Skip to Content

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.

Opportunity Zone Forum Recap: An Important Conversation

On Friday, February 1st, Sacramento Councilmember Eric Guerra (District 6) kicked off the Capital Region Opportunity Zone Forum, which Valley Vision created in partnership with the Councilmember’s office, the City of Sacramento, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and Power Inn Alliance.

Opportunity Forum attendees
Over 200 people attended the February 1st Forum at Depot Park in Sacramento.

The 200+ participants were next greeted by Meaghan Stiles and Matthew Ceccato of Congressional Reps. Matsui’s and Bera’s offices, respectively, highlighting the degree of interest at both local and federal levels in this still-emerging initiative to increase the capital available to the nation’s most underserved communities. Special guest speakers included Jimmy Stracner, Regional Administrator for Region IX of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Chris Dombrowski, Chief Deputy Director for the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz).

Because Opportunity Zones (OZs) are so new, with guidelines still being defined federally, the Forum opened with a primer – what OZs are, why they were created, and how they work – from Scott Syphax (Syphax Strategic Solutions) and Kevin Wilson (Novogradac and Company), both of whom are working extensively in OZs at the national level.

Following that introduction and level-setting, the Forum shifted to focus on three key “implementation issues” for OZs: first, what kind of investments seem best-suited to OZs; next, the importance of understanding community perspective and potential impacts on OZ residents; and third, local and state government actions that could improve the appeal of OZ investing in our region.

In the lead-off “Model Projects” discussion, Liz McFarland of Greater Sacramento demonstrated the beta version of an online mapping tool that will be available on their website by the end of this month. As well, Denton Kelley of LDK Ventures and Tyrone Roderick Williams of SHRA each summarized their current views of the most effective uses of OZ investments – which is unlikely to be in affordable housing, as both speakers agreed, despite the statewide housing crisis.

In the “Community Impacts” discussion, Ricardo Flores of LISC and Ky-Nam Miller, from San Diego and Oakland respectively, joined Clarence Williams of Sacramento-based California Capital. The three highlighted the imperatives of inclusive, community-based economic strategies, specifically in order to avoid possible gentrification of OZ neighborhoods in ways that could displace the very residents that OZs are trying to aid.

Finally, the Forum turned to the important roles of both state and local governments in supporting communities and creating an environment in which OZ investing occurs successfully – and consistent with State and local goals. Chris Dombrowski, of GO-Biz, emphasized the priority that the Newsom administration has placed on OZs early in the Governor’s term. A discussion panel of Fred Silva (California Forward), Robert Burris (Solano EDC and CALED), and Michael Jasso (City of Sacramento) then identified a host of ideas, like increasing local capacity through state assistance, developing a pipeline of projects that align with community objectives, and layering in other economic development tools such as Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts (EIFDs).

Forum materials and additional resources can be found on the Valley Vision website.

Without a doubt, Opportunity Zones can raise topics and concerns that can be hard to discuss – such as the fact that the federal government created no “guardrails” or requirements for transparency in OZ investing; concerns about exclusion and disempowerment of the very people that OZs were created to help raise up; and the potential for displacement of people already living in OZs as OZ investment flows in.

But also without a doubt, Opportunity Zones have the potential to shape the characters of our communities for decades to come, and for that reason it’s all the more important to have these hard conversations early, often, and inclusively. Valley Vision and its partners are committed to working hard on OZs, particularly to bring the different stakeholders in OZs together on these tough issues.

If you missed the Forum on Friday, you can catch the livestream feed on Councilmember Guerra’s Facebook page. You can also review the Forum Powerpoint presentation, the real-time audience polling results, and many more relevant resources on Valley Vision’s Opportunity Zones resource page. To keep up with Valley Vision’s work to advance livability in the Sacramento region, subscribe to our Vantage Point email newsletter!

Yzabelle Dela Cruz is a Valley Vision Project Associate contributing to the Innovation & Infrastructure and Leadership & Civic Engagement impact areas.

Valley Vision’s Chloe Pan and Meg Arnold also contributed to the writing of this blog.

What Is the ‘Fix’ for the Capital Region’s Digital Divide?

On January 23, the Sacramento Public Library along with Valley Vision and the City of Sacramento Office of Innovation and Economic Development, co-hosted many state, regional, and local partners at the beautiful Tsakopoulos Library Galleria for the region’s first ever Digital Inclusion Summit. The purpose was to define digital equity for the Sacramento Region, identify barriers that lead to the Digital Divide, and create meaningful measurement tools. The Summit included a keynote speaker, lightning talks from 13 presenters, and group goal-setting for regional next steps.

