Over $135,000 in scholarships
The Community Foundation of Mendocino County awarded $138,500 in scholarships to 63 students at graduation ceremonies across Mendocino County this month. Thanks to generous donors this represents an increase of $12,500 compared to 2017. Scholarships ranged from $500-$10,000, with the average size of about $2,000. This year’s scholarships were made possible through 26 Community Foundation scholarship funds.
With the addition of four scholarship funds this year, the Community Foundation now offers scholarships for a diverse array of students across Mendocino County. When people think of scholarships, they often have in mind the classic scholar-athlete. These students excel academically and on the field. However, the world of scholarships is much broader than just athletic scholarships. The Community Foundation offers scholarships for students pursuing specific professions such as teachers, engineers, doctors and nurses; scholarships in memory of family or friends; and scholarships for students who otherwise might be overlooked.
An Unexpected Path - The Donna Baxter Memorial STEM Education Fund
Donna Baxter’s life was one of discovery. Growing up in a small town in southern Illinois, her options seemed limited. So it wasn’t surprising when Donna graduated from high school that she chose to go into nursing. It was a traditional occupation for women of her time, and it was affordable. The tuition was only $1,200 for three years, and that included room, board, uniforms, and books.
Donna’s nursing career took her to Denver, where she worked in the Surgical ICU at Denver General Hospital. It was when she decided to take a break from nursing that the course of her life changed in two important ways. The first happened when she became a city bus driver (a job that paid more money than she was earning as a nurse) and met her future husband, Dan, who was also a driver. The second life-changing event was her decision to go back to school. Dan describes this defining moment: “When she started her classes, she found that she really liked math and even thought of switching to accounting. But once she discovered differential equations, calculus, and advanced physics, engineering became her focus.” Donna graduated from the University of Colorado in 1982 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and was a member of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society.
Teens Giving Back - The Caring Kitchen Project
The first thing you notice when you walk into the social hall at St. Anthony’s in Willits – home of The Caring Kitchen – is the wonderful smell. Odors of home cooking waft through the air in warm waves and make you feel good inside. And that is what the Caring Kitchen Project is all about – the healing power of food and the connections it creates.
The Caring Kitchen has two major missions – to create meals for people who are seriously ill with cancer and their families, and to empower teens by teaching them practical skills and showing them how they can make a difference in the lives of others. It is a program of North Coast Opportunities (NCO) and is affiliated with Ceres Community Project in Sebastopol, which provides training and support.
Paying It Forward
“We have been fortunate in our lives, and we want to share that with others,” says Jan Pearson as she discusses the plans she and her husband Steve have made regarding their estate. “We want to pay it forward.” This means that in addition to leaving a portion of their assets to their two sons, they are also leaving a portion to The Pearson Family Fund, a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation that their sons will advise after they are gone. “Our sons are both doing pretty well in their careers,” says Steve. “So we thought that one of the things we could give them, in addition to money, was the opportunity to be involved in helping others.” As successor advisors to the Pearson Family Fund, the sons will make recommendations on grants to charitable causes that represent the family’s interests and values.
How did their sons react to this plan? “Their first reaction was, ‘Oh no, more work!’” says Jan. “They both have children and a lot of commitments, so they wondered how they could add something more to their busy lives. We explained to them that the Community Foundation makes giving easy by doing the grant research and providing options for projects to fund. That gave them some reassurance.”
A Family's Legacy
The Gowan name is known throughout our region for wonderful local apples and produce, so it does not come as a surprise that the history of Cecil and Alice (nee Studebaker) Gowan’s family in Mendocino County is deep and rich. Both sets of Alice’s grandparents moved to the Anderson Valley in the 1860’s. Notably one of her grandfathers traded sixteen horses for his initial home property in Philo. Cecil’s family moved to the Anderson Valley from Shelter Cove in 1902 when Cecil was 13.
Education was important to both families. When Cecil and Alice were growing up, public schools were just being created in the area. In Shelter Cove there were none, so Cecil’s parents hired tutors to teach their children. Of this experience, Cecil remarked, “We studied just like any kids, as little as we could!” In the Valley, Cecil and Alice both attended elementary school at the Shields School, which the community built on property donated by the Studebakers. One of Alice’s happy memories was of third grade when she and Cecil would be asked to go together to bring the bucket of drinking water up to the school.
