| Supporting Live Oak Families with "Cradle to Career" |
Four years ago, I pulled together a number of community organizations working in Live Oak to see what we could all do together to help improve the lives of families for the long term. We are fortunate to have secured funding to build our first health center (East Cliff Family Health Center), the new Boys & Girls Club, and the Live Oak Resource Center. We are now working on new development strategies for the County's Capitola Road property. But good development alone will not improve the lives of families. The Live Oak Cradle to Career Initiative (C2C) was forged with education, health, and social service leaders uniting to improve the health, development, and educational success of children in the underserved neighborhood of Live Oak. The program is
modeled on successful efforts that target high-need areas with integrated support systems. The C2C vision is that all Live Oak students are happy, healthy, and ready to succeed in school, college, and career.
With a specific focus on the well-being of children in the community, the C2C theory of practice is based on principles of collective impact. In short, this means that by acting in a collaborative and coordinated fashion, community stakeholders (including health care providers, the local school district, social service providers and parents) can more effectively address interrelated community problems, including low educational attainment and health inequities. C2C's members also recognize the well-established and interdependent relationship between good health (as a prerequisite and predictor of educational attainment) and education (as a primary social determinant of long-term health and well-being).
We recently held our second annual assembly with families at the Live Oak Elementary School where we started our effort. Families work with agencies to develop programs around good health, good education, and good character. Workshops for parents have included parenting skills, support for readers and nutrition. There is even a Zumba class to help build community and practice healthy exercises. The initiative just received funding from the Monterey Bay Peninsula Foundation to support a parent liaison at the school to expand programming. A recent funding presentation hopes to raise funds to provide liaisons at all the elementary schools in the district. Thanks to the Live Oak School District, the Santa Cruz Community Health Centers, the Live Oak Family Resource Center, the First 5 Commission, the Human Services Department, Encompass, and the Santa Cruz Community Foundation for their commitment to this effort, and to the over 50 families providing leadership for this initiative. To find out more about C2C,
click here.
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| Annual Budget To Be Adopted |
Starting June 20th, the Board of Supervisors will start its annual budget hearings for four and a half days. This will provide an opportunity to look at the major parts of our over $700 million budget. A schedule of hearings can be found
here. This year's budget document was created to provide an easier way to read the budget, and to understand both where the money comes from and where it goes. There is a new webpage for the budget (
here) that hopefully provides greater transparency for anyone looking at our numbers. I would be happy to hear your feedback on what you think of this tool.
The budget is relatively status quo with a couple of major differences. First the Board and the Human Services Department re-organized the way we fund our community partners. Now entitled CORE Investments, the process for distributing over $4 million in funds was linked to existing community-driven action plans, focused on evidenced-based practices, and reviewed by experts in various fields. This new process will yield three-year contracts with specific deliverables to measure the collective impact from our funding. The Sheriff's department is recommended for four new deputies, bringing the number to 21 new officers over the last four years. The Public Works Department will see new funding from the voter approved Measure D and the recently passed SB1 state transportation bill. It will take about three years to see full funding for the state funds as new fees and taxes are added over the next year. In the short run many of these new funds will go to help pay our local match for the road damage due to this winter's storms. The Health Services Agency will be introducing new programs to serve residents afflicted with mental illness and substance use disorder. A recent four year, $20 million grant will allow the department to assist 1,000 community members who are suffering from these diseases.
We will also modestly add to our reserve, which we have tripled over the last three years. This will help if the Federal administration follows through on any of its efforts to dismantle our health insurance system or seek retribution against communities working to protect all of its residents. I encourage you to look at the budget document and share with me any of your priorities.
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| Update on District 1 Issues |
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Nissan dealership - The owner of the Nissan dealership withdrew his initial application and held a community meeting. He will resubmit, but the new application will go through an Environmental Impact Review (EIR) as required by CEQA. The EIR will focus primarily on issues of land use and traffic. Alternatives to the project, including a project that would look like something envisioned in the Sustainable Santa Cruz plan, will be included. There will be an independent review of the traffic analysis submitted by the applicant. The Notice of Preparation will be posted on the Planning Department's website, and once the draft EIR is out, the community will have a chance to review and comment on it. Assuming the project continues to move forward, a Planning Commission hearing will be scheduled, followed by a hearing before the Board. At this point, there will be many opportu
nities for the community to weigh in. I will update you as I have firm information.
Soquel San Jose Road
Repair work continues at this location. The Public Works Departmen
t
removed the blacktop from the site and built a French drain along the road to help with drainage and prevent further slides. They are now
plac
ing and compacting engineered fill on the site, and assessing its stability. If it proves stable, they will place the remaining fill and then pave with asphalt
. If the fill option is successful, the road could be open in a few weeks. If not, plans have simultaneously been completed for a temporary bridge that
would take another 6-8 weeks. Ultimately, the department plans to build a permanent bridge at the site to prevent this slide from happening again.
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