Farm-to-Fork LIVE Travels to Washington D.C.
This year, Valley Vision and Honey Agency hosted a special Farm-to-Fork-Live event in Washington, DC as part of the Sacramento Metro Chamber’s annual Cap-to-Cap (Capitol to Capitol) program. Through our partnership with Visit Sacramento, Farm-to-Fork-Live D.C. showcased the region’s special assets and innovative approaches on critical food and ag system issues to both local and national leadership.
Farm-to-Fork-Live is a speakers series program managed by Valley Vision and Honey Agency as part of the region’s Farm to Fork program. This year we took the show on the road to Washington, that included a speaker panel and reception held at the beautiful Whitten Building atrium at USDA headquarters.
More than 70 representatives from federal agencies, congressional offices and Cap to Cap participants – including many local elected officials – heard about the priority policy issues carried by the Cap-to- Cap Food and Ag Committee to DC; how the local partners are pushing forward solutions that will improve the viability and sustainability of our food and ag economy and can inform other communities around the country; and how we can work with our federal partners and congressional delegation to move the needles on priorities. Our policy priorities this year are: accelerating ag technologies through R&D and improved rural broadband infrastructure and access, especially given the low levels of connectivity across the region; training the next generation of farmers and farm managers through apprenticeships and other creative programs; given that the average age of a farmer is almost 60 years; and facilitating institutional procurement of local, healthy foods for our schools, hospitals and other institutions, which also support local growers and the food economy through Farm to School and other USDA/federal programs.
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations: Ken Barbic, welcomed the group and Bill Mueller, CEO, Valley Vision, framed the importance of the issues and the work being done. Meghan Phillip, Owner of Honey, moderated the panel of experts that included Brandon Minto, UC Davis, David Ogilvie, Silt Winery and Wilson Vineyards, and Trish Kelly, Valley Vision.
Each guest received a special Farm-to-Fork Live bag filled with products from the Sacramento region. A big thank you to all the companies that helped contribute these items including Raley’s, Visit Sacramento, California Rice, California Walnut Association, California Almond Association, and Vacaville Fruit Company.
This event was made possible by our presenting sponsor UC Davis. With additional support from Foster Farms, and partnering organizations including the Sacramento Metro Chamber, Visit Sacramento, and Silt Winery.
A special thank you to Bryan Zulko, National Director- Communities at U.S. Department of Agriculture, Jim Barham, USDA Rural Development agricultural economist and food systems specialist, and Tricia Kovacs, Acting Associate Deputy Administrator at USDA Agricultural Marketing Service for their support in planning this event.
Emma Koefoed is a Valley Vision Project Associate contributing to the 21st Century Workforce and Food and Agriculture impact areas.
Future Focus Business Summit – How Will We Reinvent the Workforce?
A story: The Human Genome Project launched in 1990 and it took seven years to get one percent of the project finished. When Human Genome scientists were asked if they were concerned about the rate of completion (would it take 700 years to complete?), they responded that now that they were one percent finished, they were almost done and it should only take 6.5 years to complete.
Why was that the case? Because there was a rate of 100 percent growth per year, so, going from zero to one percent was the slowest and most difficult growth period. With this in mind, they were able to complete the project in less than seven years, doubling their output each year until the on-time completion in 2003. This is noteworthy because it demonstrates how technology growth is evolving at an exponential rate. Unfortunately, humans adapt much slower. As a result, business learning and development often lags the rate of technology growth and can fall behind quickly. It is predicted that 40% of current S&P businesses will no longer exist by 2026. Which businesses will lose their revenue stream in the next seven years and who will gain market to take advantage of those who are going under? This is a critical issue for business and for our regional economy.
These are examples and insights that Keynote Speaker, Patrick Schwerdtfeger, a futurist and expert in business trends, brought to the Future Focus Business Summit on May 15th in Roseville, hosted by the four regional Workforce Development Boards and produced by Valley Vision.
Patrick emphasized to the audience of 250 business and community leaders that current technology trends reveal where new technologies might be disruptive. For example, driverless cars are already being used in agriculture and mining – it is just a matter of time until these technologies gain enough traction to be used for commercial trucking and even city driving. Repetitive jobs, whether they are manual or cognitive, are already being replaced with automation or algorithms – this trend will only increase. Blockchain has architected trust across a supply chain by creating a chain of unhackable software. This is enabling the development of smart contracts and potentially eliminating the need for many management and tracking jobs across shipping and other related industries.
Tracking these trends can help business deploy effective strategies to harness innovation. Disruptive innovation, by definition, blows up existing business models rather than improves on existing models. This often happens in the periphery of a market. Systems are disrupted when business solves a problem in one market only to apply it to another, displacing other businesses. Patrick gave some key pieces of advice for business in this environment, including:
Look up, look down, look side to side: Look up to protect your core revenue stream in your primary market space. Look down to find the hard-to-please market segment that will require experiments and innovation to solve their problems. Look side-to-side to monitor adjacent markets – finding your own unexpected market space as well as avoiding unanticipated competitors.
Think bigger: “It’s not an experiment if you know it is going to work.” – Jeff Bezos.To innovate, you must be willing to fail. Additionally, there is more and more leverage in the system every year. The responsibility is on us – watch where innovations are happening, and run towards technology to optimize technology for the benefit of your business.
The Future Focus Summit brought Patrick to the region to help inspire and inform business to keep pace in an ever-changing environment. Patrick provided high level data and trends, but he wasn’t the only feature. There was a panel of regional business leaders who described how some of the major sectors in the region are adapting to technology changes. AJ Jacobs, Chief Information Security Officer at SMUD; Kristie Griffin, Head of Talent Management and Strategy at Stanford Healthcare; and Kevin McGrew, Director of Quality Management of Siemens noted that in regional manufacturing, energy, and health sectors, practitioners are significantly changing their business models to integrate cybersecurity, automate some of their processes, advance innovation in design practices and service delivery.
Aneesh Raman, Senior Advisor for Strategy and External Affairs, CA Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, closed the Summit. As the child of an immigrant, Aneesh is driven by the American promise of social mobility. His interest, from his position at the Governor’s Office, is to provide support and guidance to address how technology can be a vehicle for social mobility and not contribute to existing inequities. Supporting a forward-looking, inclusive economy is a core priority of Governor Newsom and he is supporting it, in part, through a new Future of Work Commission and through a new economic development initiative, Regions Rise Together. This initiative will support regional economic development plans that reflect the unique needs and goals of each region in California. Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, also addressed the role of government in supporting workforce development – encouraging government agencies to stay out of the way of successful business enterprise.
