In 2012, the “Vision 2022” Listening Sessions were held by the Community Foundation for San Benito County and it was asking residents to express their thoughts about what the county needed and what it could do better. Over 500 county residents attended the sessions over several months.
Following input from the 2012 event, which was hosted by the Community Foundation for San Benito County, three local organizations were formed; the nonprofit BenitoLink news organization, the Community Foundation for San Benito Women’s Fund and REACH: San Benito Parks Foundation.
This summer BenitoLink will reconvene with the Community Vision San Benito County sessions to capture local perspectives on what issues residents currently face and identify ways to improve the quality of life in the county.
Community Vision San Benito County is designed to encourage participation among a wide array of residents to redefine shared, yet diverse community priorities and pare-down goals for the next 10 years.
Valerie Egland, executive director of REACH said the event she attended in 2012 was very inspiring and motivational. Following this event and with support of the county’s Parks and Recreation Commission, she began putting the nonprofit parks organization into place. “The board members are the conveners for the people and parks,” she said.
Linda Smith, a member of the Women’s Fund since its inception, said when the organization first formed, they did their own listening sessions with women of all demographics, including 20-30 youth, to see what direction they wanted to go. The fund has offered education sessions in many areas including financial guidance to women in the county and provided grants to groups such as Girls’ Inc. The Women’s Fund has also helped women who have been victims of domestic abuse.
“I have been honored to be a member of this,” Smith said. “The group does an excellent job of listening to women. During the pandemic they held online listening sessions for any woman who wanted to join. What they found was both parents were working, but women were doing most of the childcare and housework. Smith said that just talking about it helped the women a lot.
Damon Felice, a convener during the 2012 sessions and owner of Felice Consulting said about his participation, “It was one of my first experiences getting engaged in the community, which catapulted me into getting more involved.” He’s been on various nonprofit boards and is an active volunteer for different organizations in the county.
The first Community Vision San Benito County sessions were held in 2011 and 2012 by the Community Foundation for San Benito County (CFFSBC) and it was funded with the help of the Calhoun and Christiano Family Fund. The need for trusted, local nonprofit news was identified as a critical need for the residents. BenitoLink, a project of CFFSBC and funded through the Knight Foundation, was created as a result of this identified community need.
Some of the topics to be covered in Community Vision San Benito County: Housing, Agriculture, Recreation, Land Use/Environment, Public Safety, and Education. There will be 1-2 listening sessions held in Spanish for a Spanish-speaking community members.
The first meeting, scheduled for June 22, will be a meeting of conveners and will be held at the Epicenter Center in Hollister at noon. BenitoLink will publish information on future sessions as they are scheduled. BenitoLink is hosting Community Vision San Benito County 2022-23 and if thankful for the local support of the Community Foundation for San Benito County and Calhoun and Christiano Family Fund.
See interest form here or scan QR Code.
