National and Valley leaders chart energy future; Valley clean energy organization taking shape

On June 7, the Partnership’s Energy Work Group held a joint meeting with the 25 x 25 Steering Committee to explore a new course being charted for California’s energy future.

"This is an exciting time," said California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura. "You can call it a renaissance and you should – the San Joaquin Valley can be energy independent."

More than 50 energy, civic, and business leaders attended the joint meeting to learn about the 25 x ’25 project, a national effort to guide the general public and policy makers toward getting 25 percent of the nation’s energy from renewable energy sources by the year 2025, and its impact in California, particularly in relation to agriculture.

Participants moved on to the Energy Work Group meeting to learn about, or be reminded of, the energy recommendations in the Partnership’s Strategic Action Proposal, receive an update on the development of the San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization (SJVCEO), and to pledge their support for the formation of an organization in the Valley that will:

• bring together the many independent clean energy activities in the region;
• serve as a one-stop shop of information and expertise on clean energy programs and activities, funding sources, business drivers, barriers to using clean energy, and links to capital markets;
• become an independent source of advocacy and education for the use of clean energy in the Valley; and
• provide technical assistance and support in the implementation of clean energy projects.

In addition to learning about the SJVCEO, participants heard from a panel about clean energy assets and opportunities, clean energy in underserved communities, USDA clean energy resources and opportunities for support. Panelists included Patsy Dugger from PG&E, Steve Miller from Strategic Energy Innovations, Chuck Clendenin from the USDA, and Carl Zichella from the Sierra Club.

At the end of the meeting, participants were given the opportunity to sign up to participate in the Energy Work Group and the development of the SJVCEO.

If you were unable to attend but would like to participate, please contact Paul Johnson at pkjohnson49@comcast.net

Air Quality Work Group advocates turnover of truck fleet to significantly improve Valley’s air

The Air Quality Work Group has urged state legislators to consider data about the impact goods movement has on the Valley’s air quality when deciding how to spend Proposition 1B funds.

"The Valley carries more truck traffic than any other major goods movement corridor in California, and the resulting impact on air quality is enormous, causing the Valley to have the highest ranking for NOx (nitrogen oxides), reactive organic gases, particulate matter and eight-hour ozone exceedances," the letter from the Air Quality Work Group to legislators stated.

The San Joaquin Valley has the worst ozone and particulate air pollution in the nation due in large part to its climate and geography, causing the Valley to have very low tolerance of pollutant emissions in the face of being a huge player in goods movement in the state.

The Air Quality Work Group believes that the Valley can accelerate clean air attainment by reducing NOx – 80 percent of the Valley’s NOx is from mobile sources, and more than half is from Heavy Heavy-Duty Diesel Trucks (HHDDT). Therefore, the work group argues that the most effective way to significantly reduce toxic emissions in the Valley is to accelerate the turnover of the Valley’s truck fleet.

For more information, contact Katie Stevens at kstevens@csufresno.edu or Mark Keppler at mkeppler@csufresno.edu.

Valley Workforce Investment Boards making huge strides in developing workforce

At the Higher Education and Workforce Development Work Group meeting in May, Jeff Rowe from the Stanislaus Economic Development and Workforce Alliance gave an update on the work being done with the $1 million grant from the state Workforce Investment Board.

"The eight WIBs in the San Joaquin Valley region are proceeding to make systemic changes in the workforce development system necessary to assure that the workforce has the skills necessary to meet the needs of business in the region," said Rowe, director of Alliance WorkNet.

The WIBs will use the grant to standardize assessments throughout the region, complete employment studies, create a web-based employment inventory, and work with community college partners to address gaps in vocational training.

Meet the Board:
Navarro has designs for Valley’s 'architecture'

If you ask Michael Navarro why he feels it’s his obligation to give back to his community any way possible, he’ll tell you it’s because the Central Valley, his lifelong home, has given him so much. He and his wife of 23 years make their home in Modesto with their two sons.

Navarro’s appointment in February 2007 by Governor Schwarzenegger to the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley is evidence of his contribution as a voice for the Valley. He is chairman of the California Building Standards Commission Healthcare Advisory Committee. His efforts on Modesto’s Citizens Redevelopment Advisory Committee resulted in the revitalization of the city’s downtown core.