The four region Workforce Development Board organized the Future Focus Business Summit to prepare business for an uncertain future. Valley Vision produced the event because we are committed to supporting a future-ready Capital region. Our speakers and panelist helped move us from fearing a dystopian future to understanding leverage points and considering concrete ways that individual businesses and agencies can prepare for the coming changes. Local systems, research, and actions can help manage the changes that are needed. Read more about Valley Vision’s work and check out some of the services that Workforce Development Boards provide at wearebettertogether.co.
To keep up with Valley Vision’s work to advance livability in the Sacramento region, subscribe to our Vantage Point email newsletter!
Evan Schmidt is Valley Vision’s Senior Director working on the Public Opinion Surveying initiative and projects in the Healthy Communities and 21st Century Workforce strategy areas.
My First Cap-to-Cap: A Whirlwind 5 Days in D.C.
I’ve heard a lot about “Cap-to-Cap” from colleagues, friends, and others since moving to Sacramento nearly five years ago. I’ve heard that it’s a massive undertaking to secure funding and advance policy to improve our region. I’ve heard that it’s the best networking opportunity around. I’ve heard that it’s a rite of passage for Sacramento’s rising leaders. The reality is that it’s all of those things…and more.
The Metro Chamber’s annual “Capitol-to-Capitol” program is the premier opportunity for the Sacramento region to come together to inform federal investments and policy to benefit our communities. It’s been organized by the Metro Chamber every year since 1970. Next year happens to be the 50th Anniversary.
I served as one of four co-leaders of the Air Quality team (one of 11 issue-focused teams such as workforce development, food and agriculture, and more), which included 22 regional air pollution regulators, business leaders, environmental advocates, and elected officials. The Cleaner Air Partnership, the unique public-private coalition managed by Valley Vision in partnership with the Sacramento Metro Chamber and Breathe California Sacramento Region, has managed the Cap-to-Cap Air Quality team’s efforts since 2007 and helped us all make significant strides toward cleaner air. Our “asks” in 2019 were communicated through two comprehensive Issue Papers (on clean transportation and forest management/wildfire) which guided each of our appointments, and which can be accessed on the Valley Vision website.
I am awed by the effort it must take to pull off Cap-to-Cap. The Metro Chamber staff scheduled hundreds of meetings beyond our team’s 20 advocacy appointments with federal elected officials, committee staff, and agency representatives. In the interest of giving Cap-to-Cap newbies and interested parties a glimpse of the day-to-day happenings of Cap-to-Cap, here’s an attempt to recap each day’s events as they unfolded. Here goes:
Saturday, May 4th: Saturday is the main departure date for most of the Cap-to-Cap participants. I had an early morning flight from Sacramento International Airport which must have had 100 Cap-to-Cappers on it! Flying to the East Coast is always strange because you lose hours of your day, but the Metro Chamber has a cleverly organized welcome reception that kicked off right as we arrived at the classy Mayflower Hotel from the Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C. Festivities ensued and there was much discussion of our anticipated events and meetings. A few of us younger folks went to a nearby shindig at a bar courtesy of the Metro Chamber’s young professionals group, Metro EDGE, which was also a blast.
Sunday, May 5th: Remember how a few of us went out for drinks the previous night? On Sunday, we had an 8:30 AM meeting of the Cap-to-Cap Steering Committee, made up of Metro Chamber leadership and the co-leads of each team. An 8:30 AM Eastern start time is equivalent to 5:30 AM Pacific, so suffice it to say, it was definitely a coffee morning! There was a FOX40 crew onsite to cover the program, and Air Quality team co-lead Meg Arnold filmed a TV spot about our wildfire and forest management efforts in 2019. Much of my day was spent running errands to prep for the following three days of advocacy – including multiple FedEx trips – before taking an all-delegation photo inside the Mayflower’s hallways. In past years this photo has been taken on Capitol Mall, but rain was a factor. Cap-to-Cap Chair Mac Clemmens of Digital Deployment then hosted a Chair’s Reception on the rooftop of the beautiful 101 Constitution building, with epic views of the Capitol.
Monday, May 6th: The first day of meetings on Capitol Hill kicked off with a welcome breakfast and remarks from Cap-to-Cap leadership, Congressman Ami Bera, and a very special guest in Amy Walters, National Editor of The Cook Political Report. Amy delivered some incredibly savvy political analysis, including Election 2020 predictions, before our 22-member Air Quality team departed for our first meetings via the legendary Washington, D.C., Metro transit system (thanks SacRT for those Metro passes!). Over the course of the whirlwind day, our team held 30-minute meetings with Congressman Ami Bera and his staff; the House Natural Resources Committee, Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests & Public Lands (Minority); the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change (Majority/Minority); the Office of Congressman Tom McClintock; Congressman John Garamendi; the Environmental Protection Agency – Office of Air and Radiation; the Office of Senator Ed Markey; and with Congresswoman Doris Matsui and her staff. Whew! From there, I booked it to the special Farm-to-Fork Live event at USDA, which was organized by Valley Vision and Honey Agency to elevate our region’s food and agriculture leadership at Cap-to-Cap. That evening, Woodland City Councilmember Tom Stallard led nearly 50 Cap-to-Cap delegates on a legendary 3.5 hour walking tour of Washington, D.C.’s monuments and war memorials. This tradition started at Cap-to-Cap 1996 when Tom and now-SMUD Board member Rob Kerth went on an evening stroll to talk through some confounding transportation funding issues, and ended up walking the entirety of the Mall past all of its various monuments. It has been a tradition ever since! I have to say the most powerful monuments to me are the Korean War Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial, but all are spectacular, especially when lit up at night.
Tuesday, May 7th: Tuesday morning began with the Congressional Leadership Forum hosted by Congresswoman Doris Matsui. The keynote speaker was a true icon – Madeleine K. Albright, the first female Secretary of State under President Clinton. She was razor-sharp as she took on topics such as globalism, international trade, defense, and more and answered audience questions. From there, we departed for the Hill (again on public transit) for a series of impactful meetings with the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (Majority); the Office of Senator Kamala Harris; the Office of Congressman Doug LaMalfa; the Office of Senator Dianne Feinstein; the House Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests & Public Lands (Majority); and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry, Subcommittee on Conservation, Forestry & Natural Resources. A highlight was in the hallway of the lively Dirksen Senate Office Building, where political nerds like me geek out. Senator Mitt Romney and company apparently walked right behind me as I was fumbling around with my smartphone, and less than 10 minutes later Senator Tim Kaine sped past me as he talked to reporters. It’s really cool to see these people in action, and I got a solid video of the brief encounter. After a long second day of meetings the team headed back to the Mayflower Hotel to get ready for the Delegation Gala, the classiest event of the program. By this time, my nicest suit was getting a workout! The gala itself was held at the International Spy Museum’s slick new location, which was not yet open to the public and had breathtaking views of D.C.’s utilitarian skyline. I would be remiss not to include the excellent video from Presenting Sponsor Western Health Advantage, with a nice cameo by Valley Vision CEO Bill Mueller toward the end. Eating, drinking, dancing, and chatting ensued and it was a great way to ‘cap’ the program.
