Helping Seniors Eat Nutritiously
As housing and healthcare costs climb, poverty among older Americans has surged to 15 percent — the only age group to see an increase, according to U.S Census Bureau data. In San Luis Obispo County, where seniors make up 28 percent of the population, hunger is becoming a visible and growing reality for our older neighbors, according to the SLO County Food Bank.
Barriers such as social isolation, transportation hurdles, and technology gaps prevent many older neighbors from accessing help. This lack of consistent access to nourishment increases the risk of malnutrition, chronic illness, and mental health challenges for seniors.
The SLO Food Bank has programs specifically tailored to meet their nutritional needs. Through their Senior Home Delivery Program, groceries are brought directly to homebound seniors in partnership with Ride-On Transportation. Additionally, monthly Seniors’ Farmers’ Markets provide free, fresh produce to low-income seniors at local housing complexes and mobile home parks. The SLO Food Bank’s CalFresh Outreach team also helps educate seniors about CalFresh and the application process to sign up for benefits.
“Seniors in our community are having to make impossible choices every day,” said Molly Kern, CEO of the SLO Food Bank. “We are hearing from older neighbors who are struggling to cover their rent or mortgage, skipping meals just to make ends meet, or losing their entire food budget to a single unexpected medical bill.”
Any senior experiencing food insecurity is encouraged to contact SLO Food Bank at 805-238-4664 or visit findfoodslo.org to be connected to resources and support near them.
Feb. 28 Deadline for $300,000 in Scholarships
February 28 is the deadline to apply for Pacific Gas and Electric Company ‘s (PG&E) scholarship applications for college-bound high schoolers as well as current college and continuing education students with a primary residence in PG&E’s service area in Northern and Central California.
More than $300,000 is available through scholarships created and funded by PG&E’s 11 employee resource groups (ERGs) and two engineering network groups (ENGs). “These groups help advance a culture at PG&E where all coworkers are valued, included and supported. The funds are raised entirely through coworker donations, coworker fundraising events and the company’s coworker giving program.” Said PG&E representatives in a news release.
These scholarships are awarded annually to help offset the cost of higher education. ERG and ENG scholarship winners will each receive awards ranging from $1,000 to $6,000 for exemplary scholastic achievement and community leadership.
PG&E ERG and ENG scholarship information, including criteria and applications, is available at pge.com.
Since 1989, PG&E’s ERGs and ENGs have awarded more than $6 million in scholarships to thousands of recipients. More than 6,500 of PG&E’s 28,000 coworkers belong to ERGs and ENGs. Each group is open to all coworkers and helps further the company’s commitment to serving its hometowns and increasing coworker engagement.
Besides the ERG and ENG scholarships, the Pacific Service Employees Association, a nonprofit mutual benefit organization serving PG&E coworkers and retirees, also provides scholarships for dependents of company coworkers. In addition, The PG&E Corporation Foundation provides STEM scholarships through its Better Together STEM scholarships program.
New Planning Tool to Strengthen Urban Wildfire Mitigation
A new guidebook to improve wildfire mitigation work in urban areas, developed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Cal Poly’s Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fire Institute, is now available. It provides step-by step guidance to construct a policy driven scorecard focused on strengthening mitigation plans and actions.
The two-year effort to develop the tool, called the Plan Integration for Resilience Scorecard for Wildfire, was done in partnership with Texas A&M and is now available to all community planners, emergency managers and other administrators at no cost.
As more frequent and severe wildfire and urban fire events are increasing losses of life, property, habitat and ecosystems in California, the United States and across the world, the Cal Poly WUI Fire Institute in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences is working on solutions through innovative research, training and education to create safer and more fire resilient communities in California and the West.
Researchers and students from multiple colleges and disciplines tailored a technique used in the eastern U.S. for flood mitigation for wildfire mitigation. The unique approach integrates with municipal spatial mapping tools that provide key data points that can help city leaders better understand the risks. The research was funded by a grant awarded to the WUI Fire Institute by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
The Scorecard for Wildfire provides an organized, vetted database of the community’s wildfire-risk-affecting policies from across the network of local plans, scored according to their likely effects and their geographic focus. Along with associated maps, derived from the scorecard results, this organization and novel perspective allow local staff to visually analyze areas in their community where policy guidance conflicts, and places that may require greater focus on wildfire resilience.
Visit the WUI Fire Institute website at fire.calpoly.edu for information on how to get the guide.
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