We kicked off with Alex Bahn, Digital Equity Manager of San Francisco’s Office of Digital Equity, sharing the steps and takeaways from the San Francisco Digital Equity Playbook. The Playbook, a pilot program produced by his office, was intended for agencies serving the most vulnerable populations at risk of being digitally excluded. The office conducted focus groups and interviews at housing and workforce centers which identified barriers around digital technology adoption: feeling embarrassed, time constraints, affordability, fear of technology, language barriers, disabilities, and lack of access. By identifying the barriers, Alex and his team were able to create a playbook of resources for populations to overcome being digitally excluded in a world of increasing digitization. The more surprising takeaway (given proximity to the Silicon Valley) was the comparison of San Francisco to Sacramento in our current status in addressing digital inclusion, and our need for greater collaboration to bridge the digital gap.

Next up, 13 lightning talks from organizations across the region working to advance digital inclusion. Speakers provided key information about their efforts in the continuum goal of closing the digital divide:

  • Jared Amalong – Sacramento County Office of Education: Equity in K-12 Computer Science Education;
  • Julius Austin – Sacramento Promise Zone/SHRA: Sacramento Promise Zone – Collaboration;
  • Patrick Becknell – Mutual Housing California: Digital literacy inclusion and access in affordable housing;
  • Erika Bjork – Sacramento Metro Chamber: Trends in digital skills workforce in the region;
  • Markus Geissler – Deputy Sector Navigator of ICT-Digital Media for the Sacramento region: Beyond Computer Science: Explore all ICT Disciplines;
  • Navneet Grewel – Yellow Circle: Cybersecurity learning platform;
  • Kandace Knudson – Sacramento City College: What it looks like to support access to academic technology (our student technology help desk);
  • Cameron Law – Social Venture Partners of Sacramento: Aligning Funding toward digital inclusion/literacy;
  • Azizi Penn – YouthArtCode: My experience with the summer program YouthArtCode;
  • Stephanie Tom – California Department of Technology: Statewide Broadband efforts; state and local collaboration; private/public partnerships;
  • Harsh Verma – ACM Sacramento Chapter: ACM for Education and Future Worlds Symposium;
  • Alan Ware – AMW Design: Education strategies for underrepresented youth and other populations;
  • Andrea Willis – Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE): USA Learns, a website that teaches ESL and helps prepare for U.S. citizenship.

The presentations were followed by goal setting led by Valley Vision. Breaking out into groups, the insight and ideas generated from each table were amazing! The following regional priorities were identified:

  1. Bring Community Together: Map regional gaps in digital inclusion. Create partnerships across sectors to connect community.
  2. Access and Competency of Use (Technical Skills): Acquire tech and computing resources, and the competency to use them.
  1. Affordability of Universal Access to the Community (Broadband)
  2. Asset Map: Create a database that serves as an asset map for a Regional Digital Literacy Initiative.

Attendees then signed up for working groups that will tackle these priorities. We are excited to push forward with these collaborative efforts to bridge the Digital Divide in the Sacramento region.

To know more about digital skills and our efforts with digital inclusion, please email Sonia Duenas, or subscribe to Valley Vision’s Vantage Point email newsletter.

Sonia Duenas is a Valley Vision Project Associate contributing to the 21st Century Workforce and Leadership & Civic Engagement impact areas.

Our Predictions for 2019

“Nothing we can do can change the past, but everything we do changes the future.” – Ashleigh Brilliant

In this final post of 2018, I wanted to write to you about some predictions we have for the coming year, and our hopes for you and our communities at the holidays.

Our regional economy will grow by another $5 billion next year. It’s been growing at that clip for the past four years, and despite global head winds, it’s likely to happen again, raising our total Regional GDP to about $130 billion annually. If you didn’t already know, we have one of the nation’s biggest economies – we are in the top 10% of all regional economies in the US today in terms of economic output.

While the regional economy will grow larger, inequity will get worse. Middle-wage jobs are more scarce these days, while jobs at the top and bottom of the scale and bottom are growing. If you have a good education and workplace skills, you’ll earn a good livable wage. If you are entry level, or lack the skills or training for the increasingly technical or digital jobs available, then service jobs will be your best (and maybe only) option. For most people, this needs to be the start of their careers, not the end of their economic fortunes. That’s why we at Valley Vision are so focused on helping students, employers, universities, workforce boards and schools prepare for this new future of work, creating a talent pipeline that includes everyone. Nearly one-third of our work directly relates to this purpose.

