June 6th and 7th marked the end of the 2019 UnTapped Fellowship for the WELLos. They visited Sacramento to meet with their State Legislators and discuss the Legislative Water Workshops project, for which they will co-sponsor, along with WELL and State officials, a one-day workshop to examine water challenges in their regions.
On Thursday June 6th, the WELLos met with State Legislators Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (AD-4), Rudy Salas (AD-32), Anthony Rendon (AD-63), Anna Caballero (SD-12), and Steve Glazer (SD-7).
They discussed the opportunity to cosponsor a local water workshop with other elected officials in their Districts to examine local water challenges and action plans. These workshops will take place in the fall and will culminate in an in-depth evaluation of regional water issues for California.
That same day, WELL hosted a graduation ceremony to honor the time and dedication the UnTapped Fellows have given to learning about water governance, challenges, science, finance, and infrastructure throughout the state. Additionally, they have developed leadership and interpersonal skills to make a lasting impact on California water policy.
During the ceremony, they welcomed guest speaker Marc Grossman from the Cesar Chavez Foundation, who spoke about the history behind organizing farm workers in California and the importance of staying in touch with affected communities when designing policy. He also mentioned parallels between the United Farm Workers’ strategies to train farmworkers in California and WELL’s efforts to educate Latino elected officials on state water issues.
The following day, WELLos embarked on a tour of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta sponsored by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). They learned about the complexities behind managing such a vital water source and heard from speakers Jonas Minton, from the Planning and Conservation League; Mike Moran, Supervising Naturalist at the Big Break Regional Shoreline; as well as MWD’s Delta expert, Curt Schmutte; and Inspection Trip Manager, Al Mendez.
Congratulations, WELLos!
To learn more about the UnTapped Fellowship and apply to be part of the 2020 cohort, please visit latinosforwater.org/UnTapped.
#Latinos4Water #WELLos2019
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