Home
Focus Areas
About Us
"California has a unique opportunity to further its efforts to build a'regions' approach to development that brings together goals surrounding economy, equity, and environment," says Ashley Swearengin, former mayor of Fresno and current president and CEO of the Central Valley Community Foundation, per the Public Policy Initiative of California.
That means investing in rural parts of the state, she says, "actually means a brighter future for other parts of the state."
That's why the Little Hoover Commission is applauding Gov.
Gavin Newsom's $600 million Regional Investment Initiative, launched in 2021 to support regional economic development efforts.
The initiative "offered a tremendous opportunity for the state to strengthen and expand existing grassroots coalitions and accelerate more inclusive and sustainable regional economic growth," the commission found in a November 2022 report, per the Fresno Bee.
But the commission also found that the initiative suffered from challenges, including balancing among different outcome goals, ensuring that regions receive the scale of investment necessary to change their economic trajectories, and coordinating the range of state programs that can support inclusive regional economic development.
In its report, the commission also recommended that the state better support regions as they seek to execute economic development strategies, such as focusing on industries with high growth potential and connecting members of disadvantaged communities with the quality Read the Entire Article
Selected Grant News Headlines
A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.
A Canadian university is preparing to open what it says will be the country's first "clean plant farm"a greenhouse-free operation where grapevines will be grown to make wine, the BBC...more
The New York Climate Exchange is putting its money where its mouth is. The nonprofit is holding its first-ever AI Innovation Challenge, and it's looking for students to come up with solutions to...more
Three young entrepreneurs in Nigeria have won $32,500 for their clean-tech solutions to climate-related problems, the Guardian reports. Schrodinger Tech, Givo Africa, and E-Sam Energy Solutions...more
Scientists at the California Institute of Technology think they've figured out a way to turn jellyfish into ocean researchers, the Los Angeles Times reports. They're working on a "go-faster cap"...more
"We are grappling with uncertainty about how to deal with yearly floods," says a 55-year-old resident of Pakistan's Shikarpur. "My home has been destroyed, cattle drowned, and yearly crops...more
Women, children, and adolescents in low-income and middle-income countries are some of the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and they're going to bear the worst of it, even if they...more
If you're in the business of using artificial intelligence to improve your products and services, you may want to check out a new company called Future Works. It's a merger of two tech companies...more
A team of researchers at the University of Utah is reporting in the journal Energy & Environmental Science that it has developed a new type of battery that could someday power a wide range of...more
corks aren't just good for the environment, they're good for your wallet, too. Portugal's leading cork company says its trees can capture 73 pounds of carbon dioxide for every kilogram of cork...more
"We are so used to being almost permanently online that we don't really appreciate what we have and do not really know what to do when we're not," Joni Mitchell wrote in her 1970s song "Big Yellow...more
Social Entrepreneurship
Spotlight
Social Enterprise Pushes Continuity of Care and Home Births
The Neighbourhood Midwives, the brainchild of Annie Francis of Hampshire, offers midwifery services geared for the continuity of care to women and their families.