In 2019, a bunch of really important decisions affecting the lives of you and your family will be made. If you live in Sacramento, the people at city hall, with input from various communities, will decide the priorities for a long-term jobs strategy, how to spend millions from the Measure U tax increase, and how best to help under-represented school kids dealing with the potential bankruptcy facing the Sacramento City Unified School District. Regionally, big choices are coming for what type of housing, growth, and mobility investments we will make for the next generation. Being plugged into these decisions is important to your wellbeing. Valley Vision will be more than watching; we’ll be directly engaged with our region’s leadership, advocating for solutions that balance equity, economy, and environmental sustainability.

Harder to predict, but still inevitable, are the ways that coming shifts in mobility and new technologies will affect how we live, and the form and shape our communities will take. We are going to see more autonomous vehicles on our streets and universities’ campuses, new electric fleets, more bikes and scooters, and new applications that can help us get where we need to go easily and without a huge price tag.

In so many ways, the headquarters for the State of California is the likeliest place in the world to test the latest innovations that are transforming our buildings and streets, how we get our food, our sources of energy, and transportation. This is not only because California is setting the pace globally on these issues with new policies and technologies, but also because we have vast sections of our cities in the Capital Region that can be re-built – often from scratch – with the latest technologies and cutting-edge materials, as well as break-through designs and modern conveniences geared for the future.

For our part, Valley Vision is doing what we can to champion this region’s ability to serve as a “test bed” and incubator for new technologies and applications aimed at solving urban problems – as a fiscal sponsor for local governments, businesses, and utilities for new cutting-edge mobility enterprises; as a project manager driving changes in policy that focus on future needs; and as an independent researcher and catalyst.

2018 has been a formative year. Strong foundations have been laid and things feel more certain (or at least known). The region’s business, government, education, and community groups seem to be coming together, sharing effort, trusting each other more versus going it alone. New leaders are settling into their posts and getting things sorted out. More seasoned leaders in our neighborhoods, governments, and businesses are actively working with others to fulfill their promises. 2019 will put it all to the test as these decisions come up and the stakes rise. We are at a turning point.

Our wish for you? Participate: the voices of those whose lives are directly impacted need to be heard now more than ever in boardrooms and council chambers. Encourage: tell those who represent you that you expect them to work collaboratively with others, including people with whom they don’t instantly agree, because we are better together. Hold them to account for this. Remember, they work for you, not the other way around. Last, love always: love your family and your community. Be involved. This is most important and what no one can do but you. Throughout time, positive change has always begun here.

The future remains bright, if we make it together.

Happy holidays from the team at Valley Vision! To keep up with Valley Vision’s work to advance livability in the Sacramento region, subscribe to our Vantage Point email newsletter!

Bill Mueller was Valley Vision’s Chief Executive.

Our People-Centered Digital Future

On Monday, December 10, Valley Vision had the honor of joining an historic event with key Internet pioneers (pictured above are Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, and Vint Cerf, known as Father of the Internet), the People-Centered Internet coalition, and the next generation of positive change agents in a discussion of Our Shared Digital Future. Valley Vision joined the ranks of “The Brain Trust of Pioneers, Change Agents, And Agents of Courage” attending the conference at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California. The event was also lived streamed on YouTube in order for a global audience to participate.

Dubbed Our People-Centered Digital Future, the conference coincided with the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and an announcement by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) that 50-percent of the global population is now connected to the Internet. Announced at the event was the release of the World Economic Forum Paper: Our Shared Digital Future. Authored by leaders from business, government, academic, and civil society, the paper stresses an urgent need for collaboration in order to shape a digital future that is beneficial for all. It defines a set of shared goals for action in the digital space and calls on global leaders to take action in shaping our digital future.

The six shared goals highlight what is needed in order to achieve an inclusive, trustworthy and sustainable digital future and provide a common framework across goals:

  1. Leave no person behind: ensuring high-quality internet access and adoption for all
  2. Empower users through good digital identities: ensuring that everyone can participate in the digital society through identity and access mechanisms that empower the user
  3. Make business work for people: helping companies navigate digital disruption and evolve to new responsible business models and practices
  4. Keep everyone safe and secure: shaping norms and practices that enable a technology-dependent environment that is secure and resilient
  5. Build new rules for a new game: developing new flexible, outcome based and participatory governance mechanisms to complement traditional policy and regulation
  6. Break through the data barrier: developing innovations that allow us to benefit from data while protecting the legitimate interests of all stakeholders

Valley Vision’s impact areas and work efforts intersect with several of these shared goals. Since 2009, Valley Vision has been working to close the Digital Divide and expand broadband access and adoption. In a world where information, education, jobs, healthcare, and other services are increasingly being accessed digitally, we risk allowing people who are disconnected from the Internet to fall further behind in the opportunity divide. Through our Connected Community Initiative, we aim to close this divide and provide equitable Internet access across the region.

