.  However, issues with water supply, water quality, farmland conversion for urban growth, and environmental restoration are creating big challenges that affect the economy and quality of life in the region. 

The Water Education Foundation's 2013 Central Valley Water Tour, scheduled for April 17-19, provides a comprehensive overview of these challenges and the efforts to deal with them.  This 3-day, 2-night excursion travels the length of the San Joaquin Valley, giving participants a clear understanding of the State Water Project and Central Valley Project.

The field trip offers participants a firsthand look at the water facilities, rivers and regions critical in the debate about the future of water resources.  Issues of water supply, water quality, environmental restoration, flood management, groundwater and water conservation are addressed by a wide-range of speakers representing different viewpoints.  

Tour stops will include the Kern County Water Bank, the San Joaquin River, Terminus Dam, Mendota Pool, Friant Dam, San Luis National Wildlife Refuge and San Luis Reservoir. Issues of growth, water supply, flood management, groundwater banking, wetlands, salmon restoration and agricultural supply and drainage are discussed on this tour, which begins and ends at the Sacramento International Airport. 

The tour is a great opportunity for water policy makers, water board managers and directors, locally elected officials attorneys, consultants, and anyone interested in Central Valley issues. 

The tour costs $695 per person for a single occupancy room, $625 if four or more are registering, and $595 each for two people sharing a room.  Reservations are on a first-come-first-served basis.  The tour is sponsored by the Bureau of Reclamation, Mid-Pacific Region; California Department of Water Resources and Bowles Farming Company.

More information and tour registration is available online. 

Forum set to explore crucial role of education in the San Joaquin Valley

What is happening currently within the education community of the San Joaquin Valley? What are the challenges and opportunities? What does the future of higher education look like and how does it play a pivotal role in the Valley and in California?

An interactive forum on education and how it will shape the future of the San Joaquin Valley and the state as a whole will be held on Thursday, November 8. Topics will cover a broad range including life-long learning and professional development; the current state of K-12 education, and the future of and access to higher education.

The event is sponsored by California Watch (a project of the Center of Investigative Reporting); University of California, Merced; Campaign for College Opportunity; Merced Sun Star, and Merced College. All the conversations are open to the community and public engagement is encouraged.

The first panel discussions will be held 2 – 4:30 p.m. and will cover the state of K-12 education; developing pathways to sustainable futures and the role education plays in economic development in the San Joaquin Valley. These conversations will be held at Merced College’s Business Resource Business Center, 3600 M Street in Merced.

The second part of this event will begin with a reception held 5 – 6 p.m. at UC Merced’s California Room, 5200 Lake Road in Merced. The reception will be followed by two panel discussions held 6 – 7:30 p.m., beginning with a conversation on the return on investment for education in California and key findings from the report “California’s Economic Payoff: Investing in College Access & Completion.”

A second panel will follow with a discussion on the dynamics facing colleges in California and how UC Merced and other colleges in the San Joaquin Valley provide an opportunity to continue to invest in education as a key driver for the state.

Speakers will include Hans Johnson, a senior fellow and Bren policy fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, Phil Bronstein, executive chair of the board of the Center for Investigative Reporting, and Kim H. Tran, policy director for the Campaign for College Opportunity.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about the changing face of education and how it is a deciding factor in our Valley’s future. To register to attend click here. More details, including maps and parking information, will follow your confirmation of attendance. Questions may directed to Kristin Crawford at kcrawford@cironline.org.

Great Valley Center and UC Merced release new environmental indicators report

Report reveals some progress in the Central Valley, though many environmental challenges remain

The Central Valley environment is getting healthier, but not fast enough. Its air quality is still among the worst in the nation, according to a report released today.

The Great Valley Center and the Sierra Nevada Research Institute at the University of California, Merced, jointly produced "The State ofthe Great CentralValley: Assessing the Region Via Indicators – The Environment2006-2011.” The report tracks a variety of environmental indicators within the Central Valley and shows mixed results.

The good news is there has been a reduction in the level of a number of key air quality indicators, a recharge of watersheds to near normal levels, a slowing in the loss of prime agricultural land to urbanization and an increased restoration of wetland habitats.

