A Well-Oiled Machine: Training for Your Leaders with DOVIA
SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - The Directors of Volunteers in Agencies (DOVIA) Sacramento provides a great deal of training for the leaders of volunteerism, fulfilling a unique need in the sector of those managing volunteer organizations or just managing the volunteers themselves. Communications Chair of DOVIA Sacramento, Jacqueline Ramirez, explains, “All of the programs and events provide individuals an opportunity to develop the skills, knowledge, and abilities to improve operations at the organizations they serve.” The success of training those in charge of volunteerism is shown through the individual and organizational membership from DOVIA Sacramento. Since 1978, DOVIA Sacramento has equipped its members with proficiency tailored to their needs.
Would you like to provide leadership that increases volunteerism and brings in more volunteers while keeping the ones you have? DOVIA Sacramento can fulfill those needs through its vast array of services. DOVIA Sacramento believes when those responsible for volunteer programs are operating at their best, their own volunteers are able to thrive to make a difference whenever and wherever they are needed. This is why DOVIA Sacramento focuses on providing extensive education to directors and coordinators of volunteers bringing experts, speaking engagements, networking, and even expanding their members’ career opportunities through awards, scholarships, and mentorship.
Benefits to membership involve a range of areas such as: “trends, procedures, and protocols for volunteers, collaborative idea exchange, sector research, volunteer management training, access to ALIVE Academy workshops, a learning network with educational sessions that can be in-person or virtually, and membership mentoring from regional non-profit experts.”
From these services, DOVIA Sacramento can reveal how your organization and its leadership will be able to serve more people within its sphere of influence with greater efficacy and efficiency from its volunteers. DOVIA Sacramento’s dedication to its members has involved a vast spectrum of educational events including: “Finding Your Hidden Volunteer Opportunities,” “Strategies for Attracting Today’s Volunteers,” “Practical Tips for Volunteer Retention,” “A Mark of Excellence: Competencies and Credentialing for Volunteer Engagement Professionals,” “Problem? Solution! Leveraging Peers to Advance Your Creative Volunteer Action Plan,” “Volunteers and the Law: Myths and Misconceptions,” “Building and Sustaining Strong Volunteer Leadership,” plus many more!
To look at their events page, go to https://doviasacramento.org/Events Meet DOVIA Sacramento in person. The next event is called, “Let’s Get Social in April: Meet Up With DOVIA,” is 4/13/23 from 5:00-7:00pm at the Urban Roots Brewery and Smokehouse 1322 V Street Sacramento, CA 95818. Let DOVIA Sacramento help your organization operate as a well-oiled machine! You can get started today by checking out multiple membership plans and learn more about DOVIA Sacramento online at: https://www.doviasacramento.org/About
RiverBells Sacramento Presents “Spring Ring” Concert
SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - Sacramento’s hand bell choir, RiverBells, presents “Spring Ring,” Saturday, April 1st at Centennial United Methodist Church in Sacramento. The event includes mass ringing, workshops and a concert.
Included in River Bells’ workshop and performance will be Processional and Joyful Dance by Margaret R. Tucker, Calypso on “He Leadeth Me,” by William Bradbury, Celtic Farewell by Linda Lamb, and Siyahamba, a Zulu folk song, arranged by Robert J. Ward.
Composed of inspirational musicians and skillful performers, the artists behind RiverBells Sacramento have earned their reputation as a talented group to look out for. They continue to touch fans around the region with their distinct and enjoyable musical style.
Founded in 1998, RiverBells is a professional-quality, community English handbell ensemble sponsored in part by the Elk Grove Unified School District and located in the south Sacramento area. RiverBells consists of about fifteen ringers, several of whom are directors of other handbell ensembles. The group performs with six octaves of Schulmerich handbells and six octaves of Malmark choir chimes.
The workshop starts at 8:00 a.m. The concert starts at 3:00 p.m. For the workshop, there is a registration fee of $20.00 per ringer/$200.00 Max. The public concert that follows is free. Payments can be made online at www.riverbells.org or at the door on the day of the event.
Come join RiverBells on Saturday, April 1st, at Centennial United Methodist Church, 5401 Freeport Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95822, USA.
Uniting for Women’s Day
CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - The Together Women Rise (TWR) organization celebrated International Women’s Day in Carmichael on Saturday, March 11.
Sacramento, Rancho Cordova and Placerville Chapters of the national movement hosted a gathering at Carmichael Presbyterian Church. More than 100 supporters attended. The 20-year-old group seeks gender equality and funds grants to nonprofits that empower women in developing countries.
With more than 400 chapters, the sisterhood is among the largest giving circles in the USA.
Members lunched, networked and experienced cultural displays. Featured grant recipient at the event was a group called Too Young to Wed. The Kenyan nonprofit – that advocates for girls pressured into early marriages – recently received a $50,000 grant through Together Women Rise.
