Skip to main content

Fresno, California: Innovation, Education and Action - Welcome to the VERDE project

(Vouchers for Environmental Resource Development through Education).
Who are we? We are a group of community development students, operating with support from the Blum Center at UC Davis, who are taking what we have learned in the classroom to Fresno, California.   
What is our plan? We seek to collaborate with businesses, higher learning institutions, and non-profit organizations in Fresno to design a program that engages individuals of all ages in local community development projects with a particular focus on education and the environment.  Under this program local organizations will identify projects in which volunteers and student interns agree to provide twenty hours of service in exchange for a $1,000 tuition voucher.  For those attending a participating institution of higher learning the vouchers can be used as a reduction in tuition fees.  For those not contemplating enrolling, these vouchers are negotiable.  They can be gifted or traded at an exchange established by VERDE .
Why Fresno? There are several reasons that we decided to work in the city of Fresno, and why we believe Fresno would benefit from this program. According to the website WWW.volunteeringinAmerica.gov, Fresno has an extremely low volunteer rate, ranked 66th out of 75 mid-major cities in the United States.   According to the website www.Forbes.com, Fresno ranks 7th in the United States for air pollution.  And according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in May 2012 is 15.7% with over 25% of the city living in poverty and only 12% earning a bachelor’s degree or higher.   Our model could address all of these problems by providing tangible rewards to volunteers working on projects to clean up Fresno while expanding opportunities to attend local institutions of higher learning. 
Who benefits? Businesses benefit because the after tax value of the contribution for the $1,000 certificate could come close to $500.  It thereby becomes a cost effective way for businesses to demonstrate to their markets and to their community a commitment to solving these problems.  Universities benefit because their scholarship funds are replenished on a 3:1 ratio.  Volunteers benefit because they receive a tuition voucher for their services that can be gifted or traded.
What have we done so far? Throughout the year, we’ve been meeting with community leaders, city officials, students, businesses, & non-profit organizations in Fresno to begin the task of identifying the projects in which volunteers of all ages and capacities can participate.
What are some examples of volunteer projects?
Urban neighborhood beautification
Soil and hillside erosion control
Home and business energy efficiency   consultation and assessment
Rainwater cisterns and potable water quality assessment & maintenance
Fish and wildlife maintenance and control
Urban recycling and composting
Brownfield clean‐up
Urban and peri-urban tree planting and maintenance
Community gardening through empty lot utilization
Public space goat grazing as alternative to mowing
Recycling used computers & peripherals
Small appliance recycling
Creating and maintaining electric vehicle recharging stations
Neighborhood watch using Text Messaging alert networks
School and neighborhood environmental awareness education programs
Safe playground construction and maintenance
Constructing and maintaining bicycle routes and walking paths
Constructing and maintaining playgrounds using recycled materials
Graffiti control and clean-up

Where do we need help?  We have received overwhelming interest by all parties on the concept as well as some support that has covered travel and incidentals.  However, we now need help in structuring the tuition instrument in a manner that will meet all regulations and will attract investment by both businesses and higher learning institutions.  If interested in assisting or in seeking more information please contact:  

Roseanne Chavez, UC Davis
rdcchavez@ucdavis.edu 


On June 21st, 2012, we presented our VERDE model at the CA Higher Education for Sustainability Conference here at UC Davis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyyb9xYBjRw

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome to the UC Davis Blum Center Blog!

Here you will find updates on our organization, and blog posts written by each of our Blum Fellows about their experiences abroad. Make sure to check out our website at blumcenter.ucdavis.edu, and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UCDavisBlumCenter to get regular updates and see our upcoming events.
Post a Comment
Read more

Visiting the New Roots Farm, By Stella Sappington

At this point in my project I have incorporated my supervisors notes into the first draft of the survey, asked questions regarding his changes, and begun to survey clients. Many of the changes he made were for the purposes of brevity and clarity. He removed the questions I had in place regarding favorite foods and whether the interviewee was the primary shopper, as well as an experimental question about community meals. He also managed to consolidate the multiple questions I had regarding food insecurity that were separated whether they interrogated price, unavailability or distance. I questioned these changes as I was concerned about the knowledge gap between shopper and interviewee that one report mentioned and elucidating rich responses to all aspects of food security. However, I ultimately incorporated each of his changes. At this time I have called 80 numbers intending to administer the survey with only 10 respondents. Their answers are so far similar in nature and offer good gu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sky-High Natural Dyes by Jennifer Hoover

In June of 2014, I was bracing myself for my last few days in the Himalayan village I had come to call home. I had spent 3 months there, befriending a few women with whom I worked on various textile projects. As we wrung out the last of our skeins of yarn over a dye bath, Nirmala commented, “You will always remember the time you had only two students.” “No,” I countered, “I will remember the time I had two teachers.” “Three students, three teachers,” we agreed. This, to me, is the power of participatory action research: we are all students, and all teachers; all researchers, and all research subjects. And so I am thrilled to be back for further collaboration, with the support of the Blum Center. I am here in Kullu Valley working with some participants in a women's self-help group (www.whims.in) who produce textile goods as a way of generating some independent income and preserving traditional craft skills. Although the women have started working with the acrylic ...
5 comments
Read more