Moreover, regional leaders, including the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, the Metro Chamber, the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, and Valley Vision, are collaborating to implement a Regional Prosperity Strategy centered on an inclusive economy. The strategy is based on research from Brookings, and helps chart a course to the Sacramento region’s future economic prosperity. A major imperative for equitable prosperity is investment in digital skills training. The region needs enhanced digital skills both to grow the pool of high-skill technical workers and to expand the number of workers that have basic digital literacy. Digital skills are needed both for well-trained computer and information technology professionals such as software developers and engineers; and in order for entry-level employees to meet basic job requirements for digital software like Excel and other programs.

Over the past year, Valley Vision has been leading a regional conversation around the Future of Work and how automation, digitalization, and the disruption created by technological advances will impact jobs and the region’s workforce. As a workforce intermediary, Valley Vision is partnering with educators and employers to assess current and anticipated future skills gaps and to deliver on an action plan to build a robust pipeline of qualified workers across multiple career education sectors including Information Communications Technologies (ICT); Advanced Manufacturing; Energy, Construction and Utilities; Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Water Technologies; and Health and Life Sciences.

Prescient for the Future of Work, it’s important to note that today ICT and Digital Media are integrated into almost every technology, industry and job. As noted in the Brookings report, close to three-quarters of occupations in the region now require high or medium levels of digital skills. Whereas 49-percent of middle skill jobs required medium or high levels of digital literacy 15-years ago, 87-percent of today’s jobs require these skills.

As we pursue the goal of getting the remaining 50-percent of the world’s population online, there is a great need for collaboration and urgent action to shape a digital future that is beneficial for all. Valley Vision looks forward to the continuing the advancement of this work and in securing an equitable digital future.

Tammy Cronin is a Valley Vision Project Leader working on the 21st Century Workforce and Broadband Access and Adoption.

My Valley Vison Experience in One Word

I am grateful to have been Valley Vision’s Communications Intern since January 2018. Grateful to work alongside people dedicated to their work. Grateful to deepen my appreciation and love of my region. Grateful to grow my skillset with a nonprofit whose mission is aligned with my own. Grateful that I’m now prepared for my next step in life.

The team guided me and shaped me: Understanding that Adrian adds an exclamation point to make anything more exciting, and that Robyn will catch any spelling or grammar error that I threw at her, assured me that I was in a space where we took care of business. Days of having dogs in the office, the steady stream of Philz Coffee, and being offered helpings of Yzabelle and Sonia’s food kept my heart and stomach full.

Chloe was patient with me when I struggled with program design, showing me that others will help me, but I need to help myself first. Alan’s quiet confidence and one-liner jokes was something I tried so hard to emulate. Seeing firsthand how hard everyone worked, but then how willingly we would play along with an office joke or conversation was the balance I needed to keep me motivated.

I deepened my appreciation for my hometown and heightened awareness of the surrounding counties: I’ve always been proud of being from Sacramento. While living in the Bay Area and Stockton, I proudly reminded people that I was from Sacramento. Curating content for our five monthly newsletters has showed me all of the great work that people are doing to improve the region. Small establishments are making huge impacts, like the Yisrael Family Farm in Oak Park which teach residents about agriculture, and CleanStart, which helps clean technology startups share their work and secure funding.

There are countless other people and organizations who work tirelessly to make sure the region is a place where everyone can live comfortably. The people create the direction for the region, and have spoken loudly. We care about one another.

Ruben and Project Manager Adrian Rehn discussing important Fantasy Football outcomes.

Valley Vision took a gamble on me, but it paid dividends: When I accepted my role at Valley Vision, I had managed social media accounts for City Year Sacramento, and championed newsletter efforts at St. HOPE – not exactly expansive knowledge of communications. I did not have a degree in Communications, Public Relations, Graphic Design, or a related field. What I did have was a curiosity and unwavering commitment to never stop learning. Those qualities are what helped me overcome what I lacked in formal education. Gratitude and curiosity fueled my first few months as I learned platforms like MailChimp and WordPress, and kicked up our social media activity.

