Sustainable Solano’s Position on California Forever

May 29, 2024

By Sustainable Solano

Sustainable Solano has remained publicly silent until now about California Forever, both as a proposal and a ballot item. But we have spent that time in active discussions as a team and board to weigh the California Forever proposal and the process taken to get it to this point and test it for alignment with Sustainable Solano’s mission and objective to nurture initiatives for the good of the whole. We work to help bring our communities together in a way that connects people with each other, the Earth and something larger than themselves, and we must base our responses upon those values.

We have determined the motives behind California Forever do not align with our values as an organization, even if some parts of the proposed community do reflect measures we would like to see for Solano County’s existing cities.

Sustainable Solano’s work around community resilience, sustainable landscapes and local food all starts at a singular nexus — the interest in giving a voice to the community and building community trust toward the good of the whole. We can say without a doubt that the approach taken to acquire property and establish California Forever does not align with that core value for our organization. Solano County residents are frustrated due to the lack of transparency and absence of trust around the intentions of those behind California Forever. As an organization that is exploring what it means for us to democratically govern ourselves in an open manner, we ask no less of those who are seeking to change the county where we ground our work.

Even in the structure of its proposed community, California Forever does not align with our values. The decision for this community to remain unincorporated will result in residents being denied a locally elected municipal government. The new city will not have a mayor or city council, with many governmental functions relegated to nonprofits established by California Forever, or to the County Board of Supervisors. Consequently, the voices of residents may go unheard, and their ability to participate meaningfully in shaping the future of their community can be hindered. Without a local government, residents are often deprived of the essential mechanisms for representation, decision-making, and resource allocation that are fundamental to democratic governance. Issues such as environmental protection, infrastructure development, and public services become challenging to address without a locally elected centralized authority to coordinate efforts and advocate for community needs.

In the absence of a community-elected municipal government, this unincorporated city may face significant obstacles in achieving the democratic ideals of equitable representation and collective decision-making.

There are other areas where California Forever does not properly align with Sustainable Solano’s mission and values. We promote sustainable land use and the protection of ag land, which this proposal would directly affect as well as removing range land and endangering critically important habitat. We work with communities to lift up residents’ voices around environmental degradation and injustice, and see where creation of a large new city in the county would increase the negative effects on surrounding communities commensurate with increased traffic and strains on water supplies.

California Forever paints a picture of a community that would be built for walkability with good jobs and affordable housing. We appreciate and understand the vital importance of these features of a sustainable city, and would like to see more in our existing cities — cities where people could easily walk, bike or take local transit to jobs that pay a livable wage, have access to grocery stores with healthy seasonal food, can gather in public spaces with urban greening, and use renewable, local energy. We would like to encourage building this vision within our existing cities, and invite you to think about how such changes could be brought to where you live. These strategies would strengthen Solano County and our local communities, but for California Forever they remain only ideas at this point, and there are far too many conflicts with our values for us to support the California Forever proposal as a whole.

Help us Shape Our New Doing Good Business Awards Program!

Jan 26, 2024

By Sustainable Solano

Image source: PermaculturePrinciples.com

We know that there are Solano County-based businesses that make a difference in their communities, and this year, Sustainable Solano plans to launch an awards program to recognize those businesses that stand out in their efforts to support people and planet.

And we’d like your help!

The Inspiration

Sustainable Solano has spent 25 years working to strengthen our communities through urban agriculture and community gardens, supporting the local food system, building community conversations and action around environmental and climate resilience, and youth engagement and empowerment.

Our work is informed by the practice of permaculture, which at its base level applies to creating environments that support a healthy, thriving ecosystem. This can apply to landscapes, but also to people, communities and businesses.

We are inspired to recognize businesses that, in their own ways, embrace the three ethics of permaculture: Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share.

For businesses, we see these ethics materializing in different ways:

  • Earth Care — A dedication to authentic sustainability practices that comes from direct intent, rather than greenwashing or government mandate
  • People Care — A dedication to outstanding treatment of employees, both in policy and in action.
  • Fair Share — A dedication to giving back to employees or the community.

How You Can Help

We want an advisory committee that will help to guide what this program looks like in our community. We want input from business leaders on how to define meaningful efforts in these three areas, and how to judge which nominees are head and shoulders above the rest. Ultimately, an advisory board will review and select the recipients. 

