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For nearly a year, I have been volunteering with Miracle Friends, a pandemic-driven initiative of San Francisco-based Miracle Messages.
The organization is led by Kevin Adler, who grew up in Livermore. Miracle Friends paired a person living in a hotel or similar housing with a volunteer who calls or texts them weekly and is simply a friend. The program was developed to help residents avoid being isolated during the lockdowns.
Now, as San Francisco is reopening and my friend can get out and see people again, we still are routinely in touch. To bring this full circle, earlier this year I wrote about Goodness Village, a 28-tiny home community on Crosswinds Church property in Livermore. It’s a community designed for permanent housing for local residents who have been experiencing homelessness. Kevin is seeking to grow the Miracle Friends volunteers so each resident is paired with a friend when they move in.
If you are interested, please see MiracleFriends.org . You can sign up online to volunteer.
The Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group and the Bay Area Council Economic Institute will roll out their 2040 Vision Plan on June 10 in a virtual event. The organizations have been working together for more than a year to develop the plan that they hope will guide decisions by local leaders. It is anchored in the Tri-Valley’s strengths as a unique sub-region.
It builds on the key assets of quality k-14 education, the best educated workforce in the Bay Area (the most advanced degrees of any area), as well as fast-growing industry clusters in information technology, life sciences and advanced manufacturing to say nothing of two national labs eager to partner with the private sector to commercialize their inventions.
Having been part of the leadership team that the Tri-Valley Business Council pulled together to develop the Golden Valley plan for 2010, I will be quite interested to see what goals and initiatives are recommended. When I think of the Tri-Valley we envisioned and see what it’s become I cannot help but be impressed. It’s also notable for some of the mistakes that have been made—particularly the failure to have an adequate housing supply—particularly affordable housing as well as the broader failure to improve our water supply options (locally and statewide).
I suspect the plan will celebrate Valley Link, which will connect the terminal Dublin/Pleasanton BART station with San Joaquin County using the abandoned railroad right-of-way that Alameda County owns to traverse the Altamont Pass. It will connect with the ACE trains at a Greenville Road station in Livermore. It is planned for 42 miles and seven stations.
The good news there is that board overseeing that project approved the environmental impact report last week. The plan is far less expensive than extending BART to Greenville Road and is an agency controlled by local officials in both counties instead of the BART board with the valley having just one representative. The authority was established in 2018, completed the feasibility study in 2019 and now has approved the environmental impact report in 2021. It’s moving rapidly.
For the 2040 Vision rollout, there is a fee to attend the virtual session. Tickets can be reserved at InnovationTriValley.org.