“Our celebration was a huge success,” said Rancho Cordova Chapter leader Ingrid Rosten. “We brought together women from across our communities. We learned, we nurtured and we celebrated.”
Learn about Together Women rise at www.togetherwomenrise.org.
Bits and Bobs at Button Bazaar
CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - A mini world of vintage glamor was unfastened during Sacramento Button Club’s recent expo at La Sierra Community Center.
Dealers from all over the West Coast and Nevada – one even from Texas – offered specimens from an industry that has been securing seams since mammoth bone toggles. Exhibits included fasteners tooled for fashionistas from ancient China to contemporary Paris. Despite all-day rain, the Button Bazaar – held every two years in Carmichael – attracted almost 200 visitors.
“Many people brought their own buttons for appraisal,” said club member and appraiser Janelle Giles, “We saw rare miniature paintings on ivory under glass and lots of 1930s era (arts and crafts) works.
“People came in with items from garage sales. Some were wow, scarce. A Carmichael lady brought boxes of buttons she inherited. Many were treasures. It goes to show: you never know what might be in the old sewing box.”
Sacramento Button Club meets once a month in Woodland and welcomes new members. Learn about the group on Facebook or call (530) 400 0786.
Sheriff Jim Cooper is Tough on Crime
RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - The March Rancho Cordova Luncheon featured Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper, who presented his talk to a packed room at City Hall. Though born in France – his father was in the Air Force – Cooper was raised in Rancho Cordova. “I went to Cordova Gardens, Mills, and Cordova High School, my brothers and sisters all went to Cordova, we’re all a Cordova product.” He played football at Cordova High. “When you have great coaching, interact with great people, they inspire you and make you want to do great things, they really give you that gumption.” He lived in Rancho Cordova until 1989, when his work as an undercover agent took him to Elk Grove.
Cooper said that in his youth he never thought of being a cop but after talking with some off-duty deputy sheriffs, he thought they were “pretty cool,” and they told him he should take the test. “So, I take the test,” Cooper said, “and boom! I’m there for the next 30 years.”
Cooper was elected in 2022 as Sacramento County’s 37th sheriff. In her introduction of Cooper, Shelly Blanchard, executive director of Cordova Community Council, pointed out that he achieved the rank of Captain, earned a bronze star for his role in the 1991 Good Guys hostage crisis. He was the Sheriff’s Department spokesman for four years, he was the first mayor of Elk Grove and a city councilman there for 15 years. In 2014 he joined the California State Legislature as an assemblyman, representing District 9 for nearly a decade.
“We’re excited to have Sheriff Cooper as our Sheriff,” said Rancho Cordova Chief of Police Brandon Luke. “Even more important for the City of Rancho, we’re excited to have him as a connection . . . and the continued support that he provides for the City and the Police Department.”
The number one issue, Cooper said, is homelessness. “A big percentage are mentally ill. If you’re mentally ill you can’t make decisions to help yourself.” Some are on drugs, “the hardest thing to get off of,” Cooper said, pointing out the difficulty in getting treatment. “You need to have a job to have any benefits. If you don’t have any of that, you’re screwed.” He spoke of the murders in the homeless camps, homeless on homeless, sexual assaults, drug dealing. “Because of COVID and just before that, law enforcement’s been kind of hands off on homeless communities. The big issue was, if you really engaged anything with the homeless, then if you aren’t helping them, then obviously you’re ‘anti-homeless’. There’s a lot of ‘anti rhetoric’ going on, ‘anti anything’. It’s not being anti. If you want help, we’re going to help you. If you don’t want help, we’re going to deal with you and help you, make you want to get help, that’s really what it comes down to.”
“You know what the issues are,” Cooper said. Besides homelessness, the results of Proposition 47 have been devastating. “You can go to the store, and as long as you steal below $950 you can do that all day every day and not go to jail,” Cooper said. While in the legislature, Cooper introduced a bill to reverse that. “A bunch of groups gave money and the measure got beat, it was called Prop 20 that you guys voted on in 2020.”
Early release of seriously violent inmates is an issue. “In California what is not considered a serious or violent crime is raping and drugging a woman . . . drive-by shootings, entrapping of a child. If I stab you or beat you with a baseball bat or a golf club – those are all considered non-violent crimes. You’re eligible for early release. You try to deal with trying to change that . . . instead of getting out early, let’s just do your time.”
“So, yeah, I’m kind of a tough on crime guy,” Cooper said. “Really what it is, just not to be afraid to do what’s right, going against the grain sometimes.”
Cooper made many important points about the serious crimes and issues plaguing the community. None of them are easy fixes, but what he said in answer to a question about education could also be applied to criminal justice. “Degrees are great, to improve yourself,” Cooper said, “but I would rather have someone with common sense than an armful of degrees. That’s what it comes down to is having common sense and being a reasonable person.”