After building proficiency and confidence, and learning the working styles of my teammates, I gained traction. Curating 50+ newsletters, growing our Twitter reach by over 750%, and developing rapport with staff members to create content, I elevated the external awareness of Valley Vision greatly. Taking cues from Bill, Trish, Christine, and Adrian, I found a way to leverage my enthusiasm and turn it into irrefutable growth.

Growth and opportunity: My next step is to be determined. Staying in Sacramento and continuing to make my hometown and the region I love a place where everyone can live and thrive is of the utmost importance to me. Nonprofits do this work. Government agencies do this work. Schools do this work. The private sector does this work. I do this work.

Ruben Moody has been a Valley Vision Communications Intern since January 24th, 2018.

Preparing Today’s Students for Tomorrow’s Workforce

Valley Vision CEO Bill Mueller gave the following remarks at the Hands On the Future 2018 Counselor’s Conference on December 4th in Sacramento. The summit was designed to help hundreds of high school and college counselors in preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s workforce.

“Thank you all for being here.  You are the critical bridge in our economy, connecting students to their future.  We are grateful for the job that you do, and respect the daily responsibility you carry.  We are here to help and support you today.

As Cristina Mendonsa mentioned, I am the CEO of a nonprofit group called Valley Vision with offices here in Sacramento and in Stockton.  We were created 25 years ago to help mayors and business CEOs, hospital executives and foundation leaders come together around a common table to address complicated issues like creating more affordable housing, improving healthcare access, or unraveling how to fill the jobs of the future that no single group could tackle alone.  Our 33-member board includes the chancellors and presidents of all the major public and private universities, the top businesses and foundations CEOs, and many community and nonprofit leaders.  Our job is to help our communities have the important conversations to be future ready.  So Valley Vision is more than a name, it’s also what we do.

How do you plan for a future in an age of massive disruption? A time when technology is transforming old industries and remaking whole new job categories that didn’t exist even 5 years ago?  What about the impact of artificial Intelligence, machine learning, genetic engineering, and the Internet of Things — how are these forces changing the nature of what work will be in the future?  Which jobs will be replaced by machines, or end all together?  Just how important is digital literacy to future success?  (Hint: it’s very important, and we are lagging here).

Thinking more globally, the United Nation forecasts we will add another billion people to the planet by 2030 — that’s just 11 years away.  Many of them will be born in India, China, and about half in Africa, UN data indicates, where medicine is getting better and birth rates are high, but food and water are scarce.  As the climate changes, who will create the cures and breakthroughs that address our next global challenges?

As an independent organization that works closely with our region’s top universities, all the work force boards, government, business and community groups, Valley Vision starts to answer these questions by curating some of the best research from industry and government sources.  We look deeply at reports from the Economist Intelligence Unit, McKinsey & Company, Brookings Institute and others.  We read the latest findings and talk with the researchers themselves.  We also create our own research, partnering with universities, national think tanks, and private enterprise.

That’s why I was asked to join you this morning. To tell you that we have studied the local economy and talked to area employers and have a good handle on what’s coming in the next 5 years.

So what IS coming next, you might ask…

I hope you might have a pen and some paper so you can take a few notes.  I’m going to tell you what we have learned so far about the jobs of the future here.  You’re going to hear more about this later this morning from experts from the field.  I’m also going to tell you what employers and experts are telling us they need most from graduates. So here goes.

In 2015-16, Valley Vision worked with Theresa Milan and the Los Rios Center for Excellence and conducted quantitative and qualitative research to better understand six high growth industry clusters for which we have a competitive advantage.  We held six forums to gain market intelligence directly from hiring managers and conducted individual interviews.

In 2017-18, Valley Vision, along with our workforce board and Strong Workforce partners, held several industry forums and regional advisory meetings to gain an even deeper understanding of in-demand skills and occupations.  We held four Future of Work forums and also mapped more than 115 industry advisory committees with more than 2,200 members.

This is what we learned:

Manufacturing is not in decline, but is growing both nationally and locally.  It is undergoing a renaissance due to technology and the advantages of local suppliers and the need for quality control.  We have added over a million manufacturing jobs nationally since the recession, and are adding thousands of high paying jobs at places like Siemens Mobility that don’t need a four or even a two-year degree, but a high school diploma, certificates and on-the-job training. Dean Peckham is here from the Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Initiative, and can tell you more.

Construction will need over 36,250 jobs through 2021 to rebuild our communities and homes and to incorporate energy efficiency and green materials.

Information and Communications Technology will need over 22,000 new hires at companies like Teledyne Microwave Solutions in Rancho Cordova and Intel in Folsom, through 2021.