Help us to envision and shape a program that recognizes, celebrates and supports Solano County businesses that are striving to do good!

Want to help? Contact us at info@sustainablesolano.org. We will start the planning process in early March.

Expert Panel to Explore Ag Land, Development, Zoning & Orderly Growth in Solano

Nov 14, 2023

Nov. 3, 2023
For immediate release

Media Contact: Allison Nagel
805-512-0901
allison@sustainablesolano.org
Interviews, photos and other materials available upon request

Quick facts:

  • Ag Land, Development, Zoning & Orderly Growth: How Does It Work? 4-6 pm Thursday, Nov. 16 on Zoom
  • Informative and educational online expert panel presentation on planning, zoning, farmland and cities, with discussion specific to Solano County
  • This is one of the Solano Local Food System Alliance’s quarterly educational forums
  • Audience questions will be taken in advance: https://forms.gle/PwhV7WXukpx8nFAF9

 

Expert Panel to Explore Ag Land, Development, Zoning & Orderly Growth in Solano

A panel of experts will present information on zoning, planning and what steps have to take place when development is proposed on farmland in an online educational event hosted by the Solano Local Food System Alliance from 4-6 pm Thursday, Nov. 16.

Panelists for “Ag Land, Development, Zoning & Orderly Growth: How Does It Work?” have knowledge of county planning, regional planning, orderly growth initiatives and environmental/public interest law. The conversation will be specific to Solano County and will focus on sharing information, rather than focusing on a specific project, though the Alliance recognizes that there is a lot of interest in this topic at the moment. 

Flannery Associates’ land purchases in Solano County’s Jepson Prairie and Montezuma Hills agricultural regions (more than 55,000 acres purchased in southeastern Solano, including parcels in and around Fairfield, Suisun City and Rio Vista, and around Travis Air Force Base) and marketing of its “California Forever” vision have made national news, but there has not yet been a formal proposal or plan submitted to the county. Because of this, the forum will focus on educational information around what guides planning and zoning in the county now, the process of re-zoning ag land, the county’s orderly growth initiative in its general plan, regional planning and the impact of various forms of development, and what legal questions arise around land use and water rights.

The Alliance holds educational forums on a quarterly basis that are open to the public and offer insight on topics that intersect with the local food system. This is the second panel discussion of planning and zoning. A previous panel last November discussed rural and urban land use.

The public is welcome to register for and attend this free panel. Attendees can submit questions in advance of the forum, which will be grouped by topic and asked of the panelists as time allows. Since a lot of questions are anticipated on this topic, registered attendees are encouraged to submit their questions by Nov. 10 for a better chance of having their question addressed during the event.

Register for this event here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/planning-zoning-farmland-cities-tickets-738178029357

Submit questions in advance here: https://forms.gle/PwhV7WXukpx8nFAF9

About the Solano Local Food System Alliance

The Solano Local Food System Alliance includes a wide variety of stakeholders committed to fulfilling the mission of creating an environmentally sustainable, economically viable, socially just and equitable local food system in Solano County. Its vision is to diversify, expand and safeguard a local healthy food economy that will preserve farmland, its integrity and biodiversity in Solano County, and ensure food access for local communities.

For more information, visit sustainablesolano.org/alliance

About the panelists

Harry Englebright, retired Solano County Planner

Englebright was a planner with Solano County from 1977 to 2006, retiring from the Solano County Resource Management Department as a principal planner overseeing Policy Planning and Special Projects. Much of his career focused on agricultural and open space issues. He has worked as staff for the Solano County Planning Commission, Local Agency Formation Commission, Airport Land Use Commission, Solano County Housing Authority, and Community Development Block Grant program and managed a number of planning programs, including the 2008 General Plan update. Englebright also oversaw the formation of the Rural North Vacaville Water District and was project manager for the design and construction of the district’s new water system. From 2006 to 2011, he was a consultant for Solano County completing the 2008 General Plan update and updated the Suisun Marsh Protection Plan and elements of the Solano County Zoning Code and Integrated Waste Management Plan. He served on the Board of Directors of the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council from its founding in 1989 for 22 years and co-chaired the Solano County Bay Area Ridge Trail Committee.

