RCRA Success Stories

Improve the health care and the housing infrastructure for living in the region

  • 2001 Open Door Telemedicine Center Opened- expanded access for the region’s population to specialists.
  • 2002 CA Center for Rural Policy created at HSU to support regional decision making with quality data. The center launched with a focus on health data. (CCRP creation story)
  • 2003 General Plan Deliberative Dialogues- first process designed to engage community leaders in conversations about the update of the General Plan. While this effort was undermined by the politics in Humboldt County, it raised awareness among community members of what was at stake in the plan update process.
  • 2013 Imagine Humboldt- One of the first CalTrans funded Blueprint projects—a county-wide planning process creating a vision for the development of Humboldt County in 2050.
  • 2015 Expansion of Open Door Community Health Centers- local capital mobilized to assure that Open Door could create new facilities in Fortuna, Eureka and Arcata assuring access to quality care in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties.

Build the economic base and employment/workforce of the region

  • 2007 Targets of Opportunity- Expansion of the industry cluster focused economic strategy called Prosperity to include a greater region including Del Norte, Trinity, Siskiyou, Trinity and Mendocino.
  • 2008 Redwood Coast Connect- regional supply-demand study funded by CA Emerging Technology Foundation. Began efforts to get all communities in the RCRA region covered by broadband.
  • 2012 Cross county matrix of projects identified by industry clusters for inclusion in to the 2012 update of Targets of Opportunity
  • 2014 Regional Assessment of Health Careers Pathway activities

Increase the economic success of the region’s poor and working families

  • 2002 Rio Del Tomorrow- community based effort to build community cohesion and the economy in Rio Dell.
  • 2010 Building Healthy Communities- Del Norte County was chosen as one of 14 places in CA to get a 10 year funding commitment from The California Endowment to support reducing of health and other disparities in the county.

Attend to natural resource care & use by the region

  • 2007 Usal Redwood Forest, Inc -Purchase of the 50,000 acre conifer forest in Mendocino County by Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc. as a community owned forest creating long term jobs in the woods and profits reinvested in the community, improving habitat for fish and wildlife, addressing climate change and providing spiritual, cultural and recreational use of the land.
  • 2010 Redwood Futures Conference at Humboldt State University consisted of discussions of the future of our regions and the redwood forests. A call to action was presented, much like the Marshall plan, for the restoration of the redwood forest.

Amplify our rural voice at state and national policy tables

  • 2005 Rural Economic Vitality Conversations –provided a briefing for CA cabinet secretaries in rural economies and the policies that would support the future vitality of rural regions.
  • 2012 & 2014—regional policy forums to identify key regional issues to inform the policy platform development for CA Economic Summits.
  • 2009 – 2014 National Rural Assembly Transportation Working Group- development of rural perspective to the reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Act.