Of all the things in his life that affected where he would end up, Cooper said, “The big one is my foundation . . . growing up here in Rancho Cordova. Without that I would not be where I am or have done some things I did; but I’m a Lancer – I’m a Lancer for Life.”
SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - Californians may finally get some answers on how the state and local communities have spent billions on the homelessness crisis in the last five years.
Senator Roger Niello and his colleagues Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, Assemblymembers Josh Hoover and Evan Low joined Senator Dave Cortese in winning a request to audit billions of dollars California has spent on addressing the homelessness crisis from the Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC).
Earlier today, members of JLAC unanimously approved the audit request. The audit will examine how the state and cities have spent state, federal, and local dollars and how effective the money spent has been to date.
“Homelessness is the most urgent issue facing California,” said Senator Niello. “Given the crisis has only worsened, we need to know what the money has accomplished and what programs have been effective in moving people to permanent housing.”
“This is a good start,” said Senator Ochoa Bogh. “California Legislative Republicans have been calling for accountability to homeless spending for several years. This will begin to give taxpayers an idea of how these dollars have been spent on a crisis that has only gotten worse.”
California has spent more than $20 billion over the last five years on homelessness and has seen the population of unhoused in this state explode to more than 172,000.
The governor announced earlier this month that he plans to spend another $1 billion of taxpayer dollars with a hope of reducing the homeless population by a 15 percent by 2025.
Elected in 2022, Senator Niello represents California Senate District 6, which covers portions of Placer and Sacramento and Sutter and Yuba counties.
California’s Snowpack Shows Huge Gains from Recent Storms
SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - The Department of Water Resources (DWR) conducted the third snow survey of the season at Phillips Station. The manual survey recorded 116.5 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 41.5 inches, which is 177 percent of average for this location on March 3. The snow water equivalent measures the amount of water contained in the snowpack and is a key component of DWR’s water supply forecast. DWR’s electronic readings from 130 snow sensors placed throughout the state indicate the statewide snowpack’s snow water equivalent is 44.7 inches, or 190 percent of average for this date.
“Thankfully the recent storms combined with the January atmospheric rivers have contributed to an above-average snowpack that will help fill some of the state’s reservoirs and maximize groundwater recharge efforts. But the benefits vary by region, and the Northern Sierra, home to the state’s largest reservoir Lake Shasta, is lagging behind the rest of the Sierra,” DWR Director Karla Nemeth said. “It will also take more than one good year to begin recovery of the state’s groundwater basins.”
Although the statewide snowpack is currently just behind the record snow year of 1982-83, the snowpack varies considerably by region. The Southern Sierra snowpack is currently 209 percent of its April 1 average, and the Central Sierra is at 175 percent of its April 1 average. However, the critical Northern Sierra, where the state’s largest surface water reservoirs are located, is at 136 percent of its April 1 average. With one month of the traditional wet season remaining, DWR is providing updated runoff forecasts to water managers and is closely monitoring spring runoff scenarios and river flows to ensure the most water supply benefits from this year’s snowpack while balancing the need for flood control.
“The recent storms over the past week broke a month-long dry spell in a dramatic way,” said DWR’s Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Unit Manager Sean de Guzman. “We are hopeful that we will see more cold storms to add to our snowpack for the next month and help set up a long, slow melt period into spring.
To ensure water supply managers have the most current forecasts of snowpack runoff, DWR is utilizing the best available technology to collect the most accurate snow measurements. DWR’s Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Unit is utilizing Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO) surveys across 12 of California’s major snow-producing watersheds to collect data on the snowpack’s density, depth, reflectiveness, and other factors down to a 3-meter resolution. These flights, which utilize LiDAR and imaging spectrometer technology, provide DWR with more information on water content than ever before, which is then fed into advanced physically based and spatially explicit models to generate the most accurate water supply runoff forecasts possible. These forecasts are used to develop the Bulletin 120 for forecasted spring run-off to determine water allocation and stream flows for the benefit of the environment.
While winter storms have helped the snowpack and reservoirs, groundwater basins are much slower to recover. Many rural areas are still experiencing water supply challenges, especially communities that rely on groundwater supplies which have been depleted due to prolonged drought. It will take more than a single wet year for groundwater levels to substantially improve at a statewide scale. Drought impacts also vary by location and drought recovery will need to be evaluated on a regional scale and will depend on local water supply conditions.
On February 13, Governor Newsom issued an Executive Order directing state agencies to review and provide recommendations on the state’s drought response actions by the end of April, including the possibility of terminating specific emergency provisions that are no longer needed, once there is greater clarity about the hydrologic conditions this year.
Californians should still continue to use water wisely so that we can have a thriving economy, community, and environment. DWR encourages Californians to visit SaveOurWater.com for water saving tips and information as more swings between wet and dry conditions will continue in the future.
DWR conducts five media-oriented snow surveys at Phillips Station each winter near the first of each month, January through April and, if necessary, May. The next survey is tentatively scheduled for April 3.