Message from Secretariat lead executive Dozier

On October 23, 2009, more than 400 people representing numerous organizations throughout the Valley and California attended the 2009 California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley Annual Summit “Serving the Valley. Shaping our Future.” The Summit is an example of the Partnership’s role in bringing the eight counties and 62 cities together for mutual benefit and strategic alliance. The breakout sessions and executive panels illustrated that the success of the Valley is dependent upon working together and creating a united voice. Three major strides were announced at the Summit: 1) Adoption of the San Joaquin Valley Water Plan, 2) Awarded WIA Grant, and 3) Approved Communications Plan.

Water Plan

Facilitating and building a united voice is done through the Partnership’s 10 work groups which have representation from all eight counties on the work group as well as on the Board. The most recent work group win is the Water Resolution. After two years of development and collaboration, all eight counties have adopted the San Joaquin Valley Water Plan and are now advocating with a united voice. For more information on the San Joaquin Valley Water Plan, please click here.

WIA Grant

There are several examples of how the state supports the Partnership and relies on it for regional strategic planning. On Oct.22, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger announced that a $2 million grant was awarded to the Partnership. This grant will help train workers for well-paid jobs within the five industry sector that the Partnership has identified as cluster focus for the Valley, which include: Agribusiness, Advanced Manufacturing, Logistics, Water and Energy Technology and Health Care.

By accelerating integrated workforce development for regional industry clusters in the Valley, four deliverables will be met: (1) Sector-Based Articulation (2) Basic Education Proficiency (3) Green Economy & Workforce; and (4) Business Incubation & Entrepreneurship Development. Each deliverable encompasses a myriad of partnering organizations; the program sites are dispersed throughout the eight-county region. For more information on the WIA grant and implementation strategy, please click here.

Communications Plan

There has been an expressed interest to enhance and increase the Partnership’s communication efforts to its stakeholders within the San Joaquin Valley. As a result, the Partnership will be expanding outreach efforts the next year and has three primary objectives: 1) Increase communications and engagement among the eight counties and 62 cities, 2) Identify, educate and outreach to Valley organizations exhibiting the priority initiatives and policy developments; and 3) Increase collaboration and preference as the Valley’s primary advocacy and cross-regional planning vehicle. It is essential that elected officials, staff, businesses and residents are aware of the good things accomplished through the collaboration of the Partnership. Moreover, it is crucial that the Partnership hears from the myriad stakeholders of the Valley. Both the staff and Board members will be making presentations to various entities on Partnership activity throughout the year. For more information on the communications plan, please click here. If you would like the Partnership to speak to your group or organization, please contact Jen Paul (jenpaul@csufresno.edu).

Participation

After three years of tireless effort, the united voice of the Partnership has the ear of Sacramento and can no longer be ignored. Throughout the next year, it is the Partnership’s objective to continue to outreach and gain additional participation from Valley stakeholders. It is known that the Partnership is not just an entity in and of itself; it is a private/public collaborative and it speaks for our entire region. For the Partnership to continue to do so, we need to hear from you. Tell us what’s on your mind. Please click here. The sole purpose of the Partnership is to serve the eight counties and 62 cities so the Valley may emerge as California’s 21st Century Opportunity.

A ‘word’ from our Summit sponsors: Kaiser Permanente & Valley CAN

Kaiser Permanente: ‘Promoting healthy living since 1945’

Kaiser Permanente, founded in 1945, is the nation’s largest not-for-profit health plan, serving more than 8.6 million members in the United States. The organization’s focus on prevention and wellness – along with its integrated delivery system linking outpatient care with hospital, specialty and support services – has made Kaiser Permanente unique in the health care marketplace, and a model for safe and efficient comprehensive care.

Kaiser Permanente has a longstanding commitment to provide compassionate, quality health care to residents of California’s Central Valley. From Sacramento to Bakersfield and most points in between, more than 1 million people trust their health to Kaiser Permanente.

As a noted partner in the communities in which it serves, Kaiser Permanente strives toward its mission of total health, seeking local partnerships to help combat health care disparities and chronic conditions, and encouraging people to make healthy lifestyle choices.