Food and Agriculture here employs over 31,200 people with over 1,800 employers.  Notably, 55% of those jobs are “off farm” in production, distribution and processing.  This sector will have over 5,000 job openings over the next few years.

Another of our studies found that job growth is anticipated to continue at a 2.4% growth rate in life sciences as healthcare.  Registered nurses posted the largest job counts amongst the top 15 occupations with nearly 18,000 job openings expected over the next 5 years.  Social assistance and ambulatory care are driving a lot of the job growth. This is just an example of what we have learned so far.

This region also hired the Brookings Institute to come in and do a “stress test” on our region’s economy.  We are wealthy and productive when compared to the other top 100 metros in the US.  But we are falling behind in digital training and literacy.  We need to increase and align our efforts, especially for Blacks and Latinos that will make up a growing share of our workforce in the next 10 years.

You will hear more about these job trends from experts after my talk and ways you can put them to work for you and your students.  The big takeaway here is that the Sacramento Region population is growing faster than any other region in California and we are experiencing a job boom.

Jobs are here – we just need to do a better job of connecting you to them and the skills to get hired.  A lot of terrific job reports can be found on our website.  Look for this image on the home page and click to the underlying information.  We are here to help you.

I want to leave you with five truths we have uncovered from local employers and from leading research.  These truths will help you prepare students for jobs in the future.

First, focus on skills, not titles.  Job titles are in flux.  They don’t predict what an employee will be doing.  Focus instead on building a solid base of skills and fluency applicable to many occupations.  Generalist eager to learn are more hire-able than specialists in most cases.

The second truth is that job ladders are gone.  We are now in an age of job lattice — moving up, across and sideways over the course of our careers.  Skills remain, but as industries merge and re-form and job requirements shift, progress won’t be linear any more.

The third truth we are hearing is that workplace skills are sometimes equal to or more important than technical proficiency.  Adaptability, collaboration, problem solving, empathy, social awareness — these cannot be replaced by machines.  And these New World of Work skills can both be a student’s biggest advantage and biggest deterrent to upward mobility and success.  We need to teach them.

The fourth truth is that we must end the fiction that your education is over once you graduate.  Today global competition and technology change require us all to be lifelong learners.  Curiosity is key in the new world of work.

Last but perhaps most importantly, the fifth truth is that the evolving world of work requires us all must to be entrepreneurs.  A entrepreneurial mindset is more and more vital in the creative destruction underway in our economy.  It’s equally necessary for those filling job openings as those creating their own, Do-it-yourself future, building the next business enterprise.  This is the gig economy imperative.

As the world confronts huge environmental and social changes, California is an ideal place to build a career for students wanting to create the answers to some of societies most vexing challenges.  Not just cures and the latest technology breakthrough, but how will we feed the next billion?  How can we make our communities more resilient to fire?  Make water go farther for more people and grow more crops for a better life.  The answers will come from your students.  We have the jobs for them, and the opportunity is here to make the world a better place.

Thank you.”

To keep up with Valley Vision’s work to advance livability in the Sacramento region, subscribe to our Vantage Point email newsletter!

Bill Mueller is Valley Vision’s Chief Executive.

What Are You Thankful for in 2018?

As each year comes to a close, Valley Vision staff reflect on what we have been thankful for over the past year. It’s an annual tradition, and we are excited to share our reflections with you. Thank you for continuing to support and collaborate with us!