"The governor has provided the San Joaquin Valley with a great opportunity," Navarro said. "My hope is that the Partnership will serve as the catalyst that stimulates others to adopt and implement the goals and ideas developed by the Partnership."

As an architect of primarily health care facilities for more than 20 years, his contributions are concrete: Sonora Regional Medical Center Medical Office Building, Stockton’s Sutter Gould Medical Foundation Oncology Remodel, and Turlock’s Emanuel Medical Center OB Expansion. He and business partner, Mike Pratt, began Pratt Navarro Architecture in 1986, merging in 2004 with Lionakis Beaumont Design Group, where he serves as Title Principal Architect/Partner.

"The Valley is experiencing unprecedented growth and development, and it is essential that we examine all the assets this Valley presents to us and plan appropriately for them," Navarro said. "The Partnership is unique because it brings together individuals from different parts of the community with different areas of expertise and view points. We must ensure we protect our agriculture, our air, our water and our quality of life."

Statewide apprenticeship meetings to help fill skilled worker void – next meeting to be held in Madera June 14

The California Workforce Investment Board and the California Community Colleges are sponsoring a free apprenticeship forum from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on June 14 in Madera.

Information presented will be about how apprenticeship programs can assist the public workforce and education systems to increase the skill of the workforce. The forum will be at the Madera Center, Academic Village One – AV 114 Forum, located at 30277 Avenue 12 in Madera.

For more information about the June 14 meeting in Madera, contact Linda Little at 559.675.4874 or Linda.Little@scccd.edu.

Delta’s future critical to San Joaquin Valley

The Water Education Foundation will hold a free workshop July 27 on the future of the Delta. The Delta Vision Workshop will explore current planning efforts and how the competing demands of the Delta’s water resources, ecosystem, land use planning, recreation, flood management and energy, rail and transportation issues will be met.

Some of the topics to be covered include: the importance of the Delta, developing a Delta vision, what’s at stake for the San Joaquin Valley, and a Delta risk management strategy.

The Foundation will prepare a workshop summary for distribution to those who could not attend. In addition, the Foundation will distribute the newly revised Layperson’s Guide to the Delta and the Delta Warning DVD.

The Delta Vision workshop will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Fresno Convention and Entertainment Center, Exhibit Halls II and III, at 848 M Street in Fresno. For more information, visit www.watereducation.org.

Legislative Update

State Legislature

May Revise
Governor Schwarzenegger released his revised budget for fiscal year 2007-2008 on May 15. In response, the Air Quality Work Group voted to adopt a resolution supporting the inclusion of emission reduction funding ($111 million) to upgrade old, high emitting trucks used to transport goods and farm produce throughout the state and replace and retrofit old, diesel school buses ($96.5 million). The Work Group also called upon the governor and the legislature to allow for the replacement of old, high emitting trucks used to transport goods and farm produce as well as use specific criteria to allocate the funding.

You can view the resolution by clicking here: AQWG Revised Budget.pdf

Important Upcoming Budget Deadlines:

Friday, June 15: Legislature must pass budget by midnight to meet constitutional deadline for passage of the budget.

June 15 - July 1: The governor receives the budget bill and has until July 1 to sign or veto the budget bill.

June 30: Official end of the fiscal year.

Congress

Farm Bill
The House Agriculture Committee has begun drafting the Farm Bill, marking up legislation in the committee’s numerous subcommittees. Documents from these hearings can be found at: http://agriculture.house.gov/inside/2007FarmBill.html

Congressman Dennis Cardoza and Congressman Jim Costa both sit on the committee and successfully passed a number of amendments under the Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research title of the bill. These include Cardoza’s amendment to create an Agriculture Biofuels Internship Program to train the next generation of professionals in renewable energy, as well as Rep. Costa’s amendment to place emphasis on the protection of grasslands which would reduce water runoff and soil erosion, improve air quality, and increase carbon sequestration, among other things.

In addition, Rep. Cardoza continues to gain support for his EAT Healthy America Act, HR 1600. This is a comprehensive bill that includes expanding school nutrition programs and agriculture research, as well as provides $300 million to help farmers mitigate air quality impacts. On May 25, Governor Schwarzenegger sent letters to the State Congressional Delegation in support of this bill urging all members of the delegation to become co-sponsors. You can view this letter by clicking here: Letter from Gov Support HR1600.pdf

Federal Appropriations
The funding committees in the U.S. House of Representatives recently approved funding levels for programs important to the San Joaquin Valley, including many of the Appropriation Subcommittees with jurisdiction over the Department of Energy, EPA, Department of Education, Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Interior.