Planning Ahead for Resiliency
Over the past six months, we at the Community Foundation have been immersed in disaster recovery work stemming from the wildfires late last year. As Mendocino County navigates this challenging reality, I have been learning about the phases of disaster response: relief, recovery, rebuilding, and resiliency. Even as we are knee-deep in the recovery phase inland, when looking ahead it is clear that we must all think about preparedness to grow our resiliency as a county. A recent grant awarded by the Community Foundation to a group of volunteers in Comptche provides a great example of what this can look like.
The residents of Comptche know about natural disasters. As a remote community 25+ miles from both Highway 101 and CA-1, this tight knit group of residents understands that when it comes to major events such as fire or earthquake they are most likely on their own. Founded in 1964, the Comptche Volunteer Fire Department handle rescue, fire response, and other emergency services as needed. In 2008, they fought the 2,000-acre Navarro Fire for a dozen days, protecting 130 residences in Rancho Navarro. In 2012, their quick response to the Flynn Fire helped contain the blaze to 200 acres. Given the distance from other major first response organizations, the Comptche Volunteer Fire Department is often first on scene within their 100 square mile service area. Residents know that in a major crisis the Fire Department will be out responding to the event, and they have started thinking about additional ways to take care of each other when a disaster strikes.
Building Our Communities, Literally
At the Community Foundation of Mendocino County, one of the most important things we do is to bring together people who want to make a difference and/or are passionate about improving our community in some way.
This is why I am so excited to share information about the Mendocino County Construction Corps (MCCC). This new program is a wonderful collaboration of people and organizations who are working together to train the next generation of local tradespeople.
"We've been talking for years about our aging workforce,” says John Boies, Area Manager for Granite Construction. “This program gives us the opportunity to help fix the problem." Local contractor Wendy Jackson wishes we had a trade school in the county. Along with many of her colleagues, Wendy believes the trades can provide a good living for local students who don't have college degrees. Since there is no local trade school, she and other area contractors are taking matters into their own hands – Wendy Jackson Construction and Granite Construction are among those donating time and money to the MCCC program, participating as donors and instructors.
A Language of the Heart
John Whitcomb and Dennis McCarthy, who recently opened the McCarthy and Whitcomb Inland Performing Arts Scholarship Fund, are well aware that they have had their share of good fortune. “I came from a wonderful, loving middle class family,” John recounts, “and we have had good luck over the years.”
Of course, their lives have been built on more than good luck. As pear farmers for decades, Dennis and John were no strangers to hard work and perseverance. But when the time came to think about “giving back,” they both realized that one of the things that has given them the most joy over the years has been an appreciation for the arts.
Settling in for the Long Haul
December brings with it a chance to reflect on the year gone by, to take stock and decide what to bring with us into the year ahead and what to leave behind.
Clearly, the biggest challenge we faced this year was the Redwood Complex Fire. I wish I could go back in time and prevent it, but since I cannot, I am focusing on the silver lining: disasters give us an opportunity to find out what we’re made of, and our community’s response reinforced all my beliefs about the goodness and generosity of Mendocino County residents and of humanity in general.
We at the Community Foundation of Mendocino County have had a disaster fund ready for some time now. Our board members seeded it with $20,000 but hoped our community wouldn’t ever need it. Because of their foresight, we were able to accept donations online and in person the day the fire hit. That first day I thought, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could raise $500,000?” Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine we’d raise close to $2 million.
Best Practices for Local Job Creation
By Holly Madrigal
How can we improve workforce development in Mendocino County? What skills do our young people need in order to get a good job after high school or college? What initiatives are working? These were the ambitious questions asked by the board of the Community Foundation of Mendocino County. Last spring the board embarked on a countywide Listening Tour to find out the answers to these questions and to learn how the Community Foundation could have the most impact in supporting local success. A distilled report, compiled and analyzed by Community Foundation staff is now available.
In total, approximately 90 community leaders participated to tackle the subject of workforce development and job creation. How can we creatively address the challenges faced by Mendocino County?
From the population hubs to the remote areas, the report found that the single most challenging obstacle is a lack of adequate housing. Whether companies want to hire locally or recruit talent from out of the area, they reported losing potential hires because they could not find places to live. The devastating wildfires and staggering loss of homes in Redwood Valley and Potter Valley now compound this problem. Other workforce development issues that arose included how to incorporate the marijuana industry as its legalization status changes, the need to increase vocational training, the pros and cons of tourism, expanding internships/career shadowing, and availability of basic resources like healthcare and education.
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