2017 County Innovation Videos & Blogs

The Los Angeles County Public Works office building in the City of Alhambra stands out ominously against the surrounding cityscape. Its stark, blue-tinted windows exemplify the symmetry and seamlessness of the building’s cube shape. Outside, along one side of the building, another project stands out – but in a different way than the structure that looms overhead. Brilliant colors from blooming flowers and plants are abundant; you can hear the buzzing of bees and smell numerous fragrances.

It’s a demonstration garden displaying how organic (food) waste can be recycled; and it’s a living example of the County’s ambitious “Roadmap to a Sustainable Waste Management Future.” 

“The world is full of complex social problems for which no reliable, cost-effective solutions have been found. Homelessness is not one of them.”

– Rosanne Haggerty (President & CEO, Community Solutions)

That quote is becoming somewhat of a motto in Santa Barbara County among those engaged in the quest to reduce homelessness. And in Santa Barbara County, that motto has come alive through the creation of a unique collaborative among numerous local government, nonprofit, private sector, faith-based organizations, as well as numerous other stakeholders.

n a small commercial building in Red Bluff that has been transformed into a workshop, 20 people are creating handmade locally designed products and recreating their own futures at the same time. This is Washington Street Productions, a Welfare-to-Work program created cooperatively by the Tehama County Department of Social Services and the local Workforce Investment Agency, Job Training Center—a CalWORKS provider.

San Diego County’s emergency website, ReadySanDiego.org, has information on a wide variety of natural disasters that could result in large-scale evacuations, such as an earthquake, tsunami, fire, or flooding; there are also man-made crises, like gas leaks or terrorism. The County and its cities work to prepare for such disasters – and now have a new tool to assist in their emergency response: a series of informative videos that provide first responders training on evacuating individuals with physical, cognitive and emotional disabilities.

Libraries are designed to be calm, inviting places. So it wasn’t really a surprise when the Butte County library staff noticed that some of their “regulars” were using library branches for respite centers, safe places where they could escape the heat of summer or the cold of winter. And for some of them, suffering with mental illness, the Butte County libraries became places to try to escape their internal struggles for a little while.

A few years ago, Plumas County was implementing a plan to improve public health, but like many counties it was short on funds. So Mimi Hall, the Plumas County Public Health Director, started with the idea that if they maximized their existing assets and people, they could improve the health and wellbeing of their 20,000 residents without spending any more money. That remains the premise of the 20,000 Lives initiative. They restructured the way they deliver health services—and in doing so, fostered a level of cooperation, communication and coordination among county departments and throughout the community that is helping people live healthier happier lives.