Wednesday, May 8th: Wednesday at Cap-to-Cap is generally the short day for meetings on the Hill. Most folks fly home on this day, with a few staying in D.C. to do more exploring, visit friends and family, or hold additional meetings. Program Chair Mac Clemmens hosted a Cybersecurity Briefing in the morning with prominent defense experts as well as Congressman John Garamendi in his capacity as Chairman of the aptly-named ‘Readiness Subcommittee.’ A key takeaway – your smartphone is likely your least protected device, so you should do everything you can to secure it! The Air Quality team had meetings with the nonprofit Center for Climate and Energy Solutions as well as the U.S. Forest Service Office of Legislative Affairs later in the morning. Both went very well and generated a great deal of follow-up activity, as with our other meetings. I had some precious downtime between our last meeting and my departure flight back to the West Coast, which was used for some much-needed email catch-up and honestly a nice nap.
Reflecting on the whirlwind five days I spent in D.C., I am thankful to Valley Vision for giving me this opportunity not just to attend Cap-to-Cap, but to co-lead a high-performing team in my first year participating. It is experiences like these – connecting with new people, navigating a new geography, and being faced with entirely new situations that fosters personal growth and self-awareness.
2019 Cap-to-Cap Chair Mac Clemmens did an outstanding job and set the stage for 2020 Co-Chairs Kierstan DeLong and Brian King to be successful in leading the program’s 50th Anniversary, with Sutter Health leading the sponsorship charge. I’d also like to thank Michael Faust, Susan Harris-Brazelton, and the amazing Metro Chamber staff who put in so much work to ensure a successful program – CEO Amanda Blackwood, Khaim Morton, John Jacobs, Andrea Ellinghouse, and particularly Chloe Park for scheduling meetings across all of the teams. You guys rock! If you’re interested in attending next year, I hope to see you there!
To keep up with Valley Vision’s work to advance livability in the Sacramento region, subscribe to our Vantage Point email newsletter!
Adrian Rehn is a Valley Vision Project Manager overseeing the Cleaner Air Partnership and Valley Vision’s online communications.
TechEdge 2019: Innovation and the Internet of Things
Last week, a room full of innovators, entrepreneurs, tech executives, networkers, and overall enthusiasts of tech and innovation within our region was hosted by the Sacramento Business Journal for the annual TechEdge at the Sheraton Grand Hotel. The conference kicked off with Congresswoman Doris Matsui setting the tone – identifying the disruption of tech as central to everything, because it touches everything that we do (i.e. the Internet of Things or IoT).
The Congresswoman further emphasized that as we gear up to be one of the first cities to offer 5G wireless technology, we must expand access to ensure that everyone in our community has the means to participate in the world via the Internet. Mayor Darrell Steinberg also spoke on the city’s economic divide, but that Sacramento is open to the possibilities connected to the coming economic revolution that technology is bringing.
A series of topical panels with impressive speakers discussed startup funding, Sacramento and the future of mobility, new media technology, the intersection of sports, business, gaming and technology, the Internet of Things (IoT), government efforts to champion innovation through technology, the future of medical technology, and AgTech in the region.
Four leading companies were recognized as this year’s game changers: Engage3 (an artificial intelligence (AI) and pricing innovator), Neurovision(surgical products), Rhombus Systems (security video surveillance), and Thinci (AI). These local companies have recently received significant resources to scale and grow business and jobs. Key themes of the day included entrepreneurship, disruption, utility of technology, access and adoption, and using technology to advance our region’s competitive edge across all industries.
The Sacramento Business Journal will provide articles and transcripts of the panel discussions in their May 3 print edition. If you’d like to learn more about Valley Vision’s work in the Innovation and Infrastructure space, please visit our website.
Sonia Duenas is a Valley Vision Project Associate contributing to the 21st Century Workforce, Innovation and Infrastructure, and Leadership & Civic Engagement impact areas.
Introducing Monthly Reports from Our Research Unit
Valley Vision has always been known as a research provider as well as a catalyst for and driver of action for the region. In the last couple years, we have been adding capacity to our research capabilities.
One of the main ways is through our public opinion polling. Since 2017, in partnership with Sac State’s Institute for Social Research, we’ve released three polls: civic amenities, transportation, and our benchmark livability poll. These polls have enabled us to access direct information from regional residents about their priorities, values, and experiences on pressing topics within the region.
We’ve used these data to help inform regional decision-making – like advancing transportation investment priorities at a time when the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) is planning for the next 25 years through the Metropolitan Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy planning process, or highlighting the divisions across the region when it comes to having a vision on how we should grow and house our residents. Using polling data to guide conversations and inform policy-making and investments is a core element of Valley Vision’s value proposition to the region – we unite the region by using research and action to deliver on triple bottom line values like environmental sustainability, economic prosperity, and social equity.
That is why we are excited about our next poll, due for public release on May 16th on the environment. How important are environmental values to regional residents? Do residents support an increased role for government in protecting the environment? Do residents believe the effects of climate change are already happening? Find out by tuning in to our next poll. In addition to the data itself, we are excited about the communications campaign, created by 3fold Communications, who also created our Livability Poll campaign. These communications campaigns help get the word out about the data and ensure that community groups, decision-makers, and community members learn about the insights that are being uncovered.
Public opinion polling isn’t the only research coming out of our Research Unit. For Valley Vision, supporting a talented workforce for the region is mission critical. To achieve this, we are advancing the Capital Region Workforce Action Plan – through which we conduct continuous research on the changing economy and the region’s high growth economic sectors, like construction or manufacturing. Working with the California Community Colleges Center of Excellence, we use research to identify where there are gaps between the skills that businesses need and the skills that workers can access in educational or workforce training. We are on the verge of releasing a new report on the Hospitality and Tourism sector. In addition to the research itself, we bring together business, education, workforce, and community partners to interpret the data, compare it to on-the-ground experiences, and identify key actions to meet the needs of the sector. Our Hospitality and Tourism Cluster meeting is coming up on April 26th at Raley Field to present the data and explore next actions. We are excited about sharing critical data on this sector and exploring with the community how we can create the talent that we need to support a thriving hospitality and tourism sector in this region. I hope you can join us!
