Weekly Updates

 

April 25th, 2012  Vol. 2. Issue 17                            

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Hello Friends!
 
You'll find in our "Special Reports on Regional Change" section that the Sacramento Bee has developed a tool to view the voting records of California legislators.  This is a very important step towards transparency in Sacramento and will hopefully keep California voters more informed. 
 
These legislators vote on bills and reforms that affect our daily lives, and it's important that they are held accountable and remain honest in their decisions.  We encourage you to browse around the site and find out who is supporting what.  You may just be surprised by a few.

 

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In This Issue
CRC Activities
Regional Change in the News
Special Reports on Regional Change
Upcoming Events
Requests for Proposals
Jobs & Employment Opportunities
CRC Activities
Yesterday the Nancy Erbstein welcomed Eisenhower Egyptian Fellow Gehen El Sharkawy in addtion to Phillip Cook from the International Institute for Child Rights and Development and Stuart Hall to join in on a roundtable in Hunt Hall.  The informal meeting served as an opportunity to discuss youth engagement and activism both in the area and abroad. The primary objective was to offer Gehen with information as she considers the development of a new Child Protection unit for Egypt.  
 
After the event, the CRC hosted a Dinner at Monticello's.  
 
Professor Chris Benner is currently leading a project with the SACOG (Sacramento Area Council of Governments) that will help Sacramento "grow without the gridlock." Read more about the plan to establish better transportation planning in Sacramento here.  
Regional Change in the News

After hours of debate, the Fresno City Council voted against sprawl for the communities future.  By 2035, Fresno plans to redevelop older communities, instead of sprawling outward as was the trend for the past years. The debate centered around whether it was worth it to pay for the redevelopment of older areas of Fresno.  Read the entire article here. 

  

Though east Sacramento and Oak Park share a border, east Sacramento ranks significantly higher in nearly all health statistics.  This article explains the importance of environment, community and social make-up may have on individual health.  You can check out the article here, which features a quote from CRC director, Jonathan London.  

 

Reports show that the San Jaoquin Valley is actually doing better when it comes to feeding its hungry than the state average.  Although numbers are up by only a few percentage points, the county is doing better now, than it was during the economic boom.  Read why there is more optimism ahead here

 

Read columnist Peter Schrag discuss the numbers behind school zoning and relative test scores.  Schrag looks at a new study that shows how zoning and housing prices shut poor and minority kids out of good schools.  In Sacramento, schools in affluent neighborhoods are receiving up to $10,000 more a year and score 21 percentage points higher on state tests.   

Special Reports on Regional Change

 

 

On the Sacramento Bee website you will now have the opportunity  to look up the voting record of every state legislator in California. Wondering how often your legislator broke party ranks, abstained or switched sides? Enter the last and first name of the lawmaker you're researching to see how he or she voted, or enter a bill number to see how every legislator voted on it.  This is a great tool for quickly accessing helpful information, and will be a resource to media personnel, voters, and lawmakers alike.  

 



  

 

Upcoming Events
On Monday, April 30th the UC Davis Agricultural Sustainability Institute will host "A Bottoms-Up Approach to Sustainability" with special guest speaker Ken Grossman, president of the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.  Before the talk, the winner of the Eric Bradford & Charlie Rominger Agricultural Sustainability Leadership award will be announced.   The event will take place from 3:00-4:15 in the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center. 
  
On Saturday May 5th at 1:00pm Author Sandy Lynne Holman
will share her book, "We All Have a Heritage" at 232 E. Street in Davis.  The children's book is designed to celebrate diversity through honoring music, diversity and honoring the written word. 

 

An event on May 10th titiled, "Pineros: Latino Labor and the Changing Face of Forestry in the Pacific Northwest" will investigate how the US federal government came to be one of the country's largest employers of immigrant labor and document pinero wages and working conditions in comparison to those of native-born forest laborers. Read more about the event here

Request for Proposals & Call for Papers

 

The Impact Fund is designed to support youth-serving organizations with the resources they need to get underserved youth connected to the outdoors. Download the RFP here to find out if your organization is eligible.  

 

The Margrit Mondavi Fellowship will award up to 10 grants of 5,000 each to Ph.D. and M.F.A. programs in the division of Humanities, Arts, and cultural studies to support travel, research, workshops and other project-related work this summer.  For more download the full description here

Fellowships and Employment Opportunities 

 

The American Farmland Trust is seeking at least two masters students who are interested in researching farmland conservation, regional planning, and land-use in the San Joaquin Valley, either as part of a summer internship or 12-month thesis project.  Find out more by clicking here

 IFC Jones and Stokes is expanding its climate change and air quality practice and is seeking entry level college graduates to expand its group.  Download the flier here to learn about what kind of positions are available. 

The Sierra Nevada Alliance is hiring a Sustainable Communities Intern to help encourage sustainability in vibrant rural Sierra communities.  Read more about the position here

The Center for Health and Environment is looking for a Junior Specialist Graduate student with experience conducting technical procedures and instrumentation and spanish fluency.  The position will study heat stress in farm workers.  Download the full description here.