Cal Poly Humboldt’s Connie Stewart

I’m Always Happy to Be Home in Arcata, California

Connie Stewart is the executive director of Initiatives for Cal Poly Humboldt. The former executive director of California Center for Rural Policy, she remains involved with CCRP as its chief policy advisor. Before speaking at the Zócalo/California Wellness event “Can Rural Education Survive the 21st Century?,” she joined us in the green room in downtown Bakersfield to chat about gardening, why she can fall in love with any sport, and the recipe she’s taking to her grave.

October 14, 2022

Small School Districts’ Association Executive Director Tim Taylor

T-Swift All the Way

October 14, 2022

Tim Taylor is the executive director of the Small School Districts’ Association. Before speaking at the Zócalo/California Wellness event “Can Rural Education Survive the 21st Century?,” he joined us in the green …

California Collaborative for Educational Excellence’s Julie Boesch

My Dream Is That Every Single Child Has a Safe Place to Learn

October 14, 2022

Julie Boesch is the assistant director of the State System of Support for the nonprofit California Collaborative for Educational Excellence. She was formerly superintendent/principal of Maple Elementary School District in …

The Marshall Project’s Keri Blakinger

The Title of My Book Sounds Like a Tattoo Memoir

July 15, 2022

Keri Blakinger is a staff writer at The Marshall Project, where she focuses on prisons and jails, and writes the “Inside Out” column. Before moderating a Zócalo/California Wellness Foundation panel …

The Rural Price Tag of California’s Clean Energy Transition

The State Is Scrambling to Find Places to Store Energy—But Even Renewable Sources Make an Environmental Impact

by Sayd Randle | June 7, 2022

In the spring of 2019, residents of eastern California’s Owens Valley were on the fight. As is usual in that part of the world—where a century of aggressive water extraction …

After the Prisons Close, Where Does That Leave Rural Communities?

Incarceration Is Big Business In Towns Like Susanville, Which Now Must Find a New Economic and Civic Path Forward

by Joe Mathews | April 8, 2022

Efforts to close prisons need to come with assistance to rural communities that depend on these institutions, said panelists at a Zócalo/California Wellness Foundation event in the northeast California town …

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