Highlighting our research is an important way to stay on top of the pulse of the region. As the Director of Research at Valley Vision, I’m excited to start regular monthly blog reports from our Research Unit. I’ll highlight research that is coming out and dive into ours and others’ research every month to make those critical connections between data and action. Coming up next: I can’t wait to share the environmental poll data with you next month – stay tuned!
Evan Schmidt is Valley Vision’s Senior Director working on the Public Opinion Surveying initiative and projects in the Healthy Communities and 21st Century Workforce strategy areas.
FCC Chairman Gets a Taste of California’s Digital Divide
In a quest to understand what the Digital Divide looks like from the vantage point of America’s farmers and rural residents, Federal Communications Chairman, Ajit Pai, spent time on the ground last week in the Sacramento region.
Hosted by Valley Vision and the Sacramento Metro Chamber, the Chairman visited agricultural sites in Yolo County and heard first-hand from farmers, business and community leaders about the Divide, literally 10 miles away (as the crow flies) from the state capitol of California – the fifth largest economy in the world. The tour of the region’s rich agricultural areas kicked off Monday morning at the Muller Ranch just outside of the City of Woodland. A group of about 20 regional, state and federal broadband experts and local business and community leaders was graciously hosted by ranch owner Frank Muller. Frank also serves as Chairman of the Board of Pacific Coast Producers and is a Member of the California State Food and Agriculture Board. In addition, his ranch serves as a site for Valley Vision’s Yolo County agricultural technology (AgTech) pilot funded by the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) and in partnership with California State University, Chico.
Frank welcomed the group and gave an overview of ranch operations, his role on State Ag Board and his work with Pacific Coast Producers. Muller Ranch grows diversified crops such as tomatoes, almonds, walnuts, grapes and vegetables on 10,000 acres in several different fields. Chairman Pai, dressed for a day in the fields in jeans and a hoodie, listened intently and engaged in the discussion as members of the group shared their individual stories. Frank gave examples of the impacts of the lack of high-speed internet, or broadband, from two perspectives. From the business side, the lack of broadband coverage in his fields inhibits the use of AgTech that can help farmers manage operations for increased resource efficiency and productivity.
Frank held up two pieces of equipment designed for the purpose of measuring water in the soil. The first, the reliable old tool that pulls a sample of soil that is analyzed for moisture by eye and touch. The second, a rod inserted into the ground with sensors on top that capture measurements for soil moisture and nitrogen level, which along with other data points, are uploaded to ‘the cloud’ for analysis and ability to apply accurate, real-time, prescriptive treatments. The return on investment of such technology is estimated to be 18-19 percent, according to Sunne Wright McPeak, President & CEO of CETF.
Frank described how this type of predictive analysis is the future of farming. The challenge for Frank, however, is access to a reliable broadband signal capable of uploading the information in real-time. Susan Strachan of CSU Chico’s Geographical Information Center, (which conducts broadband mapping for the California Public Utilities Commission), shared an overview of the Yolo County on-farm mobile broadband mapping project of 155 farms that she conducted for the AgTech Pilot and the results of tests on Muller Ranch. This granular mapping of coverage highlights where signals are clearly lacking as compared to higher level coverage maps. These types of tests and mapping help make broadband coverage and availability mapping much more accurate. This is vital for several reasons, including that eligibility for federal and state funding is based on the mapping data. This is the first project of its kind in the country. The Chairman also experienced first-hand the lack of cell phone coverage in Frank’s conference room, underscoring the disadvantage that ag businesses experience on a daily basis.
The second perspective Frank shared with the Chairman related to personal impacts of the lack of broadband. At his grandson’s home, a family with three school-age children who live a half-mile away, only one person at a time can effectively use the Internet at home. Fortunately, for his grandson, he has only to travel a half-mile away to his grandpa’s place to get online and get his homework done. But Frank and many others in community are concerned about those who aren’t quite as fortunate. The impact of the Digital Divide is felt heavily by those without reliable, high-speed internet access at home. How far will this Divide leave them behind in today’s digital economy?
The group then took a quick drive into the City of Woodland to visit AgStart, an innovative AgTech incubator where the group was welcomed by John Selep, President of AgStart; Leanna Sweha, Program Manager, AgStart; and Ken Hiatt, Assistant City Manager, City of Woodland. John provided an overview of the incubator, the programs, and participation in the VINE (Verde Innovation Network, funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration i-6 Innovation grant), a partnership with the University of California’s Agriculture and Natural Resources. The incubator helps local entrepreneurs grow and thrive in the food and agricultural space; these entrepreneurs provided the ag technologies used for the AgTech Pilot. The potential of innovative AgTech to improve the efficiency and productivity of the food system is exciting and seemingly unlimited. However, even in a state considered a power-house of technology, the lack of adequate broadband coverage, with adequate download and upload speeds to meet today’s business needs – let alone tomorrow’s – is a major barrier. This connectivity is essential not only on-farm but in town. Ken noted that Woodland is home to more than 100 food and ag companies, including processors and R&D – a vital part of the regional economy. Yet an updated map showing broadband grades across region, based on speed, number of providers, cost, and reliability of service, among other factors, had dismal showings for Yolo County.
The final stop for Chairman Pai was Wilson Vineyards in Clarksburg. There, the group was greeted by David Ogilvie, Vineyard Manager, Wilson Vineyards, Director of Production, Muddy Boot Wine and Silt Wine Co. David’s fields are also a site for the AgTech Pilot. David provided a tour of the vineyards and described a new project with soil moisture probes and solar panels. Similar to Muller Ranch, Wilson Vineyards is also challenged with access to broadband coverage capable of supporting his ambitions for advancing efficiencies through AgTech which are providing a 10-15% improvement. Some of the fields also lack cell phone coverage, stalling real time decision making and management. These challenges have spurred David’s involvement helping to solve the issue. For several years running, and in addition to serving the demands of farming and family, David has been an active leader of the Metro Chamber’s Cap-to-Cap federal advocacy program’s Food & Agriculture Committee. The meetings the Food & Ag team leaders held with the FCC while in Washington DC over the past two years, and the innovative AgTech Pilot, were the catalysts for the Chairman’s visit to Yolo County.
