More than $1 million was awarded through the Bay Area Jobs First Collaborative as part of an overall State Economic Blueprint from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.
SUSAN WOOD
NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL
2 minute read
More than $1 million in state funding will be spread among three North Bay organizations for their work on climate resiliency and economic opportunity.
The three groups and the money is part of a $9 million award given to 13 organizations in the Bay Area by San Francisco-based Bay Area Jobs First Collaborative.
The collective works to create regional economic opportunities for primarily underserved communities burdened by a changing climate. It announced the awards March 4.
UpValley Family Centers of Napa County
UpValley Family Centers of Napa County was awarded $309,191. The 25-year St. Helena-based social services organization will use the money to launch a startup business for Promotora.
The volunteer group is comprised eight entrepreneurial Latinas providing health education promotions for a large swath of northern Napa County.
Their project is called “Providing High-Road Jobs to Latina Women Serving Their Community.”
Promotora holds community events, vaccine clinics and wildfire preparedness activities.
“We’re changing the model,” UpValley Family Centers Executive Director Jenny Ocon said, referring to Promotora evolving from a volunteer arm of the Family Centers to its own business. “It’s a great model. We want to support the program. To go from a community cooperative to a business, there’s a lot to this.”
The catalyst project, as it’s called, aims to provide jobs to Latinas, many of whom are immigrants, who “face barriers to traditional employment,” the Bay Area Jobs First Collaborative bulletin said.
Olga Pimentel has volunteered as a community health worker for four years.
“I have been working with a wonderful group of people. I have realized that I love and am passionate about working for my people and my community,” she said.
North Bay Jobs With Justice
Farmworker advocacy group North Bay Jobs with Justice based in Santa Rosa was awarded $908,581.
The funds are earmarked for a “first-of-its-kind” vegetation management training series in Spanish for a project called “Indigenous and Immigrant Farmworkers Building a Climate Resilient Workforce.”
Part of the project addresses fuels management, since farmworkers are often on the front lines of the climate crisis.
“The thing we’re seeing over and over again is a lot of people who want to work to take care of the land,” Executive Director Max Bell Alper said. “The need is increasing so we’ll need more people doing this line of work,” Executive Director Max Bell Alper said.
Greenbelt Alliance
The Greenbelt Alliance based in Oakland plans to use $539,951 to develop four training courses in environmental management, according to spokesman Victor Flores.
The project called “Regenerative Jobs Program” includes classes in biochar, fungi to regenerate polluted lands and two different composting sessions.
Applicants for the funding could apply for up to $1 million for single-county projects and $1.5 million for multiple jurisdictions.
The Bay Area group works in conjunction with the state collaborative, which has granted $287 million to such efforts since 2022. The program is part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s State Economic Blueprint, which lays out a plan for sustainable economic growth.
“These projects meet long-term workforce and economic development in every corner of the Bay Area,” said Kim Tavaglione, executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council and cochair of the Bay Area collaborative steering committee.
