State Parks Close to Campaign Goal
The Central Coast State Park Association is less than $100 away from their goal for the year-end campaign, “Faces of Wonder!”
Thanks to a generous donor, any gifts will be doubled and will support ongoing access to educational programming in our State Parks. Contributions support rotating exhibits at the Morro Bay Museum of Natural History and Spooner Ranch House, informative panels along trails, school group transportation, guided tours and hikes, and many more programs that foster existing and future environmental stewards.
To make a donation, go to bit.ly/3VibH5m or text WONDER22 to 44-321.
Woods Expands Dog Behavior & Training Program
Due to increasing demand for dog training support from the community, Woods Humane Society announces a newly expanded Behavior & Training team in 2023; a wide variety of affordable, training classes for the public that begin in time for January’s National Train Your Dog Month; and a brand new class called Rocket Recall, beginning in February 2023.
As a result of the “pandemic puppy boom” as well as the safety guidelines that limited in-person training opportunities in recent years, Woods says that many local pet owners have expressed their need for help with dog behavior issues.
The Woods University training program offers a variety of affordable dog training classes, from puppy socialization classes to basic obedience classes to agility and more, in addition to online programs and individual consultations. The department worked with an estimated 500 owned dogs in the community in 2022, in addition to the many hundreds of shelter dogs it serves annually.
To view current programs and services and sign up for an upcoming course, visit www.WoodsHumane.org/Training. For more information, visit www.WoodsHumane.org or call (805) 543-9316.
Grants for Climate Resilience
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and The PG&E Corporation Foundation (Foundation) awarded $900,000 across two grant programs intended to support climate resilience efforts in PG&E’s hometowns, while also protecting and restoring land, water, and air in habitats and communities across California.
• Through the Better Together Nature Positive Innovation grant program, the Foundation will award $500,000 to five grantees – one in each of PG&E’s five regions – that preserve California’s unique biodiversity, focusing on land, air quality, and water stewardship. A Central Coast organization is listed below as one of the five grantees.
• Separately, through the Resilience Hubs grant program, PG&E is issuing $400,000 to seven grantees to support communities in building a network of local climate resilience hubs. Both grant programs prioritize projects that address the needs of disadvantaged and/or vulnerable communities.
Better Together Nature Positive Innovation Grants
Through the Better Together Nature Positive Innovation grant program, the Foundation is reinforcing its focus on environmental stewardship and pursuing opportunities to invest in partnerships that will promote protecting and restoring land, water, and air in habitats and communities across our service area.
For 2022, the Better Together Nature Positive Innovation grant program has awarded five $100,000 grants. The local recipient is Central Coast State Parks Association for increasing the exposure of underserved K-12 students to coastal habitats.
Resilience Hubs Grants
Recognizing that communities across California face growing threats from extreme weather events such as coastal and inland flooding, heat waves, wildfires, and more powerful storms, the Resilience Hubs grant program seeks to fund and establish physical spaces, or a set of resources, that support community resilience in the face of these climate-driven events. Once developed, these hubs can also be accessed year-round to build and sustain community-adaptive capacity in a trusted location.
For 2022, the Resilience Hubs grant program awarded $400,000 ($25,000 to each) to seven organizations.
Additionally, the program awarded $100,000 each to three Design and Build Projects toward the design and/or creation of a resilience hub. Through these projects, the organizations will either plan and design new physical spaces or mobile resources, or retrofit existing buildings or structures to support community resilience:
Dine Out in SLO for Gift Cards
Readers who get hungry while hanging out in San Luis Obispo can get a gift for eating at a list of restaurants.
To support eateries, breweries, bakeries and coffee shops, the City of San Luis Obispo started a the Eat Local Bonus program where diners who spend $100 at any food or beverage establishment in the city and bring a copy of their itemized receipt(s) to the San Luis Obispo Visitor Center are eligible for a $25 gift card. The program runs through January or until funds are depleted. Diners can qualify up to three times.
The City of San Luis Obispo and San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce are partnering for the first time on Eat Local Bonus, an iteration of Buy Local Bonus, a program created in 2020 to give back to businesses hardest hit by the COVID pandemic. The City is purchasing gift cards from local businesses to create an incentive to dine locally and support SLO’s economic vitality.
For details, go to slocity.org.
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