On a crisp and clear morning late last year, around 20 volunteer firefighters, landowners and community members gathered on a plot of land outside of the small rural community of Kneeland in Humboldt County. They listened intently to detailed instructions on how to safely burn 20 acres of private property that gradually rises on a hill before them.  The volunteers gathered to learn how to successfully undertake a prescribed burn.

Alameda County resident Shanika Pate and her 14-year-old daughter would drive to a new townhouse development every day and pray outside that their application would be accepted.  And when they received the green light to move, their lives started on a new path.

Yuba County’s 14Forward program for the homeless is a success story. It’s taken a lot of collaboration, creativity, patience, learning, and trust-building since it opened its doors in July 2016 – but the results are evident. The program is taking people off the streets and helping them turn their lives around.

14Forward’s tiny homes made out of modified Tuff Sheds get a lot of the publicity, but the program is much more than that. It provides wrap-around services for homeless individuals who are ready to start a new chapter.

Two special rooms within the Sacramento County Youth Detention Facility are having a strong, positive impact on the residents. They are called “multi-sensory de-escalation rooms,” and the County is the first juvenile detention facility in the United States to open such a program.

These de-escalation rooms provide a safe environment where the facility’s residents can calm down and regulate their feelings without use of force or being put in isolation. This is a skill that can serve them well when they are back in the community.

“It really is restorative justice at its finest.” That’s how Shasta College’s Robert Bowman describes a local collaborative program that is changing lives.

Created in 2013 by Shasta County and the local community college, the Shasta Technical Education Program-United Partnership (STEP UP) was designed to provide formerly incarcerated community members with educational opportunities that result in employment.

It’s a warm autumn day in rural Del Norte County. Beyond the ripple of the nearby serene Smith River, the only sound you hear is an occasional bird. It’s a scene out of a postcard. No wonder the nearby residents of the tiny communities of Hiouchi and Gasquet are proud to call this area home.

More than 10 million people live in Los Angeles County – that’s a larger population than all but seven of our states. And out of those 10 million people, about 25 percent are Spanish-speaking and not proficient in English. When it came to the complex world of planning and permitting, many residents could not fully understand what they had to do.

Humboldt County has a strong track record of reaching out to its constituents to hear their viewpoints on budget priorities. There’s a good reason the county is proactive in its public engagement. In a county covering nearly 4,000 square miles – much of it mountainous and rural – you can’t expect many residents to appear at county budget hearings to speak their mind for a couple of minutes. If you really want to hear what your residents are thinking, you need to go to them. And that’s exactly what Humboldt County has been doing through their budget roadshows.

For foster children, the challenges are many, including often having to move from residence to residence – which can mean moving from school to school. This can result in school district officials not being completely aware of the foster youth in their classroom. Communication between a school district and county overseeing the foster youth can be sporadic and delayed. 

As in most counties across the country, the vast majority of individuals incarcerated in the Santa Clara County Jail are pretrial. And as in most counties, the majority of these individuals are low-income and many would be considered low-risk.  Bail reform has been a hot topic lately; while there has been a lot of discussion but little action, things are different in Santa Clara County.

When we think of firefighting equipment, heavy hoses and axes quickly come to mind. In Tulare County, the Fire Department has added a new tool to its firefighting arsenal: a specialized app that provides valuable and necessary data to crews before they head out to a location, assisting them in saving lives and property.

Meet Katery. Eighteen months ago, Katery was a classic at-risk youth. She would often skip school and had no plans to continue her education beyond high school – if she graduated at all. She had been in trouble with the law, having been arrested for assaulting a police officer.

Now Katery’s on track to graduate a year early and is preparing to start taking classes at the local community college. She is also starting to talk about planning for a career. Quite a turn-around for an individual who at one time saw working in the fields as an adult her only option.