  • Chloe Pan: I am thankful for community and being able to witness all of the love people have for those around them. As President Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Far and away, the best prize that life has to offer is a chance to work hard at work worth doing. And I would add that what makes work worth doing is getting to do it with people that you love.”
  • Bill Mueller: I am thankful for the next generation of problem solvers who are tackling our biggest challenges. The future is in great hands, with a growing crowd of people locally who really care about equity, economy and the environment, and are working in our community daily to do something about it.
  • Jennifer Romero: “I am thankful for family, friends and loved ones near and far, who continue to support and love me during my very hectic culinary endeavors.  I am also thankful for my beautiful wife and all that she does for us, and our furry babies, Max, Marley and Belle!”
  • Yzabelle Dela Cruz: There have been many people and experiences throughout this year that have added a wealth of love and insight to my life. I am grateful for the health of my family, friends, and colleagues, and the ability to share these connections and experiences with people who offer such kindness and support.
  • Tammy Cronin: Family, friends, good health, prosperity and abundance, kindness and generosity.
  • Ruben Moody: I’m thankful for the people around me who continue to drive me forward. They help me create opportunities to evolve and develop as a professional and a person.
  • Debbie Aubert: Being cancer free!
  • Sonia Duenas: 2018 has been a big year of change. I’m grateful for my expanding family, good health, new friendships, and the opportunities that lay ahead. Change is good.
  • Alan Lange: I am thankful to be done with our office hunt. The search was long. The options were many. Very glad we landed in such a great space. And I am also grateful for the many wonderful years spent at the former location.
  • Trish Kelly: Grateful for ongoing love and support from friends and work colleagues as my family experienced loss of loved ones this past year; grateful to be part of a community that is responding so deeply to support those experiencing the devastation of the fires; and grateful to do work that is dedicated to a healthy and sustainable future for the region.
  • Adrian Rehn: I am thankful for the increasingly small differentiation between friends, family, and colleagues. The people I have collaborated with over the past year are all of the above.
  • Evan Schmidt: My family’s health and well-being, good friends and community, and meaningful work that challenges and excites me.
  • Meg Arnold: I’m grateful for Valley Vision’s great new office space, which has enhanced the funkiness of the old office’s brick walls by adding many windows and copious natural light! I’m also grateful for Alan’s steady and quiet hand during the moving process, and for the three great colleagues with whom I share our office “pod.”
  • Emma Koefoed: Thankful being able to move to Midtown this year. Thankful for having the BEST POD EVER.
  • Robyn Krock: There are so many who need a hand right now, I am grateful that I am in a position to be able to help others.

Featured Image Credit: Chantel Elder

Valley Vision Staff Cook Meals for Camp Fire Victims

In the immediate wake of the Camp Fire, several organizations arrived in Butte County to support those facing life with an overwhelming amount of uncertainty. World Central Kitchen, founded in 2010 by Chef José Andrés, was one of the first organizations on scene providing support. For the last several weeks, chefs around California and beyond have rallied to leverage commercial kitchen spaces in making a difference.

World Central Kitchen (WCK) made headlines previously when disaster hit Haiti and Puerto Rico, as well as during the Mendocino Complex and Carr Fires earlier in the year. They have established a reputation now as the tenacious non-profit known for being the go-to organization to feed thousands in the wake of natural disasters. When it became apparent the Camp Fire was going to be yet another wildfire for the record books, WCK made its way up to Northern California to set up a facility. With Paradise only a short drive away and so many people affected, the staff at Valley Vision immediately wanted to find a way to help. In less than a day Project Associates Sonia Duenas, Yzabelle Dela Cruz, and myself registered as volunteers and made our way to Chico, California the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

We arrived in Chico around 11 am and immediately took notice of the blackened hills and fire lines coming right up to the freeway pavement. The smoke was heavy, and not much could be seen past the few cars in front of us. In both directions we passed more than a dozen Cal Fire Trucks, dusty and grayish-red as they returned back down Highway 99, horse trailers packed with animals being transported to makeshift animal shelters, Red Cross disaster vans, pedestrian vehicles noticeably loaded with supplies, bags of clothing, and food, and regular families probably leaving the only home they’ve known. It was a leveling experience just coming into the area. However, once we arrived at the WCK headquarters, the tone instantly changed. What a few moments ago felt so dire, was replaced with a bustling group of cheerful and smiling WCK volunteers that immediately welcomed us and directed us to a station. The Red Cross had just arrived to pick up what was probably lunch, and there was a line of people loading up cambros and sack lunches into the disaster vans. After a quick tour of the facility and run down of tasks to be completed, we made our way across the parking lot to the kitchen to help prep food for the dinner shift. Chef Dominic Orsini, head chef from Silver Oak Winery, greeted us at the door and immediately led all three of us outside to a table with 5 large boxes of Spanish onions that needed to be sliced up for dinner.

“Can you cut onions?”

Slightly intimidated we each quickly grabbed an onion, rubbed off the outer layer of dried peels, sliced off the nubby little ends, and julienned the little herbaceous plants as fast as we could.

“Great! Get started”. And like that, we were off.

For the rest of the day, we were flying around the kitchen, working alongside the many other World Central Kitchen staff, the Silver Oak Kitchen team and other volunteers. As Kerrie Jacobson, a representative from Chef Tyler Florence’s team, was moving back and forth hastily making chimichurri sauce for the dinner meal and simultaneously making batches of quinoa, several of us were outside braising beef chuck on large paella pans. Time flew by as we shared stories about where we were from and why we had come to participate. We met several amazing people including Carrie, a massage therapist who had driven all the way from Santa Rosa to lend her hands, and Joe, a Red Cross organizer who had flown in from Connecticut to help with the relief efforts. Together we were able to prepare over 2,500 dinner meals for Camp Fire victims.