Duane Kromm, Solano Orderly Growth Committee

Kromm has been a resident of Fairfield since 1975. A native of the Detroit area, he majored in accounting and moved to California to work at a CPA firm in LA in 1968. After marrying and moving to Fairfield, he worked for about 25 years as a local CPA/consultant, mostly with local governments and nonprofit organizations. He started working with the Solano County Orderly Growth Committee in 1984, the year it was founded, and is still an active, dedicated member. The Solano County Orderly Growth Committee serves as a watchdog for the county’s orderly growth land-use policy, which advocates limiting growth to the county’s seven cities, protecting farmland, and preserving natural lands. He was elected to the Solano County Board of Supervisors in 1998, and spent eight years as a county supervisor.

Sadie Wilson, Greenbelt Alliance

Wilson is the director of planning and research at Greenbelt Alliance, which seeks to educate, advocate, and collaborate to ensure the Bay Area’s lands and communities are resilient to a changing climate. Wilson manages the organization’s Resilience Hotspots work, advocates for climate-smart planning and policies in the East Bay, and conducts research to make the Bay Area more resilient to a changing climate. She has a background in urban planning, equitable climate adaptation, and innovative public finance solutions, having completed her Masters in City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley where she contributed to a broad range of research efforts with Bay Area institutions, including the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, The Center for Cities and Schools, and The Terner Center. Before going to graduate school, she worked at an Oakland-based consulting firm, Economic & Planning Systems, where she worked on housing, transit, and open space analyses for communities throughout the state.

Osha Meserve, attorney, Soluri Meserve law firm

Meserve’s law practice has focused on land use, environmental and water related law since 1999. She has experience preparing and commenting on environmental review (CEQA and NEPA) and a variety of permitting documents, as well as litigating the adequacy of those documents at both the trial and appellate level. She represents public entities, nonprofit entities, neighborhood groups and project applicants, and also has experience advancing clients’ interests through public relations efforts and political processes. Prior to becoming a shareholder at Soluri Meserve, she was an associate at Remy, Thomas, Moose and Manley, LLP and at Adams Broadwell Joseph & Cardozo. Meserve has a special interest in and experience working on legal issues related to water resources, land use, air quality and greenhouse gasses, agricultural and forest resources, solid waste and energy use.

2023 Benicia & Vallejo Demonstration Food Forest Tour Press Release

Apr 10, 2023

April 10, 2023
For immediate release

Media Contact: Allison Nagel
805-512-0901
allison@sustainablesolano.org
Interviews, photos and other materials available upon request

Quick facts:

  • Sustainable Solano’s Benicia & Vallejo Demonstration Food Forest Garden Tour will be 9 am-4 pm Saturday, April 22 (Earth Day)
  • This year’s tour will include informational talks and self-guided tours of private and community gardens that practice waterwise principles of rainwater capture and, in some cases, laundry-to-landscape greywater systems. These gardens build healthy soil, grow food and create habitat.
  • Educational talks will be on food forests, lawn conversions, greywater systems and composting.
  • Most gardens on the tour were created through Sustainable Solano’s Solano Sustainable Backyards program, funded by the Solano County Water Agency. The first seven food forest gardens in the program were made possible through funding from the Benicia Sustainability Commission.
  • The tour is free with a $10 suggested donation
  • Learn more and register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/benicia-vallejo-annual-demonstration-food-forest-tour-tickets-568395304657

 

2023 Benicia & Vallejo Demonstration Food Forest Tour is April 22

Sustainable Solano’s food forest keepers will be opening up their demonstration food forest gardens in Benicia and Vallejo for the annual tour on Saturday, April 22.

Each garden offers ideas and inspiration on how to use water efficiently while creating a lush thriving garden that supports life and provides food and habitat. Some of the garden sites will have education and information on bees, honey, monarch butterflies, laundry-to-landscape greywater, compost, native plants, local food, guided tours, spring festivals and so much more. There will also be laundry-to-landscape greywater education in English and Spanish.

Most of the gardens on the tour were created through Sustainable Solano’s Solano Sustainable Backyards program, funded by the Solano County Water Agency. The first seven food forest gardens in the program were made possible through funding from the Benicia Sustainability Commission. Others were inspired by these gardens. All of the gardens showcase plants that thrive in Solano County.