You can view the funding summaries by clicking this link: http://www.sjvpartnership.org/legislative.html

The next step for these bills will be consideration by the full Appropriations Committee or, if already passed by this committee, consideration by the House of Representatives, including amendments that may shift funding levels, and final vote on passage. A similar process will happen in the Senate.

In the Spotlight:
Rollie Smith: A behind-the-scenes, get-it-done advocate for the Valley

To understand what makes Rollie Smith passionate about his work, you have to go back to the beginning where he learned that a good community organizer builds through local leadership, fosters independent structures for accountability, and never makes oneself the issue.

In the early years, Smith – who directs the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Fresno field office – organized low-income neighborhoods in Chicago and Toronto and came to California’s Santa Clara Valley to organize and direct a mass based citizen action organization consisting of more than 100 hundred neighborhood, church, labor, and service organizations.

"I knew the Central Valley in the 70s from afar as a young organizer working with churches and associations in Santa Clara Valley where we formed the Valley Coalition to push back on the non-planning," Smith said.

It was the Catholic Diocese of Fresno that lured him to the San Joaquin Valley, where he served as the CEO and created new opportunities for poor immigrants in the Valley, but it was the drive for comprehensive social change that led him to HUD, where his talent for collaboration influenced the birth of the Federal Interagency Task Force.

"The biggest problem in the Valley, I saw when I first arrived, was the lack of trust – what Robert Putnam calls ‘bridging social capital,’ the relations of interest that transcend clans and jurisdictions," Smith said. "He and Francis Fukuyama also point out that the lack of trust is the single most consistent obstacle to the economic development of a region. The Partnership is the vehicle for action built on trust to happen; and it is exciting to be a part of it."

Smith is not only "a part" of the Partnership, he drives a lot of the work being done, which includes the Regional Housing Trust and the San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization. In addition, Smith dedicates this time to the SJV Housing Alliance, ending homelessness, and the No Homeowner Left Behind effort.

"We saw early on that the Valley was going to be hit with foreclosures that would decimate families and neighborhoods. Five of the Valley's metro areas are on the top 15 list in the nation," Smith said.

Smith credits quick action and great leadership in putting together a No Homeowner Left Behind effort, which is getting recognition for being one of the most organized responses. A kick-off event is planned from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 23 at Manchester Mall, located at Shields and Blackstone avenues in Fresno. The free event will offer loan reviews, classes on how to fix problems with a mortgage, and information on refinancing, loan modification, and repayment plans.

"I am most pleased with the sense of collective imagination that is growing in the Valley," Smith said. "Yes, that must be connected to projects and measurable results, but those mean nothing without the growing shared vision."

Dates to know

June 15

Transportation Work Group
1 – 3:30 p.m.
Council of Fresno County Governments
2035 Tulare Street, Suite 201
Fresno
For more information, contact Barbara Patrick at barbara@greatvalley.org

June 18

K-12 Education Work Group meeting
1:30 – 3 p.m.
Kings County Office of Education
1144 W. Lacey Blvd.
Hanford
For more information, contact Marcy Masumoto at mmasumoto@csufresno.edu

June 21

Energy and Clean Air Business Exposition
Noon – 5 p.m.
Fresno Exposition Center
For more information, contact Mark Keppler at mkeppler@csufresno.edu

June 25

Land Use, Agriculture and Housing Work Group
1 – 4 p.m.
Great Valley Center
201 Needham Street
Modesto
For more information, contact Barbara Patrick at Barbara@greatvalley.org

June 25

Air Quality Work Group
10 a.m. – noon
Council of Fresno County Governments
2035 Tulare Street, Suite 201
Fresno
For more information, contact Mark Keppler at mkeppler@csufresno.edu

June 27

Federal Interagency Task Force and Partnership meeting
12:30 – 2:30 p.m.
Location TBD
For more information, contact Rollie Smith at rollie.smith@hud.gov

August 10

California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley Board meeting
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Hanford
For more information, contact Ann Marquez, anmarquez@csufresno.edu

August 17

Economic Development Work Group meeting
9 – 10:30 a.m.
Stanislaus Economic Development and Workforce Alliance
Modesto
For more information, contact Jennifer Faughn at cacentralvalley@aol.com