Ventura County Civic Alliance

The mission of the Ventura County Civic Alliance is to promote a healthy and
sustainable future for the Ventura County region. The Alliance is a
coalition of civic leaders with a shared commitment to bringing the
economic, environmental and social equity interests of our region together
to address priority community issues, increase civic engagement, and build
community leadership.

Description:
Core Principles and Values. The Alliance holds a set of core beliefs that guide its mission: regional sustainability, open dialog, boundary crossing and collaboration, evenhandedness, community building and consensus decision-making. The Alliance promotes an approach that engages and encourages cooperative action. We bring together residents and civic organizations to explore options and find integrated solutions to the complex economic, environmental, and social challenges of our region.

The Alliance plays a variety of community roles, including being a neutral convener and facilitator of regional forums, a think tank for policy development and objective, fact-based research, and a leader, organizer or catalyst of strategic initiatives. In every case, we are a vigorous champion of regional stewardship, of balancing the “3Es” of sustainable community (economic viability, environmental health, and social equity), and of striving for the broadest possible representation and engagement in public policy discourse.

Alliance Projects. Our products include the 2002 State of the Region indicators study, our 2004 study of regional growth plans, Connecting the Dots on Growth and Sustainability: What Do Current trends Mean for Ventura County? and in 2005 Connecting the Dots II: The Call to Action – Strategies for Our Future, a series of white papers outlining key strategies for moving Ventura County toward a more sustainable future. We are currently pursuing two major initiatives that grew out of the Connecting the Dots project.

The Livable Communities Initiative has two major components. First, we aim to work with community leaders and local governments to launch a process for community dialog and consensus-building on a vision and blueprint for the county’s future, culminating in development of a Compact for a Sustainable Ventura County. Second, in parallel with this longer-term effort, we are working with local governments and civic groups to increase understanding and support for integrating livable community principles into current land use and development decisions.

Our Workforce Initiative seeks to build support across the “3E” communities for effective workforce education programs, particularly targeting key at-risk groups: youth, immigrants, displaced workers, and the underemployed. Our ultimate aim is to promote integrated economic and workforce development strategies that support community growth and sustainability goals and that offer all residents the opportunity to achieve a good quality of life for themselves and their families.

Organizational Structure and Leadership. The Alliance is a community-based initiative of the Ventura County Community Foundation, funded by foundation and government grants and contributions from local individuals and institutions through our 3E Civic Alliance Partners fund. The Alliance is composed of civic and business leaders from a broad and diverse cross-section of Ventura County, drawn from each of the ten cities of the county and from each of the three sectors whose interests must be balanced to support a sustainable community: economy, environment, and social equity.

History:
Regional Sustainability is the Civic Alliance’s priority issue. Since its inception in 2001, the Civic Alliance has been engaged in a broad-based community dialog aimed at achieving greater community awareness, clarity and consensus on the impacts of growth on our quality of life and strategies to move our region toward a more sustainable future. Hundreds of county residents and stakeholders have participated in workshops, forums, surveys, and the 2004 and 2005 Road Ahead conferences cosponsored by the Civic Alliance, the Ventura County Star and California State University Channel Islands.

Contact person: Kesa Ryono, Assistant, (phone), (email)

Office fax number: (805) 988-3397

Address:

1317 Del Norte Road Suite 150 Camarillo, CA 93010 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.vccf.org/civicalliance

Directions:

From 101 North, take the Central Ave. Exit and turn RIGHT at the end of the exit ramp. At the first traffic light turn LEFT on Del Norte. 1317 is the Second Building on your right, look for. . . (more)

Last updated on March 24, 2010