The Central Valley's depressed economy has dramatically slowed the use of prime land for new homes and commercial space. It has also given local and regional governments time to prepare and begin using blueprints to improve urban housing density and transportation choices.

However, the Central Valley has many red flags when it comes to the environment.

The number of days ozone levels were above state and federal air quality standards has increased overall since 2005, and almost all counties in the region are not meeting the one-hour and eight-hour air quality standards for many days each year. The percentage of the Valley’s population at risk for respiratory problems because of poor air quality outpaces other California regions.

The level of nitrates in drinking water has increased because farmers are using nitrogen-based fertilizers and planting nitrogen-fixing cover crops. Poor soil drainage has caused damage to fragile ecosystems. A great deal of energy is being used to move waste materials to landfills, presenting an opportunity for more recycling. Many counties have not reduced their waste production or energy consumption. In some cases, the numbers have increased beyond the proportional rise in population.

Gathering the data for this year’s report was challenging because of state and local budget cuts that limited the collection of information and the monitoring of air, water, species diversity, habitat conservation and resource management. Among the five recommendations for future action: Increase data gathering and improve sharing information, and support renewable energy sources for sustainable growth.

The report tracks environmental indicators as they relate to carbon monoxide, ozone and particulate matter; water quality and levels in our watersheds; pesticide use, soil drainage and land use; species of concern, fish, birds and wetland habitats; and waste production and energy consumption. The data sets, which underlie and correlate with many of the other assessments of regional well-being, are grouped in sections describing air, water, land use, species and habitat, and resources and energy.

Included in the report are profiles of half a dozen successful efforts to conserve and build capacity for the future.

“We included stories of environmental best practices to show that there are organizations and individuals working hard to make a positive impact in our Valley,” Great Valley Center Executive Director Dejeuné Shelton said. “Some of these successful programs could serve as models for similar environmental initiatives in other areas of our Valley.”

A highlight of the report is a public policy essay by UC Merced engineering Professor Roger Bales, director of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute, on the need for a sustainable water supply to meet the growing needs of the expanding Central Valley population with the additional stresses of climate change.

"The State of the Great Central Valley: The Environment (Third Edition)" is part of an ongoing regional initiative of the Great Valley Center (GVC) to track conditions in one of California’s fastest growing regions: the 19-county Great Central Valley. The data presented in the report were gathered by the Sierra Nevada Research Institute, and present a snapshot of information providing tools for measuring the community well-being of the Valley. This third edition revisits indicators introduced by the GVC in 2001 and revised in 2005, and includes several new ones. Past reports can be viewed on the GVC'sIndicators Report Series website.

“No More Silence” child abuse prevention video debuts in Merced

If your child suffers sexual abuse, it is more likely than not that someone your family knows has committed the abuse. A new DVD “No More Silence,” produced by the Great Valley Center in partnership with Merced County Office of Education/Early Care and Education Department, addresses important facts that parents and guardians should know to help protect children from abuse.

The English version of the video is posted to the Great Valley Center website and the Spanish version will be uploaded in the coming weeks.

Local child care providers were the first to view the video on June 5 during a session of the Early Care and Education Training Institute in Merced. GVC secured funding to produce the video as part of a year-long child abuse prevention program funded by the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families. GVC also hopes to provide training in some migrant education classrooms in Merced County this summer as part of the program.

“People want to believe that if they keep their kids away from ‘strangers’ that they will not suffer sexual abuse but the sobering fact is that is not true,” said Jami Westervelt, Senior Director of Programs and Operations at Great Valley Center. “It is important that parents know that and that there are resources for help.”

In addition to facts and abuse resources, the video also features vignettes showing parents what actual conversations with children might look like around the sensitive subject. Parents of older children have the option to replay the vignettes and view them with their children as they feel appropriate.

Great Valley Center produced Spanish and English versions of the video, using both female and male actors to portray parents and children. The actors in the example conversations also represent a variety of ethnic backgrounds to enable families to relate to those portrayed in the video.

In planning the collaborative project, GVC met with local agencies including MCOE, Merced County Human Services Agency and Valley Crisis Center to develop program content and all provided video development assistance. The partnership with MCOE was vital to the video, with the staff contributing heavily to the production, including MCOE Caring Kids Program Manager/Behavior Support Specialist Monica Adrian who led script development and narrated the video. The MCOE Merced Educational Television program (METV) produced the video.

