Action Pajaro Valley is a nonprofit organization based in Watsonville.
A snapshot of our region today tells us we are made up of over
150 square miles of working farms and ranches, businesses and
residential areas encompassing the City of Watsonville, and parts of
Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, with a distinct environmental,
social and economic identity and over 87,000 people from all walks
of life. In the short time since we've started, Action Pajaro Valley
has already served over 3,000 people in our community.
Members of the community working together in Action Pajaro Valley
have reached significant milestones including:
- Enacting a "Vision Process" for the region
- Facilitating discussion of water supply alternatives
for the Valley
- Hosting over 30 Community Educational Forums
- Developing a Growth Management Strategy, and
- Successfully educating the public about Measure U, the Orderly
Growth Initiative that passed within the City of Watsonville.
- Facilitating the Pajaro River Task Force and technical Stream Team, comprised of a board range of community stakeholders, toward a consensus agreement on the Pajaro River Flood Protection Levee Reconstruction Project
Action Pajaro Valley's successes are due largely to community
members coming together to fulfill the mission of the organization.
These early efforts have been generously funded by grants primarily
from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation and the James
Irvine Foundation. These well-known leaders in the foundation
community felt it was critically important to establish an organization
like Action Pajaro Valley to find new ways to address the many
challenges of a growing community. We've been privileged to enjoy
their "vote of confidence" in our organization and our region.
Now, Action Pajaro Valley has broadened its efforts and is currently
engaged in several programs including the implementation of a growth
strategy for the region, Pajaro flood protection efforts and
community education forums focused on improving the quality of
life in the Valley.
In 1998, members of the Pajaro Valley community agreed to come together
in an attempt to move beyond the conflict and lack of coordination between
the region's diverse interests. A group of residents, including business,
agricultural, environmental, local government, labor, education, health,
and others formed Action Pajaro Valley (APV), a non-profit organization,
in 1999. Lisa Dobbins as APV's new Executive Director led the organization
through a series of milestones.
In 2000, Action Pajaro Valley synthesized the results of its extensive
community outreach effort that involved over 1,200 residents of
the Valley. The result, The Vision Document, contains a broad,
inclusive and diverse set of ideas and priorities designed to guide
the Valley into the future. In order to describe the environmental,
social and economic identity of this unique sub-watershed planning
area within the Monterey Bay region, APV compiled data into a report
titled Pajaro Valley At A Glance. It provides a basic foundation of
information on the major trends and issues affecting the communities
of the Valley.
From 2000 to 2004, Action Pajaro Valley focused on serving
as the neutral facilitator to provide information and
get people to the table. Action Pajaro Valley hosted
over 30 educational forums on issues ranging from groundwater
to transportation to affordable housing. The goal of
the series was to inform the public in specific areas
as they take action on local issues and to provide information
to inspire creative thinking and dialogue about the
future. APV educated the community about the Measure
U, the Orderly Growth Initiative that passed within
the City of Watsonville.
In May 2003, Action Pajaro Valley picked up where a previous stakeholder effort left off when it created the Pajaro River Task Force and technical Stream Team. The goal is addressing Pajaro River levee reconstruction and maintenance issues facing residents of the Pajaro Valley.
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Action Pajaro Valley
"Action Pajaro Valley is shaping the future of the Pajaro Valley.
People from all walks of life are coming together to discuss, debate
and ultimately reach agreement on a long-term plan for our
community, a vision for what their neighborhoods, workplaces
and local landscapes will look like in the future."
- Carlos Palacios, Watsonville City Manager & APV Co-Chair