Kaiser Permanente is proud to be a part of the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, and looks forward to working collaboratively with area agencies to help create healthier communities, where residents can live well, be well, and thrive.

Valley CAN: Creating clean air naturally

Valley Clean Air Now (CAN) is a nonprofit organization committed to improving air quality in communities throughout California’s San Joaquin Valley. Valley CAN promotes voluntary actions to reduce air pollution by individuals, government, agriculture, business and industry; seeks to initiate and publicize creative new approaches to reduce air pollution; and sponsors pilot programs and educational efforts dedicated to providing solutions to high emissions sources.

Valley CAN operates a grant program that provides approximately $200,000 per year to fund innovative approaches that highlight pragmatic solutions to a range of air quality problems. In addition, every year Valley CAN partners with a local Chamber of Commerce to host an Energy and Clean Air business Exposition that highlights the vital role business leaders and businesses can play in creating an economy that thrives on pollution-reduction strategies — a Clean Air Economy.

Valley CAN sponsors a vehicles emissions clean-up program, Tune In & Tune Up, which incorporates a car-care clinic and health and safety fair to educate residents that much of the Valley’s vehicle-related air pollution comes from older, out-of-tune vehicles. Tune In & Tune Up is a complementary service provided to the public and participation is entirely voluntary with no paperwork, no government reporting and no registration required.

Legislative Update

Action Taken by Executive Committee

ARRA Transportation “Economic Distressed”
On August 19, the Partnership and the San Joaquin Valley Regional Policy Council sent a joint letter to Caltrans Director Iwasaki expressing concern over the state’s determination of “economically distressed” regarding American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) funding allocation decisions and recommendations. The Partnership and the Regional Policy Council requested the state give additional consideration to regions that have continuously experienced economic distress as they make upcoming funding decisions.

ARRA Transportation TIGER Funding
On May 12, the Partnership sent a letter to Secretary Bonner, California Business, Transportation & Housing Agency (BTH), supporting a Route 99 widening project to be funded through California’s application for ARRA’s Grants for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program. The request was supported by the San Joaquin Valley Regional Policy Council and specifically asked for $50 million to “convert State Route 99 (SR-99) from a four-lane expressway to six-lane freeway between Buchanan Hollow Road to the Miles Creek Overflow. This project also includes a new interchange at Arboleda Road.”

Caltrans led a special committee to determine which agencies interested in TIGER funds had qualified projects the state would recommend for funding to the Department of Transportation (DOT). No SR-99 was included among those projects chosen by the committee. The Partnership along with the Regional Policy Council has been engaged with BTH and legislators to weigh in on the letter of recommendation the governor will be sending to DOT to support the TIGER applications. This issue remains unresolved as of Sept.25, 2009.

High-Speed Rail ARRA Application
The Partnership sent letters and provided testimony at meetings of the California High-Speed Rail Authority as they considered the ARRA application to be sent to the Federal Railroad Administration. The Partnership worked with the Regional Policy Council, Valley jurisdictions, the Valley legislative delegation, and others, to advocate in support of funding the two Valley segments that met the qualifications for design/build work under the ARRA requirements—Bakersfield to Fresno, and Fresno to Merced—as well as continue to support the NEPA/CEQA work on the other Valley segments.

On Sept.23, the Authority unanimously approved an application for more than $4.5 billion in federal stimulus funding for engineering, design and construction on the state's high-speed train system—generating an investment of $9.1 billion when state matching funds are added. Approximately, $1.388 billion was provided to the Valley for:

• Preliminary Engineering-NEPA/CEQA Corridor Programs: Merced to San Jose, Bakersfield to Fresno, Fresno to Merced, Bakersfield to Palmdale, Merced to Sacramento, and the Altamont Corridor Rail.
• Design/Build Corridor Programs: Merced to Fresno, Fresno to Bakersfield.

A dollar-for-dollar match of state and local funds (including the Prop 1A HSR bond passed by voters) is to be used to match the federal share of $4.5 billion. Governor Schwarzenegger submitted California's application to the Federal Railroad Administration by the deadline.