Park leaders learn to guide strategic change at National Parks Institute

The third National Parks Institute, a 12-day seminar organized collaboratively by University of California, Merced, National Parks Service (NPS) and Great Valley Center, came to a successful conclusion on April 28. The NPI seminar, which migrated from Fort Baker in Marin County to UC Merced and wound up in Yosemite National Park, brought together 27 leaders in park and protected area management, including 16 from around the U.S. and 11 from countries around the world.  

Under the theme of “Leading Strategic Change”, participants tackled topics ranging from the affects of climate change on national parks to exploring how to build value to the park visit experience in order to compete for scarce resources.  

  

Thomas Lovejoy, Professor of Biology at George Mason University and chief biodiversity advisor to the President of World Bank, spoke to the group during a public plenary lecture at UC Merced. Lovejoy pointed out, "We have twice as much biologically active nitrogen in the world today than is natural, and the consequences are many dead zones in our oceans."

The NPI class also heard presentations from Stanford University Professor of Management and author Charles O'Reilly; Keshav Varma, Program Director for World Bank's Global Tiger Initiative; UC Merced Professor of Technology Management Erik Rolland, and dozens of other experts from the NPS, universities, and community and partnership organizations.  They also heard from past seminar participants who were inspired by their NPI experience to instigate new park programs and initiatives. To view a video of some of this year's speakers click here.

Each class member brought an “individual challenge case” to discuss with their colleagues, and during the seminar they worked on action plans to address their challenges.  Watch brief videos of some of the participants as they discuss challenges they are currently facing in their parks and why they wanted to attend NPI: Tom Leatherman,  Sula Jacobs, Stan Austin, and Judy Forte.

NPI’s third class left with fresh strategic planning and leadership skills and examples of successful partnerships and programs from parks around the country and the other side of the globe. Class members also gained a broader understanding of some of the complex issues faced by their colleagues, and established a network of new contacts.

Steve Thede, Deputy Superintendent of Badlands National Park, said of his experience, "The NPI helps the NPS (and part of the international community) move forward in our thinking, understanding and capacity, with the promise of much more in the future. Without opportunities such as this, we won't take the time, nor have the benefit of the expertise of those who shared with us, to see how what we do fits into the bigger picture...and how we can take more strategic and  effective actions."

Read more about the 2012 National Parks Institute through UC Merced or NPS Digest.

Fundamentals of Nonprofit Board Leadership Training on January 23 in Bakersfield

Presented by the United Way of Kern County and the Great Valley Center.

Thinking about becoming a nonprofit board member? Wonder what you’re supposed to be doing as a board member? Designed for new and current board members, this 6-hour workshop offers an overview of responsible board governance. Join a group of your peers to learn effective approaches to bring to your role as a board member.

Date: Saturday, January 23, 2009
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Location:
UC Merced Bakersfield Center
2000 K Street, Bakersfield, CA

Registration: $50; register online at www.uwkern.org

→ Download Workshop Flyer (PDF)

Discover what board members are supposed to do. In this workshop, you will learn:

• Your roles and responsibilities
• Legal and fiduciary responsibilities
• How to be a “prudent” director
• Traditionally-defined board and staff roles
• Problem-solving techniques you can use
• Different types of nonprofits and their board
• Introduction to fundraising strategies
• How to evaluate a financial statement

Presenters:

Della Hodson has served as president of United Way of Kern County since July 2008. She previously served as director of communication and vice president of community impact for UWKC. Before joining United Way, she served as a board member and chair of the boards of Habitat for Humanity – Golden Empire and the American Red Cross Kern Chapter.

Dejeuné Shelton is senior program manager for the Great Valley Center. She has managed a grassroots nonprofit in Patterson, and currently serves on several nonprofit boards. In her work with GVC, Dejeuné often works with community-based organizations on health and economic development.

David Hosley is president of the Great Valley Center. He has managed nonprofits in the Bay Area and Valley for more than two decades, and taught Strategic Management in the Nonprofit Environment at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. David has served on more than two dozen nonprofit boards.