This year, Sustainable Solano formed a new partnership with the Vallejo People’s Garden and together installed the Pollinator Pathway native plant garden on Mare Island, which will be part of the tour.

“Our deepest hope for this year’s tour is that people get energized and inspired to take action and become caretakers of the land and each other,” said Program Manager Nicole Newell, who runs the organization’s Solano Sustainable Backyards program.

Other Sustainable Solano garden tours this year will include the Fairfield-Suisun City Demonstration Food Forest Garden Tour on May 6, and the Vacaville Demonstration Food Forest Garden Tour on June 3.

Learn more about the tour here: https://sustainablesolano.org/2023-benicia-vallejo-demonstration-food-forest-tour-is-april-22/

Learn more about each garden here: https://sustainablesolano.org/2023-benicia-vallejo-tour-featured-gardens/

About Sustainable Solano

Sustainable Solano is a countywide nonprofit organization that brings together programs that support and sustain one another and the Solano County community to promote ecologically regenerative, economically and socially just communities in a world that works for everyone. Initiatives include sustainable landscaping, local food, resilient neighborhoods, youth leadership, sustaining conversations and community gardens.

For more information, visit sustainablesolano.org 

$2.5M in Funding Brings Together 3 Solano Nonprofits to Build Capacity, Lend Support

Mar 16, 2023

March 16, 2023
For immediate release

Media Contact: Allison Nagel
805-512-0901
allison@sustainablesolano.org
Interviews, photos and other materials available upon request

Quick facts:

  • Three Solano County nonprofits have received capacity-building funding that will strengthen those organizations to support their community-driven work over the next five years.
  • The cohort of the three nonprofits will determine together how to divide and spend approximately $500,000 per year, for a total of $2.5 million over the next five years.
  • The cohort was selected by an advisory committee consisting of Solano County community leaders in partnership with Magic Cabinet board members
  • Magic Cabinet is a philanthropic foundation that centers and amplifies the work of community-driven organizations by offering collaborative multi-year capacity-building funding. This gives nonprofit leaders the tools, funds, and autonomy to decide what’s needed, when, and how to use it to best support their missions.

 

$2.5M in Funding Brings Together 3 Solano Nonprofits to Build Capacity, Lend Support

Three Solano County nonprofit organizations have been selected to receive a total of $2.5 million in capacity-building funding from philanthropic foundation, Magic Cabinet, that will help them to grow and strengthen their organizations to better support their community-driven work for the next five years.

Leaders of the three organizations — Mile High Residential Treatment & Behavioral Health, North Bay Housing Coalition, and Sustainable Solano — say that this funding will help them to achieve new goals, while also bringing them together as a cohort to share strategies and support.

“This long-term financial support will elevate NBHC to the next level,” said Mary Eble, executive director of North Bay Housing Coalition. “We are excited for what we can accomplish and learn from this experience.”

Magic Cabinet centers and amplifies the work of community-driven organizations by offering collaborative multi-year capacity-building funding that drives better decisions and cross-sector collaboration. This in turn creates a network effect of funders and nonprofit leaders, supporting one another as peers, amplifying their missions together. The Solano cohort will determine together how to allocate and spend approximately $500,000 per year to meet the unique challenges and opportunities of each organization.

“This funding will allow Sustainable Solano to fortify our organizational capacity to work on the ground, to build a democratically managed, non-hierarchical organization and to ultimately increase our impact in the community,” said Elena Karoulina, executive director of Sustainable Solano.

Magic Cabinet provides funding and access to a peer network to small- and medium-sized nonprofits in the Greater Puget Sound and San Francisco Bay areas. The foundation’s unique participatory approach invests in nonprofit cohorts that share a common geography and mutually supporting missions. Magic Cabinet’s approach brings together four elements of community-centered philanthropy: trust-based philanthropy, participatory decisions, capacity building, and long-term investment. Since 2019, Magic Cabinet has awarded over $45 million to nonprofits in Washington and California.

“Our grantmaking process is designed to support the whole nonprofit, not just the programs. We encourage our nonprofit partners to build capacity and infrastructure that will support their missions for the long-term,” said Christina Engel, executive director of Magic Cabinet. “We are changing how philanthropy works with the nonprofit community it supports. To put it simply, it’s all about relationships and shifting power to our nonprofit partners.”