Returning to the car covered in sweat and kitchen debris, we couldn’t help but feel completely humbled and inspired by our time spent with World Central Kitchen. As we pulled out of the parking lot, we watched as the Red Cross vans departed down the road with the meals for delivery, hopefully to bring some comfort to those in need. The experience was one of a kind, and aside from the unfortunate circumstances, Sonia, Yzabelle, and I were grateful that we were able to participate in something so impactful.

Emma Koefoed is a Valley Vision Project Associate contributing to the 21st Century Workforce and Food and Agriculture impact areas. 

What Are the Region’s Five Most Important Transportation Investments?

In January, Valley Vision reported that 93% of local residents said that transportation is of critical importance to business and job growth in the region. The poll result was part of the ongoing survey research of resident attitudes that Valley Vision conducts with the Institute of Social Research at Sac State.  Our latest opinion survey is now out on resident attitudes about what it’s like to live and work here.

Local residents overwhelmingly get the jobs-transportation link, knowing that we have to make 21st Century-minded investment decisions that better connect existing job and education centers and provide people choice in how they get around.

In a letter sent this week to the leadership of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG – the body that decides our transportation investments), Valley Vision’s Board made this case drawing from our own transportation research and work, facts and evidence from the Brookings Institute, McKinsey & Company, and regional as well as local economic development organizations and experts.

Traffic in Sacramento
Image credit: Greg West

The letter states that advanced economies are clustered in cities today, large and small.  It is in these built-up areas where there is a concentration of firms, investment capital, labor, and schools and universities, working together on technologies, cures, products, and services. Cities are where jobs are located. So it makes the most sense to direct the limited dollars we have in investments where the existing jobs and people are, not to where they aren’t.

To support inclusive job and business growth in the Capital Region, Valley Vision’s Board said unanimously that we must prioritize fixing and maintaining what we have. Next up is increasing mobility access and use by making our different transportation systems work better together across city boundaries with technology and governance improvements. Lastly, we have to make careful and strategic investments that connect existing job and education centers to improve opportunity for all, not just some.

So if there’s only so much taxpayer money to go around and we want a healthy economy that is inclusive and doesn’t leave anyone out, where should we invest?  The answer is pretty simple. Valley Vision’s Board came up with what we believe are the “Big Five” priorities.

As numbers one and two, we must find a solution that breaks the traffic gridlock on Highway 50 and Highway 80, which are the backbone that links our region’s largest job centers. We lose millions of dollars in productivity when people are stuck behind the wheel, and we make air quality far worse. Goods movement and commerce are blocked. These conditions impact everyone’s lives, directly and indirectly.

Number three is making transit work for all people – for working professionals and people who do not have any other option but public transit to get to work, school, or services. It makes little sense to have so many transit agencies in our region. Further, it is overly complicated and, in some cases near impossible, to get between cities or across our region by bus, light rail, or bike safely, conveniently, and on time. This is a government efficiency problem as much as an infrastructure investment opportunity that continues to block people from jobs and educational opportunity and slows economic activity. Great strides are being made today by RT and other agency leaders, but an inclusive economy that engages all communities, especially the disadvantaged, requires us to act with urgency.

Sacramento Regional Transit in motion
Image credit: Carlos Eliason

Number four is improving connectivity between Sacramento and the Bay Area. This will require vision and investment that goes beyond business-as-usual. Commuter train service and bus rapid transit should be actively advanced and expanded, in addition to Highway 80 capacity improvements. Being better connected to the world’s epicenter for technology is a wise, long-term economic investment strategy and provides job and business growth opportunities to existing and new firms important to all communities.

Number five is improving connectivity and public investment in and around Sacramento International Airport. This is our gateway to the world. Look at any other metro and their major airport is the hub of their transportation and job network.  Access, opportunity, and growth – core tenants of economic inclusion – are served by public and private investment here.

It’s hard to imagine any issue today getting agreement from 93% of the general public. But the importance of transportation to growing jobs and opportunity here in this region is a no-brainer.  Let’s all make sure when the SACOG Board meets next on December 20th that our elected leaders are prioritizing the sort of investments that better link existing job and education centers.

To learn more about this, we hope you take part in the public forums and input sessions for the 2020 Metropolitan Transportation Plan, now in development.  Key decisions are coming up in the months ahead and making your voice heard is vital to building a community we all want to live in, both now and in the future.

Bill Mueller was Valley Vision’s Chief Executive.

Featured image credit: Jason A. Knowles