New Web site will link Valley employers,
job seekers, vocational training programs
The California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley Board of Directors on Sept. 12 received a demonstration of a new one-stop Web site that is designed to link employers, job seekers, and vocational training programs throughout the San Joaquin Valley.
Careersinthevalley.com was developed to provide access to qualified job seekers, providers of training services and available positions across the 10-county region: Fresno, Kern, Kings, Inyo, Madera, Merced, Mono, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tulare.
The Partnership provided funding to assist in the development of the demand-driven workforce investment system.
CareersintheValley.com will be a one-stop Web site for all employment needs for employers and job seekers that includes:
- Current employment studies for each of the 10 counties
- Current vocational training by job title for occupations surveyed
- Career research documents – over 80 career ladders that detail comprehensive information about job requirements, promotional career paths, hiring criteria, WorkKeys® requirements, and potential salaries.
- No-cost job posting and job search is currently available through CalJobs which searches, by county, posted jobs available throughout the region. Future plans are to provide direct access to 3,200 unique job banks throughout the San Joaquin Valley.
Pam Lassetter, assistant director of the Fresno County Workforce Investment Board, said, “Careersinthevalley.com is a valuable resource that will assist many job seekers today in determining what types of jobs and training are available and meet employer needs by developing a qualified workforce.”
Partnership board receives
comprehensive update on water efforts
The Water Quality, Supply and Reliability Work Group of the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley provided a comprehensive update on its efforts during the Partnership's Board of Directors' quarterly meeting Sept. 12.
Board member and Work Group convener Ray Watson said the group has been focusing on three core activities to develop the framework for a Valley Water Plan:
- Facilitation and coordination of local “integrated water resource management plans”;
- Projects to investigate water management integration strategies, including a pilot project in Tulare County to improve the quality of drinking water to disadvantaged/rural communities;and
- Stakeholder meetings addressing the future of the Delta, including conveyance and sustainability issues.
In other water-related issues, the board authorized the Executive Committee to recommend specific language to be inserted into AB 8XX, the state water bond. The Executive Committee also will discuss how to weigh in on the continuous appropriations issue.
The Water Work Group also will oversee the creation of a presentation on the integration and importance of water and agriculture to California’s economy that can be shared with other regions in the state and their legislators.
Download Water Quality, Supply and Reliability Work Group Presentation
UC Merced establishes planning office to
finalize med school proposal
UC Merced has established a planning office to finalize its proposal to establish a medical school to serve the San Joaquin Valley, with Chancellor Steve Kang appointing Maria Pallavicini as vice provost for health sciences.
Pallavicini will now serve a dual role at the university – as vice provost to continue plans to establish the medical school and as dean of the School of Natural Sciences, her current position.
According to Kang and Pallavicini, there is much work to be accomplished in the coming months, particularly if the campus is to submit its full proposal to the UC Board of Regents in July 2009 as planned.
To assist Pallavicini with medical school planning, UC Merced hired consultants from the Washington Advisory Group. The firm specializes in providing strategic advising services and management consulting to organizations, including research universities, companies, governments and nonprofit organizations.
The first task of the consultants will be to assist UC Merced in identifying a network of organizations that may wish to partner with the campus and in defining the specific roles that each might play. Important to the full medical school proposal will be a comprehensive description of how partner organizations in the Valley will play essential roles in the new school's education, research and clinical programs through various affiliation and partnership arrangements.
The activities are supported by a gift provided by United Health Foundation. United Health gave $5 million each to UC Merced and UC Riverside in July 2006 to be provided over three years to assist in the development of medical education and health sciences-related programs in underserved areas of the state.
UC Merced News Release
Partnership board approves resolution on
education reform initiatives
The California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley Board of Directors on Sept. 12 adopted a resolution requesting that the state support Valley efforts in a number of the Valley be an early adopter for initiatives that advance the implementation of a number of specific recommendations in a report of the Governor’s Committee on Education Excellence.
The resolution asks that the state:
- Consider the Valley as an early adopter for initiatives that accelerate training of English learners;
- Assist with the development of more of a college-going culture in the Valley, including expansion of AVID programs; and
- Support a significant expansion of pre-kindergarten programs in the Valley.
The resolution also notes that the Valley wishes to be considered by the state as an early adopter for a number of initiatives that advance the implementation of recommendations in the Governor’s Committee on Education Excellence report.
Those initiatives relate to narrowing the quality gap between teachers and administrators, improving the quality and expanding the supply of new teacher candidates, promoting efficiency in recruitment and training efforts, implementing a comprehensive pre-school package, and targeting the expansion of full-day kindergarten, among others.
