An unlikely group of organizations, brought together through a UC Berkeley Chancellors Fund grant, organized a beautiful event on December 11th that reaffirmed the need for community members to come together and talk about climate grief and solutions. The NorCal Resilience Network, Transition Berkeley, Green the Church, Berkeley Council member Cheryl Davila’s and UC Berkeley’s Student Environmental Resource Center are the leading organizations in this effort to organize Town Halls to mobilize Berkeley residents into action.
The kickoff event, held at Church by the Side of Road, featured keynote presentations by luminaries Carl Anthony and Paloma Pavel and the lead organizations, as well as breakout sessions, songs and healing words of wisdom led by Reverends Ambrose and Ryan Carroll. Yesterday’s Mobilize Berkeley kick-off event was amazing and I just want to thank each of for your roles in supporting it! Special thanks to Ambrose and Ryan for making us feel welcome in their church and in supporting us in all the ways they did and Cheryl for her vision and leadership. There was lots of inspiration and connection throughout the event and in the small circles.A woman in a small group said, “This is where hope starts. I am ready to do something!”
“What brings me hope is the power of our collective imagination.”
There was also sharing around climate impacts as well that included knowing people that lost their homes in the California fires and having direct impacts from the smoke due to asthma. Groups were also so very sad about our Bay Area people who are un-housed and are aware that this situation is likely to get worse, but many are ready to build our relationships and find ways work on these problems.
A few special “thank-yous” go to Paloma Paval and Carl Anthony for their generous role in the event, the SERC team.
One highlight was Berkeley Council member Ben Bartlett and his wife for joining the event and sharing the joy of their newly born daughter. This work is for their daughter and her generation. May the healing continue.
Thank you to Linda Currie for co-writing this article.
What do an community garden, youth-led health clinic, library and community center have in common? They are all part of the Resilience Hubs Initiative, building a network of neighborhoods, libraries, community gardens and neighborhood centers that are model sites for community resilience, rooted in three pillars:
** building beloved community ** permaculture-based climate solutions and ** disaster preparedness/response
A group of 25 community organizers gathered at the Oakland Peace Center on February 11th to launch the kickoff of the first cohort of Resilience Hubs. Participants engaged in ice breakers to get to know each other and build community, listened to a presentation about the project and offered strategic feedback around topics of fundraising, planning and trust.
“How do we create deep equitable community spaces” asked on participant. “We must focus on the people power,” offered another. “Let’s create events and project that amplify people connecting, sharing resources, education, skills, knowledge.”
The Resilient Hubs Initiative was created in response to the urgent need to build resilience in our homes and communities in the wake of climate change, drought and social injustice.
The Resilient Hubs Initiative uses a grassroots community-based approach to help scale up home and neighborhood resilience. We are creating a network of sites — including homes, schools, community gardens and neighborhood centers that are “ready for anything” — that are better prepared for natural disasters, climate change and other stressors in our community. Our long-term vision includes providing hubs with online resource guides, community organizing training workshops and support for on-the-ground activities such as garden and water conservation work parties.
The bulk of the 2020 Cohort sites are in Oakland and Berkeley. Sites include Canticle Farm, Gill Tract Community Farm, Dream Roots Youth Clinic and two neighborhoods in Berkeley and El Sobrante known for their neighborhood activities. Sites are requested to work on at least one project over the next six months that is amplified through a public-facing event. Hubs leaders are encouraged to get to know each other both through online communications channels and by attending each other’s events. A small pot of funding is available for work parties, thanks to support from the Lush Charity Pot and Altamont Advisory Fund.
The kickoff meeting ended with a song, led by the Gill Tract’s Coleman Rainey. People’s voices sang together joyfully and ended with a rousing shout: “Resilience!” May the community building continue!
Over 100 volunteers came out on a sunny spring weekend to support a school almost lost to one of the biggest fires in California history. Read their story below.
“I think one of our greatest mistakes is seeing ourselves separate from nature and that nature is somewhere “out there.” Unfortunately, it is events like the Camp Fire that remind us this is not the case. It is time to fit ourselves back into nature appropriately.”Matthew Trumm, coordinator of the Camp Fire Restoration Project
Nearly 100 people gathered at Pine Ridge Elementary School during our Spring Camp Weekend on April 27th, 2019 to install a permaculture demonstration site. Pictured – Garden School Coordinator Mandy Kling, Principal Talin Tamzarian and Matthew Trumm, CFRP Founder. Photo Credit: April Mangino
Rather than o
ne Camp, we are facilitating a system that stacks functions to influence change and create synergy as quickly as possible. Our Mobile Unit goes with us to the demonstration site where we work, easily accessible to meet the needs of where we serve and can be available for rent to property owners interested in hosting their own ecosystem restoration groups.
Our mobile camp infrastructure built by our experts to serve 100 campers today includes three dry composting toilets, an outdoor heated shower, water filtration system and outdoor kitchen and sink – all low-cost appropriate technologies
easy to build. Teams design systems as needed and run additional areas for kids, communal space and wellness/healing for massage, movement, medicine and compassionate listening.