The evening before the field tours, the Chairman participated in a small roundtable discussion with local broadband, food and ag and rural development leaders. The evening included a signature Farm to Fork dining experience at Mulvaney’s B&L. Special thanks to broadband champions Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, Yolo County Supervisor Don Saylor, and California State Food and Agriculture and California Broadband Councilmember Joy Sterling, for their dedicated commitment to making sure all Californians have true connectivity.
Chairman Pai said he was very impressed by the level of collaboration and partnership shown at each stop along the visit, showcasing the special connectedness of our region across all aspects of the food and ag economy and the community. Valley Vision and the Metro Chamber, in partnership with the FCC, and all the leaders who joined in hosting the FCC Chairman and telling our story, look forward to delivering on our shared mission to close the Digital Divide. Valley Vision manages the CPUC-funded Connected Capital Broadband Consortium. Materials on the AgTech Pilot project, broadband mapping and grades by county and community, and the Yolo County on-farm mapping project can be found on Valley Vision’s website.
Trish Kelly is Managing Director at Valley Vision working on Food & Ag, the 21st Century Workforce and Broadband Access and Adoption.
Crossing Continents to Address Food Insecurity
It’s not every day that you get to discuss food security with a delegation of experts from across the world, but on Monday, March 25th, we did.
Valley Vision staff members Adrian Rehn, Emma Koefoed and Chloe Pan (myself) had the honor of hosting a group of food system experts from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and 12 other countries as part of a visit organized by the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program in partnership with the Northern California World Trade Center. A cross-section of leaders from the science, education, NGO, and government realms from nations such as Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Thailand came to our Oak Park office to hear about how the Sacramento region is collaborating to address food insecurity and nutrition.
We were at first hesitant about how to frame this discussion. We were going to sit down with people whose countries have not only been struggling with the effects of natural disaster on food security in real time, but it’s become a fact of life for more than half of their total population for months and even years afterwards. Imagine: hundreds of thousands of people without food or water and the destruction of roads and bridges impeding emergency response. Cyclone Idai ripped through Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi in mid-March, and while these residents were gathering together to make sense of this disaster amid the rubble of their former lives, Ms. Claudia Amelia Nunes Lopes and Ms. Prisca Nyagweta found themselves walking into our office to discuss food insecurity.
Ms. Lopes is the Director of Policy and Planning at the Technical Secretariat for Food and Nutrition Security in Mozambique (SETSAN). 80% of the country’s 28 million citizens cannot afford an adequate diet and as a result, 43% of children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years are affected by chronic malnutrition. The effects of this are aggravated by limited hygienic conditions and the lack of access to health services and potable water. Ms. Nyagweta is the Projects Coordinator and Area Manager at Linkages for the Economic Advancement of the Disadvantaged (LEAD), a nongovernmental organization whose mission is to build the dignity of disadvantaged communities in Zimbabwe through economic empowerment initiatives. 63% of their 15.6 million population live below the poverty line and 27% of children have stunted growth because of malnutrition.
With this in mind, we organized a panel of our regional nonprofit partners in the food space to share information on our ongoing work and the challenges we face here in the greater Sacramento area. Brenda Ruiz from the Sacramento Food Policy Council, Karen Strach from the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services, Davida Douglas from Alchemist Community Development Corporation, Shannon Hardwicke from Soil Born Farms, and Jaime Wilson from the Food Literacy Center each gave presentations to the international delegation about their work and role in advancing food access and equity.
According to the Sacramento Food Bank, 1 in 6 residents of Sacramento County are food insecure and few of them eat balanced meals, which directly impact these residents’ health statuses. We learned that unlike our visiting countries, our region does not have as much of a food deficit, but rather has difficulties with effective food distribution. To combat these barriers to food access, our local experts were able to discuss how all of our organizations’ missions are intertwined to provide healthy food and educate our communities on local food production, beginning in early education. Their immediate reaction was surprise at how well our region collaborated to elevate this work, but also the fact that a country as wealthy as the United States still had populations that struggled with food access like their own nations. Although the frameworks in which we view our comparative food security vary greatly, this was a unique opportunity to discuss our shared dedication to work that matters.
This visit made me even more grateful for our amazing network of partners in this region, collaborating to make sure that this basic right to food is provided to our residents. From hands-on agricultural education to farm-fresh food distribution at local elementary schools and all the way to our policy-makers at the Capitol, we have passionate leaders that are championing our communities’ access to healthy food. Our food and ag economy makes up a large part of our regional identity and as proud as we are to have title of the Farm-to-Fork Capital, we know that we still have work to do to help everyone feel this privilege, as well.
If you’d like to learn more about Valley Vision’s work in the food and agriculture economy, please visit our website. Further, reach out to Emma Koefoed if you’d like to partner with us on our ongoing 2019 Farm-to-Fork Live Speaker Series!
Chloe Pan was Valley Vision’s Executive Assistant to CEO Bill Mueller and Project Lead for the EPIC Trail.
Trish Kelly Talks “The Business of Food and Ag”
On Thursday, March 14th Sacramento Business Journal hosted the second Business of Food and Ag event at the Milagro Center in Fair Oaks. The event, sponsored by Bank of America, was a moment for regional leaders and those vested in the progress of this industry sector, to come together and dive into some of the most pressing issues relating to food and Ag.
Valley Vision’s Managing Director Trish Kelly was invited to participate as a research expert on the food and ag industry cluster, as well as on related workforce issues. Trish joined Thaddeus Barsotti, Chief Farmer and Co-CEO of Farm Fresh to You, Bill Easton, President and Winemaker of Terre Rouge & Easton Wines, and Joel Wilkerson, Food Safety Manager for Produce Express on a panel called “Food for Thought: Challenges and Changes in the Sacramento Agricultural Industry.” The conversation was an opportunity to identify situations affecting the landscape, understand how we can better support the region’s food economy, and the steps we can we take to do so.
One of the most significant changes happening in agricultural, as well as other industries, has been the adoption of increased technology in response to new labor regulations, labor shortages, and the decline of farm owners and operators, given that the average age of farmers is 58 years old. But for Bill Easton, whose wine grapes sit high in the Sierra Foothills, mostly inaccessible to large farm equipment, he depends heavily on a migrant labor force to pick and sort his vines. Thaddeus, who is supportive of the new minimum wage, notes that increased labor costs mean farmers, like himself, must adjust and offset those costs to continue business. “Labor is an issue for all companies, even at the large scale farming operations we see crop selection move away from things that require hand harvesting or certain crops leave the state entirely.” It is no secret that the Central Valley provides a considerable portion of the country’s fresh produce. Understanding that the landscape is changing, organizations like Valley Vision, and the Sacramento Area Council of Government (SACOG), are working to provide research and information on which crops could be better value replacement options and how to create more localized supply chains that will support the region’s food economy.
