by Roo Cantada, SJR Action Community Team Member

We are excited to announce the formation of the SJR Community Action Team or SJR ACT, a group dedicated to solving Ridge issues and addressing community concerns by partnering with the agencies that are best suited to assist, giving them some additional on-the-ground local contacts, and information sharing in hopes of further supporting our FRC. The SJR ACT is currently comprised of concerned community members, and principals of Ridge non-profits, business owners, and service agencies. Six meetings have been held beginning mid-fall and the wheels have been set in motion. The meetings have been two-fold; one town-hall style workshop where everyone present has a forum to speak, and one with just the heads of organizations where we address the concerns brought to our attention at the town hall. Many issues have been discussed and listed out for all to see at consecutive meetings. After studying the daunting list, citizens prioritized three issues to start:  1. Homelessness; 2. Public Transportation; 3. Substance Abuse. Members of SJR ACT formed sub-committees and began to make plans.

The Homelessness Sub-committee, headed up by Tom Hobbs, has been making lots of connections and working on bringing the county up to date on our needs in this area. Tom has also reached out to staff at Hospitality House and Sierra Roots as well as Jeffrey Dupra at County and came up some interesting ideas, including a ridge homeless shelter or free housing. Jeffrey visits NSJ at least monthly during Food Bank distribution (your easy opportunity to get to know him). “Building Bridges” a Nevada County Homeless program established this past year has expressed a desire to meet with Tom and his sub-committee.  We will keep you posted! In the meantime – if you have a need - Nevada County's “Coordinated Entry System” launched on January 23rd, 2018. People experiencing homelessness can call 2-1-1 to be placed on a centralized list assisting the most vulnerable individuals and families as housing resources become available.

The Transportation Sub-committee, headed up by Roo Cantada, met with Transportation Commissioner Tricia Tillerson, Transit Manager Robin VanValkenburg and Dan Landon, Executive Director of the NC Transportation Commission. The tone of the meeting was hopeful and we asked a lot of questions.  Our focus is re-establishing a daily route to NC/GV area and finding a way to have a local route as well.

Pat Leach, a NSJ Fire Board member, has been instrumental in facilitating all the meetings as well as interfacing with the County. She organized a meeting with our current Supervisor Hank Weston and potential incoming Supervisor, Sue Hoek in January with 19 local business and service organizations and continues inform us on local issues impacting our community such as a grant for a targeted substance abuse program being sought by GVPD, in partnership with Dignity Health, CoRR and Western Sierra Medical Clinic for the 95945 and 95960 areas. We are confident that SJR ACT will get things done and hope you join us on this journey!  The SJR ACT meets monthly (mostly) and our meetings are all inclusive. Our next meeting is slated for end of March. Find us on FaceBook or contact Pat Leach at pat.sjract@gmail.com or Roo Cantada at roocantada@yahoo.com for more information.