Last week I had a chance to visit the San Bernardino UCCE office. We met in an amazing place; the Chino Basin Water Conservation District (CBWCD) office. If you ever get a chance to get down there, be sure to check out the exhibits both inside and out, not to mention the ‘court room'. The indoor exhibits housed information about the area and impressive artwork from a local school. Outside were beautiful gardens. The reason for meeting at this location was because of the partnership UCCE has with the CBWCD. The CBWCD is not only a partner but a financial supporter of UCCE programs where there is mutual goals so that these programs thrive in the county. Becky Rittenburg, Community Programs Manager, gave us a tour of the gardens and talked about the work CBWCD is doing and the importance of the collaboration with UCCE. The UCCE Advisors and CES gave us updates on their programs in the communities and we talked about some of the unique challenges presented in trying to serve communities in the largest county in the U.S. (>20,000 square miles).
The next stop after Montclair was Bishop, CA. An interesting drive, to say the least. It took about 4 hours, maybe a bit more, with very little in between other than Ridgecrest which boast all the amenities of a small city due to the presence of a naval base and serving as the gateway to Death Valley. Talk about a small but mighty UCCE office. Dustin, Callie and Amy spent the day with Mark Bell and I and we had a chance to learn about the integration of the EFNEP, MFP and MG programs as well as the 4-H programs. We talked about the challenge of having impact in an area where the land is owned by LA County so there's little incentive for economic development coupled with the fact that most people move to the area for the recreation and not to be tied down to work. A conundrum a bit different than perhaps most of our communities. But this group is figuring it out. And our visit to the MG community garden is a great example of assessing needs and providing leadership to the community to meet those needs. The MG volunteers are clearly a dedicated group and their efforts are beautiful. I left with some great inspiration photos of what I might consider around my house.
I can't wait to get back to these two counties. I have others I need to visit first and it looks like Kathryn is working with the county directors to get more of these visits on my calendar this fall. Unfortunately the calendar fills very quickly but these visits are so important to me – a chance to see where the work happens and see first-hand how UC ANR is making a difference. Plus, I don't want visits to be so infrequent that the counties assume there is a problem when I try to schedule some time in the county.