Neighborhood Stabilization Act-2
The California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, in partnership with other jurisdictions and housing agencies across the state's San Joaquin Valley, has formed a regional consortium in an effort to seek $193 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP-2) funding provided through ARRA. A letter was sent on August 4 to HUD Secretary Donovan requesting his support for the individual applications submitted by jurisdictions and nonprofits throughout the eight-county San Joaquin Valley, urging HUD to consider the requests as a regional package. Applicants: Stanislaus County, City of Modesto, City of Merced, Housing Authorities--City and County of Fresno, City of Fresno, County of Tulare, County of Kings, Housing Authority of Kern County, Self-Help Enterprises, and their cumulative 15 partners.

Sustainable Communities
On August 13, the Partnership wrote to Senators Feinstein and Boxer to request assistance in establishing the San Joaquin Valley as a demonstration region under the federal interagency Sustainable Communities Initiative partnership recently formed by DOT Secretary Ray LaHood, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. The partnership was formed to improve access to affordable housing, more transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment in communities nationwide. This partnership “will seek to integrate housing, transportation, water infrastructure, and land use planning and investment. HUD, EPA and DOT propose to make planning grants available to metropolitan areas, and create mechanisms to ensure those plans are carried through to localities.” Deputy Secretary Ron Sims visited the Valley in August and indicated that the San Joaquin Valley’s interest in becoming a demonstration region for the implementation of HUD’s Sustainable Communities Initiative would be best realized with a letter of request from the senators.

Legislation

Water Bond – State Efforts
On Oct.1, the Partnership sent a letter to the “big five”—Governor Schwarzenegger, Speaker Bass, President Pro Tem Steinberg, Assembly Minority Leader Sam Blakeslee, and Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth—urging legislative leadership to take the necessary action to resume work on the water plan at the earliest possible date, set a date certain for conclusion of the work, and release to the public the latest version of the relevant bills (with all amendments included) at the time the legislature adjourned on Sept.11, 2009. It also expressed support for the co-equal goals proposed by the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force—a healthy Delta ecosystem and reliable water supply—and asked that special consideration be given to the principles enumerated in the resolution from the Delta Counties Coalition. The legislature passed the $11 billion water bond on Nov. 4. The bill will go before the voters in November 2010.

Ongoing Activities

HR 1, the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009
At the request of the California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, the Partnership worked with partners throughout the Valley’s eight counties to prepare a list of infrastructure projects that could be funded through federal economic stimulus legislation. The San Joaquin Valley Economic Recovery Plan included over 2,400 “shovel-ready” projects and 26 highlighted projects that met guidelines requested by Secretary Bonner after his review of the "Draft" Plan. The Partnership will continue to work with state and federal agencies to seek funding for these Valley projects, including disseminating grant opportunities and writing letters of support.

Sustainability of the Partnership
On December 23, 2008, Governor Schwarzenegger issued a new executive order, S-17-08, acknowledging the important work and success of the Partnership and extending it indefinitely on the terms set forth in its prior executive order, S-22-06.

For the Partnership’s legislative guiding principles, go to Legislative Update.

Dates to Know

December 1

San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization hosts
2009 Farming Clean Energy Conference
7:45 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.
Southern California Edison AgTAC
4175 S. Laspina St.
Tulare
Information: www.sjvcleanenergy.org/fcec09, 877.748.0841

December 10

San Joaquin Valley Green Jobs Summit
8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Fresno Holiday Inn Downtown
1055 Van Ness Ave.
Fresno
Information: Rey Leon, sjvleap@gmail.com, 559.269.9563

December 15

Air Quality Work Group meeting
10 a.m. to noon
San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District
1990 E. Gettysburg Ave.
Fresno
Information: Jennifer Johnson, jejohnson@csufresno.edu, 559.278.1113

2010

February 26

Partnership Quarterly Board Meeting
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Padre Hotel
1702 18th Street
Bakersfield
Information: www.sjvpartnership.org