This is the second cohort based in Solano County. In 2022, Magic Cabinet awarded funding to A Place-2-Live, Rio Vista Care, and Solano Advocates for Victims of Violence.

Throughout the five-year partnership, both the grantees and Magic Cabinet can discover operational strengths and pinpoint areas for improvement. The collaborative cohort creates a space for the three nonprofit partners to support and advise each other. Within the cohort model, uncovering an area of improvement is not a negative but an opportunity to build a stronger nonprofit — and a potential capacity-building project.

About Mile High

Mile High Residential Treatment & Behavioral Health impacts the lives of foster youth one day at a time by creating an environment that allows for a new beginning, positive growth, and independence. The organization’s primary mission is to help our youth heal the wounds of various unfortunate traumatic experiences. This is accomplished through evidence-based and trauma-informed methods that lay the foundation for youth to ascend to new heights of personal excellence.

For more information, visit https://www.milehighbh.org/

About North Bay Housing Coalition

North Bay Housing Coalition’s mission is to increase affordable housing for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families, based on the belief that people living with intellectual/developmental disabilities can and should have equal access to affordable housing, independence, and the opportunity to live a vital life in their community.

For more information, visit https://www.northbayhousingcoalition.org/

About Sustainable Solano

Sustainable Solano is a countywide nonprofit organization that brings together programs that support and sustain one another and the Solano County community to promote ecologically regenerative, economically and socially just communities in a world that works for everyone. Initiatives include sustainable landscaping, local food, resilient neighborhoods, youth leadership, sustaining conversations and community gardens.

For more information, visit sustainablesolano.org 

About Magic Cabinet

Magic Cabinet is a philanthropic foundation that centers and amplifies the work of community-driven organizations by offering collaborative multi-year capacity-building funding that results in more equitable and well-resourced nonprofits. Magic Cabinet’s approach to philanthropy is highly collaborative. We pair with high-impact leaders, partners of all sizes, as well as social and community leaders to experiment transparently and bring a flexible and participatory approach to philanthropy. Within any partnership, Magic Cabinet can provide nonprofit discovery, education support, and collaborative granting.

For more information, visit https://magiccabinet.org/

New Food Forest Garden at City Church of Fairfield to Feed Underserved Community

Feb 23, 2023

Feb. 23, 2023
For immediate release

Media Contact: Allison Nagel
805-512-0901
allison@sustainablesolano.org
Interviews, photos and other materials available upon request

Quick facts:

 

New Food Forest Garden at City Church of Fairfield to Feed Underserved Community

A new garden going in at City Church of Fairfield will help to feed the local community, including those most at-risk for food insecurity in the low-income and unhoused communities.

The garden will be installed on Feb. 25 and March 4 through a series of public workshops through Sustainable Solano’s Solano Gardens program. The Solano Gardens program, funded by Solano Public Health, creates and supports gardens that provide access to fresh produce in communities that have historically experienced limited access to healthy food. Through recent expansion of the program, Solano Gardens also is building a network of community gardens and individual gardeners to share knowledge, resources and opportunities.

The addition of the garden at City Church aligns closely with the church’s mission to help locally through outreach programs. These programs include a navigation center, residential program, free clinic, food distribution, and a safe place to park for the night with showers and meals available.

Anyone interested in supporting this project while learning about sustainable ways of creating food-producing gardens is invited to attend and participate in the upcoming workshops.

 

About City Church of Fairfield

City Church Fairfield is a “Missional” Church. This means that we believe God commands us to help locally in our own surrounding communities. We are a church that fulfills our call in a unique way through our outreach programs. Those programs are the City Livin’ Center, City Navigation Center, City Free Clinic, City Park N Sleep, and City Strike Force.

For more information, visit citychurchfairfield.com

About Sustainable Solano

Sustainable Solano is a countywide nonprofit organization that is dedicated to “Nurturing Initiatives for the Good of the Whole.” The organization, now in its second decade, brings together programs that support and sustain one another and the Solano County community. Initiatives include sustainable landscaping, local food, resilient neighborhoods, youth leadership, sustaining conversations and community gardens.

For more information, visit sustainablesolano.org 

For more on Solano Gardens, visit sustainablesolano.org/solano-gardens