Download Resolution: Recommendations of Governor's Committee on Education Excellence
Partnership board receives update on Valley telehealth project
The six sites that are part of the Valley Telehealth Partnership (VTP), a project that will improve local access to medical specialists, are being connected and equipped and should be fully operational in the coming weeks, according to a UC Merced official who is overseeing the project.
Maria Pallavicini, UC Merced’s vice provost for health sciences and dean of Natural Sciences, also said each site is developing its own program based on the needs and character of the organization.
The initial six partnering sites are Castle Family Health Centers in Atwater, Mercy Medical Family Care Clinic in Merced, National Health Services in Oildale (Kern County), San Joaquin General Hospital in French Camp, Sierra Kings District Hospital in Reedley, and United Health Center in Kerman.
Using high-resolution video equipment provided by the VTP, sites will be able to access specialists for real-time video consultations with patients. Specialties will include dermatology, psychiatry, pediatric specialties, endocrinology, gastroenterology and many others.
The six initial sites are at the forefront of what is expected to become a larger regional project that will use telemedicine technologies to connect patients and physicians in some of the Valley's most rural and underserved communities with medical specialists whose services are often unavailable in these areas.
The Valley Telehealth Partnership has received funding from the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, AT&T, the California Emerging Technology Fund, and Proposition 1D funds.
Partnership to co-sponsor
educational exemplary practices conference
The Central Valley Educational Leadership Institute, in cooperation with the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley and County Offices of Education in the Valley, will hold a conference focusing on regional exemplary practices in PreK-12 education in Fresno in January.
The full-day conference, “Exemplary Practices: Achievement Gains in the San Joaquin Valley,” will be held on the California State University, Fresno, campus on Jan. 13.
The focus of the groundbreaking conference will be these Valley priorities: English learners, developing a college-going culture, career education for workforce needs, and pre-kindergarten.
Breakout sessions will highlight Valley schools, districts, collaboratives, and programs that are making a difference in the Valley’s priority areas.
Dr. Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana, superintendent of the Pomona Unified School District, and Dr. James Lanich, executive director for Just for the Kids-California and president of California Business for Education Excellence, are the keynote speakers.
The Central Valley Educational Leadership Institute serves as consultant to the Partnership’s PreK-12 Education Work Group.
Save the Date: Exemplary Practices in Education
Conference details and registration information will be announced soon.
Annual summit/board meeting set for Stockton in December
The California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley’s annual summit, which will feature the release of the Partnership’s annual report, will be held in Stockton on Thursday, Dec. 11.
The Partnership’s board of directors will hold its quarterly meeting the next day, Friday, Dec. 12, also in Stockton.
Partnership to help with planning of
regional economic development strategy
The California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley will serve as an interim planning committee for a study of a comprehensive regional economic development strategy as a result of action taken by the Partnership’s Board of Directors at its Sept. 12 quarterly meeting.
The Merced County Economic Development Corporation has received funding from the Economic Development Administration to consider formulating a San Joaquin Valley Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) and a new Economic Development District (EDD). The CEDS and EDD are expected to facilitate new federal funding to Valley communities and identify regional priorities, projects and initiatives.
The Central California Economic Development Corporation has agreed to undertake the project, with Merced County Economic Development Corporation serving as the lead.
The Partnership will serve as interim planning committee as the Central California Economic Development Corporation completes the study and identifies the preferred method for governing the EDD in the future.
Weekly radio show focuses on Partnership work group efforts
The Maddy Forum, a new 30-minute weekly public affairs radio program, is highlighting the efforts of the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley’s 10 work groups.
The initial show, broadcast on Sept. 20-21, focused on the work of the Air Quality Work Group. On Sept. 27-28, the work of the Water Quality, Supply and Reliability Work Group will be featured. Other Partnership work groups will be highlighted in the coming weeks.
Mark Keppler, executive director of the Maddy Institute at Fresno State, introduces each program. Partnership Communications Director Michael Lukens serves as the program host.
The Maddy Forum airs on the campus radio station at California State University, Fresno – 90.7 KFSR – Saturdays at 1 p.m. and Sundays at 11 a.m. All programs will be archived and available as a podcast, and on-demand streaming audit through the Maddy Institute and KFSR Web sites.
The Maddy Institute mission includes providing nonpartisan, interdisciplinary and fact-driven analysis of public policy issues impacting our region and state.
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