Trish cited the opportunity for increased purchasing of locally grown produce and new market opportunities for farmers through institutional procurement by schools, hospitals, and other entities such as the Golden 1 Center. Valley Vision is conducting a case study on the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD)’s successful food procurement model. SCUSD is working to increase the amount of locally purchased food products directly from both growers and local food distributors for their student meal programs. So far, they have been highly cost-effective in serving 45,000 meals a day, which has allowed the SCUSD to expand its sourcing of locally grown food, qualify more families for free and reduced-cost meals, and provide fresher, from scratch, meals to the students.
Likewise, at UC Davis Health, Executive Chef Santana Diaz is shifting the procurement process to locally sourced products, providing healthier and fresher foods to patients, staff, and visitors, and doing their part to support the regional economy. In the last year, Chef Diaz increased the amount of locally purchased food by 40%, reducing its greenhouse gas emission along the way! Similarly, Produce Express, which is a supplier of fresh produce to both SCUSD and UC Davis Health, has recognized the potential for serving institutional clients, expanding its operations from serving primarily restaurants to also serving local institutions like hospitals and schools, which often have more challenging procurement processes. According to Joel: “These places have huge commitment to feed a lot of people… We hang our hat on the Farm to Fork model and are committed to helping it grow.”
Connecting the conversation to future opportunities, Trish noted that the Brooking Institution, which conducted an analysis of the Capital region economy in 2018, identified the food and Ag cluster is a cornerstone for growth and leadership in sustainability. In response, Valley Vision, the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, the Sacramento Metro Chamber, and SACOG, along with other partners, are developing a more cohesive strategy to catalyze the cluster. As part of this effort, Valley Vision is assisting the region’s community colleges, workforce boards, and employers strengthen the region’s ag-related education and workforce programs. See research and proceedings from the recent workforce forum held at Woodland Community College that presented new data from the Center of Excellence at Los Rios. As technology becomes an even greater aspect of the business of ag, the workforce will need new skills to be ready for the future of work. Programs like the newly-certified farm and farm manager apprenticeship program developed by the Center for Land-Based Learning are including technology skills in this non-traditional training program. Ag is truly a sector that is rooted in our history while looking toward a dynamic future.
Overall, events like the Business of Food and Ag are imperative if we are to move forward and to bridge the divide between people and helping them understand the food they eat. Making these connections, that otherwise would go unnoticed and misunderstood, is critical if we are going to ensure our region remains the Farm to Fork Capital.
Emma Koefoed is a Valley Vision Project Associate contributing to the 21st Century Workforce and Food and Agriculture impact areas.
Leadership Is a Team Sport: My Time with CSN
“Leadership is a team sport.” This expression resonated as I sped down the hill toward Fresno. I turned the wheel of my trusty 2006 Honda Odyssey to match the curvature of the country road before me. “Sometimes success is a change in the tenor of a conversation.”
I’d just spent two days in the foothills below Kings Canyon participating in the Orientation of the California Stewardship Network’s new Leadership Program. The California Stewardship Network (CSN) is an alliance of fifteen unique regional organizations committed to the economic, environmental and social wellbeing of our regions and our state (the “triple bottom line”). Notably, CSN collaborates with California Forward to host the annual California Economic Summit (set to be held in Fresno on November 7-8). Valley Vision represents the 6-county Sacramento region and serves as the backbone organization and fiscal agent for CSN.
As I reflected on the groundbreaking and brilliantly subversive lessons of the past 48 hours, I can’t help but be eager for the continuation of this program – a series of upcoming exchanges over the coming year where my “cohort” of 19 young leaders will grow and collaborate on creative solutions to the challenges our State faces. Valley Vision CEO Bill Mueller left me with a key nugget of wisdom prior to my departure, which I also shared with the other participants: “it is really hard to build a statewide network through a conventional career. This is your chance to do exactly that while better connecting our diverse regions to one another.”
The Orientation kicked off with a storytelling session, where each participant was tasked with telling their “origin story,” including why we are dedicated to advancing triple bottom line approaches to persistent problems. I was able to connect my upbringing in rural Mendocino County to my current work at Valley Vision on issues like wildfire resilience, rural broadband, air quality, and so much more. It was quite an icebreaker! Then, we took part in a very comprehensive Clifton StrengthsFinder 2.0 session with Gallup Certified Strengths Coach Adrian Ruiz, where we identified our talents and those of others in our cohort. We also dug into how sometimes our strengths can translate as weaknesses in certain circumstances (for example, an “Includer” needs to be mindful that at times they might be seen as too deferential to others). Strengths are like muscles, and it takes the intentional ‘exercise’ of talents combined with skills and knowledge to create a true “strength.” I had no idea that my unique ‘DNA’ of five talents – Strategic-Maximizer-Adaptability-Developer-Includer – is shared by only one in every 33 Million people. Crazy!
In the second half of the program, Micah Weinberg of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute and Kriselda Bautista of the Local Government Commission put our strengths and knowledge to work. We tackled a tough case study out of West Oakland where a new housing development was being considered for development (replete with NIMBY opposition group, cerebral city planners, et al), and we had to balance equity, economy, and environment in determining how to move the project forward. Our considerations ranged from the right number of affordable units, to design of a human-centered community engagement process, to the proper means of evaluating our entire effort.
Finally, we learned how to de-escalate difficult situations by appealing to emotion. Doug Noll, a former trial lawyer who has dedicated himself to peacemaking and conflict resolution, led our group through a science-based journey into human brain chemistry and cutting-edge psychology. Doug Co-Founded a nonprofit called Prison of Peace, which since 2010 has helped inmates develop peacemaking skills to reduce violence and promote problem-solving within their prison community. We learned how our society regularly invalidates emotional expression, which is manifested in how so many of us say “It’s OK” and attempt to problem-solve when another person is experiencing difficulties. This is actually a selfish act, and a form of self-soothing that is hurtful to the person we are trying to comfort. If you really want to help people who are angry or sad, you need to learn and practice affect labeling – essentially “lending them your prefrontal cortex” and helping them process their emotions through a specific set of actions. This simple yet effective process is detailed in Noll’s book, De-Escalate: How to Calm an Angry Person in 90 Seconds or Less, and I’m happy to share more if you send me an email! This tool stood out to me in a world that desperately needs more healers.
I want to thank Joanna Wessman, the Network Coordinator for CSN, Kathy Moxon, CSN’s Past Chair and Director of Redwood Coast Rural Action, and Deb Nankivell, CEO of the Fresno Business Council, for introducing us to this awesome network and guiding us through such an impactful and thought-provoking 48 hours. Thanks also to Bank of America for sponsoring. Of course, I’d also like to thank Bill Mueller for nominating me for this program, and my fantastic cohort – I so look forward to seeing you all again in May! I’ll continue to share my experiences as I learn how to apply triple bottom line outcomes and work to elevate California’s diverse region’s to build a stronger and more equitable California. Stay tuned!
Adrian Rehn is a Valley Vision Project Manager overseeing the Cleaner Air Partnership and Valley Vision’s online communications.
Robyn Krock Bids Fur-Well to Valley Vision
A little over twelve years ago, I was in graduate school at UC Davis and saw a listing in the internship coordinator’s office for a part-time Research Associate someplace in Sacramento called Valley Vision. I sent my resume and got called for an interview.
I showed up at 1900 S Street and the adventure began. Kristine Mazzei quickly had me immersed in developing the region’s first Open Space inventory, which led directly into our engagement with SACOG’s brand-new RUCS project.* Sharon Huntsman and I spent hours driving up and down Highway 99 facilitating meetings of the Hmong Health Collaborative, and singing “Brandy” at the top of our lungs at least once every trip. Chris Aguirre, Jon Jiesel, and Garrett Brandenburger showed me how to properly test potential job candidates – by gauging their reaction to seeing someone sitting on the office exercise ball and bouncing past the glass walls of the conference room where the interview was taking place. And Susan Frazier showed me that leadership doesn’t have to be boring or harsh. I discovered quickly the close tie between hard work and having fun.
That was the first year.
Tuesday, March 5th was my last day at Valley Vision. I can’t quantify how much I’ve learned and grown, nor can I put into words how much I will miss the people with whom I work. From Trish Kelly, who has been – and will continue to be – a friend and mentor, to… well, there are way too many people to name. No matter who the staff is in any given year, no matter who has arrived or departed, the people have always been amazing. They are fun, warm, creative, hardworking, and have always put up with a ton of crap from me.
The one constant for all of my years at Valley Vision is Bill Mueller. Bill is the only person who has been at Valley Vision longer than me. I have learned so much from working with him – intentionally and unintentionally. He’s made me mad and made me laugh, sometimes at the same time. We’ve seen each other go through many ups and downs, both professionally and personally. Bill is like a brother – we push each other’s buttons, butt heads, and love each other anyway. Calling Bill a few weekends ago to give him the news was one of the hardest phone calls I’ve made.
And I’m a little worried about who will keep him in line once I’m gone.
Valley Vision also has some of the best community partners, especially in the food space. Christine Tien at The California Endowment, who has shown me how I want to treat grantees, Diana Flores at Sacramento City Unified School District’s Nutrition Services Department, who has embraced the monumental task of running the world’s largest restaurant on a small budget and with 48,000 of the most critical clientele, Amber Stott, Shawn Harrison – too many people in the food space for me to mention.
My coworkers have made it clear they will miss me as much as I will miss them. I know it will be different without me, but I also know that the departure of someone who’s been there as long as me opens the door for change that will probably end up being even better. I expect in a few months they’ll all be grateful I left.
As hard as it is to leave, I am excited about my new opportunity/challenge. I will be going to work at the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy as the Community Projects Supervisor. This is a new position, prompted by passage of Prop. 68 last year. I will be developing and running their community economic development programs. I am excited about the opportunity to take everything I’ve learned in my years at Valley Vision to the public sector, to being a grantor rather than a grantee, and to helping the state from a different perspective.
Shortly after I start there, I will be off on another adventure that in a way is a culmination of my years at Valley Vision. I will be going to New Zealand to talk about regional solutions for supporting local food systems and rural broadband. This is part of a State Department exchange program, and I am honored to be invited to participate. Since my new job won’t be dealing with the same issues, I figure my expertise will be out of date within a year or so, so this is the time for me to go share it. I will also be learning a lot, and will share my learnings with my coworkers at Valley Vision, who will be continuing to push forward in helping the Sacramento region address those challenges and more.
I’ve been told that my departure is the end of an era for Valley Vision. It is the end of an era for me too. Valley Vision has helped me grow both personally and professionally immeasurably. Valley Vision is where I learned about and learned to love the Sacramento region. Valley Vision is where I went from a graduate student renting an apartment to a homeowner with a backyard for my dogs. Valley Vision is where Adonis came and went (my dog and Valley Vision’s office dog).
It has been an honor to be a part of something as great as Valley Vision. Although I’ve been told that, like the mafia, you can never really leave.
Robyn Krock has been a Valley Vision employee for over 12 years, leading numerous impactful food, agriculture, and broadband initiatives. She starts as Community Projects Supervisor for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy on March 6th. She can be reached at robynmk62@gmail.com.
Leataata Floyd: The Little School Leading the Way
Under the leadership of Principal Eric Chapman and his dedicated team, Leataata Floyd Elementary School (LFE) in Northwest Land Park has been paving an innovative path for Title I schools in the Sacramento City Unified School District. Schools which serve large numbers of economically disadvantaged children such as LFE – whose students reside in the public housing units of Marina Vista/Alder Grove – are eligible for supplemental federal funding under Title I, intended to provide students with a equitable opportunity for a high-quality education. Given the many challenges that such schools face, including families struggling with poverty, racism and isolation and communities and school districts that are chronically under-resourced, students are subjected to persistent and growing disparities in educational and life outcomes.
LFE has made hard-fought progress over the past several years in providing a safe and healthy learning environment for its students, through pioneering the community schools model in our region. Community schools are hubs that bring educators, families and many community partners together to help students and families succeed through a focus on the whole child and creating positive conditions for learning and support for families and communities. Valley Vision has been one of LFE’s partners in delivering the School2Home Program, which is bridging the Digital Divide and Achievement gap through equitable access to technology, as part of an overall neighborhood transformation strategy. This work is supported by the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF), which has invested more than $250,000 over the past four years, through a partnership with LFE, the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD), Sacramento County and the City of Sacramento.
On February 7th, Valley Vision, with generous support from the Stuart Foundation, convened a learning and funders forum with LFE, CETF, the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA), and others to showcase LFE as a community school, highlight the need for equity in our educational system, and explore public/private/philanthropic partnership opportunities to advance progress. The moral imperative for this work: we cannot leave our children behind.
The forum brought over 60 community partners, funders, and school district officials to Marina Vista. Mayor Darrell Steinberg, Councilmember Steve Hansen and SCUSD Trustee Lisa Murawski kicked off the forum with impassioned support for LFE’s efforts and voiced their intentions to champion LFE, the community and the partners – saying they are “all in.” The Mayor noted the intention to ensure that communities such as Marina Vista/Alder Grove are connected to the inclusive growth investments and initiatives through new Measure U funding.
Insights from Stuart Foundation’s Sophie Fanelli and Koua Franz, CETF Board Chair Barbara O’Connor, and SHRA Development Director Tyrone Roderick Williams set the stage for why are investing in LFE and this community. Anna Maier of Learning Policy Institute (LPI) showed how community schools are effective school improvement strategies, emphasizing that LFE is implementing all four of the full-service community school pillars that LPI has identified as foundational in their research.
Special guest, Dr. Jeff Duncan-Andrade, Associate Professor at San Francisco State University and the founder of Roses in Concrete Community (charter) School shared the story of how he started the school in Oakland and emphasized the need for systemic educational changes that are rooted in love:
“Self-love and love of one’s community needs to be the core component of curriculum and a central value for all staff. Community schools are birthed out of necessity to respond to conditions not built on love. Racism, classism and systemic oppression are hateful and violent, and these systems took centuries to build. We have the power to change the conditions in one generation, but we have to start telling the truth about our history.”
He continued by saying, “Equity isn’t a title change, department creation or job promotion type of problem. It requires full commitment from everyone involved to radically change the current outcome.”
His remarks were followed by a powerful panel discussion between Dr. Duncan-Andrade, Principal Eric Chapman, and Superintendent Jorge Aguilar, about poverty, racism, inequity and opportunity, and the promise of community schools and whole child learning. There was agreement that if conditions aren’t right, there will be no learning, and that love for the children must be at the center of all.
LFE is getting many things right and we will build on the momentum generated from the Forum, where partners and funders were already brainstorming about opportunities and strategies to fulfill the community school model at LFE and see how this approach can be brought to scale across the School District and beyond. As a start, the Stuart Foundation, Learning Policy Institute and the Opportunity Institute are providing additional information about partnership-driven funding opportunities that can add resources for community schools and help mitigate institutional funding challenges. Be on the lookout for more news!
The week following the learning and funders forum, Valley Vision and Leataata Floyd Elementary School attended the School2Home Leadership Academy, a three-day conference held by the California Emerging Technologies Fund. The conference organized time for attendees to meet with their congressional representatives and advocate for School2Home, a program that works to close both the Achievement Gap and the Digital Divide in low-performing schools throughout California. Leataata Floyd Elementary and Valley Vision were recognized as leaders for the School2Home/Neighborhood Transformation Plan, whereValley Vision managing director, Trish Kelly, and Principal Eric Chapman shared the outcomes of the learning and funders forum to encourage other School2Home programs in addressing inequities in the education system through whole child education and community partnerships.
Yzabelle Dela Cruz is a Valley Vision Project Associate contributing to the Innovation & Infrastructure and Leadership & Civic Engagement impact areas.
Valley Vision’s Trish Kelly also contributed to the writing of this blog.
Farm-to-Fork LIVE Event Series: Women on the Line
Sometimes I love my job. I always appreciate the work we do, but, let’s face it, some moments are more rewarding than others.
Women on the Line, Valley Vision’s second Farm to Fork Live event, was one of those very rewarding moments. On February 1st at the Milagro Centre in Fair Oaks, three women chefs and business owners, each in a different place in her career, had a candid conversation with an audience of about 75 people about what it is like to be a woman in the culinary world. The raw emotion and power in the room was palpable.
N’Gina Guyton, owner of South Restaurant; Bobbin Mulvaney, owner of Mulvaney’s B&L; and Casey Shideler, Executive Chef at Taylor’s Kitchen participated in this moving and informative panel that touched on a variety of topics regarding the challenges of being a woman in the culinary industry. Local TV personality Bethany Crouch facilitated this deeply personal, very “real” dialogue, leading the conversation through topics ranging from starting a business and a career in a male-dominated field, to gaining acceptance and recognition as a professional, to sexual assault and battles with mental health.*
This no-holds-barred conversation was filled with powerful anecdotal stories both shocking and humbling. N’Gina recounted being told motherhood, rather than expanding her successful food business, should be her focus. A bank loan officer inquired, “But who will be home to take care of your kids?” as he was denying her a loan. Bobbin reminisced about her struggles establishing her career while not only raising a young daughter and balancing her passion for business but in the face of several bouts with breast cancer. Casey recounted her complicated start and rise in the culinary world including facing gender stereotyping such as when an interviewer asked her marital status, and then followed up with, “So is it safe to say you’re married to your job?”
Audience members sat nodding their heads, signaling that the types of experiences being shared happen across sectors.
But there was also hope and advice for women entering the field. Although panelists toiled to get by – from Bobbin, who spent years helping pay a mortgage from a box-lunch catering business to N’Gina, cooking on an electric stove in a closet to cater an event, and Casey, who found her way to an executive chef position after years of pushing through the ranks – women entering the field were told to be courageous, do whatever it takes, and not give up. More experienced women were told to encourage them.
“Being a good mentor is more the just telling mentees what we know,” said Bobbin Mulvaney, who mentors both high school culinary arts programs and culinary arts workforce training programs for formerly homeless women. “We need to support them where they are and be available to help our sisters when they ask for what they need when they need it.”
Having had the opportunity to be on both sides of the equation – having both received mentorship from some amazing women as well as having opportunities to provide mentorship to younger women – I appreciated Bobbin’s point about letting people grow at their own pace. As well, in this time of such incredible division in our society, it was moving and encouraging that each of these women was willing to share their experiences and hope so openly and freely. Thank you to each of them and to everyone who participated in the conversation.
*For more information about the work being led by the Mulvaneys and others to help address mental health issues among restaurant workers, Click Here. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
Robyn Krock is a Valley Vision Project Leader managing food, agriculture, and broadband initiatives.
Project Associate Emma Koefoed also contributed to this blog post.