El Pájaro Community Development Corporation Marks 40 years of Providing Equal access to Opportunities for Small business Owners

In 1979, Watsonville became the epicenter of social change as the community rallied to support Latino and Spanish-speaking business owners.

Watsonville, CA, July 11, 2019 – In 1979, Watsonville became the epicenter of social change as the community rallied to support Latino and Spanish-speaking business owners.

Protecting rights and providing equal access to business opportunities helped provide a voice to the voiceless, while giving rise to El Pájaro Community Development Corporation.

El Pájaro CDC celebrates 40 years of transforming people’s lives through entrepreneurship by taking the confusion, guesswork and complexity out of starting small businesses. By offering technical, legal, financial and managerial assistance, El Pájaro CDC has helped launch and nurture countless small businesses while bolstering economic development within the community.

“If you give someone an opportunity in can change lives, and lead to generations of success,” said Carmel Hererra, executive director of El Pajaro CDC. “To see a journey from farmworker to entrepreneur — many started that way when they came to us — is so rewarding.”

El Pájaro CDC also offers low-cost and free bilingual business education and training workshops to low-income entrepreneurs. Workshops cover business plan preparation, marketing and sales, customer service, bookkeeping, computer basics, business management, and financial literacy.

The growth of El Pájaro CDC has been monumental. In 1997, it created a retail business incubator at 23 Beach St. in downtown Watsonville to assist low- to moderate-income, Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs with starting and operating a successful business. Named Plaza Vigil, the incubator houses dozens of businesses, with another 44 food purveyors using the separate Commercial Kitchen Incubator Program, a fully equipped, shared-use facility at 412 Riverside Drive. By using the commercial kitchen services, local food entrepreneurs can save the costs of restaurant-grade equipment and county licenses that can restrict their ability to start or expand food businesses.

In 1999, El Pájaro CDC board decided to expand its mission to include housing development. El Pájaro CDC was one of three partners that developed Northgate Apartments in Watsonville, an 84-unit, affordable housing complex for families of 4-7 members.

Following a charter expansion in 2007, El Pájaro CDC now serves Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties, and is available to anyone with plans to open a small business. While many businesses helped by El Pájaro CDC are food and produce-related, all business concepts — lawyers, mechanics, contractors, small farmers, landscapers, musicians and more — are eligible for assistance.

To celebrate its 40th anniversary, El Pájaro CDC will hold a special Tacos and Tapas event on Thursday, Aug. 29 (6-9 p.m.) at the organization’s Commercial Kitchen Incubator at 412 Riverside Drive in Watsonville.

“It’s a celebration of a very strong legacy of passion for helping the community,” Hererra said. “We’re grateful for everyone who has played a role in helping us grow.”

As El Pajaro CDC looks back proudly on 40 years, it still looks forward to the future, including a handful of projects planned for the next two years, including:

● A kitchen retail store at Plaza Vigil Incubator named Food Artezano, offering food products created in the kitchen incubator, as well as local art, including painting and sculpture, ceramics, T-shirts, postcards and jewelry. It will also include an online store.

● A 5,000-square-foot, small-batch, co-packing facility at the kitchen incubator, allowing food businesses to expand their business and markets.

● A new microloan program that will give small businesses more control, better access and expanded loan opportunities.

● Improved programs to help entrepreneurs manage their financing, credit, record-keeping and more.

Contact:

Marci Bracco Cain

Chatterbox PR

Salinas, CA 93901

(831) 747-7455

http://www.elpajarocdc.org/

Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History hosts innovative leaders of Think Beyond Plastic as part of its Hardcore Natural History series

Thinking beyond plastic represents one of the most daunting challenges we face in our efforts to protect the health of a planet in peril.

Pacific Grove, CA, July 11, 2019 – Thinking beyond plastic represents one of the most daunting challenges we face in our efforts to protect the health of a planet in peril.

On Thursday, July 18, the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History will host two leaders of a global multidisciplinary effort to identify and commercialize upstream innovations that eliminate plastic pollution.

Daniella Russo and Greg Baxter, co-founders of Think Beyond Plastic, will discuss their work with local agricultural supply chains as part of the museum’s Hardcore Natural History Series.

Called “The Plastic Link in the Agriculture Supply Chain,” the talk takes place from 6:30-8 p.m. Available through the museum website at www.pgmuseum.org, tickets are $5 for members, $10 for nonmembers and $15 at the door.

To ensure a rich pipeline of innovation, Think Beyond Plastic is building an “innovation ecosystem” that connects industry, investors and innovators. To support this ecosystem, Think Beyond Plastic operates an innovation center with a network of regional user facilities for design, testing, characterization and prototyping across the planet, as well as the International Space Station.

Russo and Baxter believe that intractable environmental challenges can be addressed by harnessing the forces of innovation and entrepreneurship, and the power of the markets to do good.

Russo is an associate professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies graduate program in International Policy and Management. She serves on the board of numerous NGOs and businesses. Russo has started and run numerous high-tech businesses, and her experience includes executive management from start-up phase through an IPO (such as Frame Technology, Infoseek and others), as well as Fortune-500 companies (Sun Microsystems, and Xerox PARC).

Baxter is a former program director with the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships at the National Science Foundation, the world’s largest early-stage investment vehicle for startup companies. The program’s mission is to transform scientific discovery into societal and economic benefit by catalyzing private sector commercialization of technological innovations. He is a longtime mentor and member of the Founders Board of Advisors at StartX Stanford Student Startup Accelerator and was a fellow with the Innovation Accelerator, a public private partnership with the National Science Foundation to facilitate the commercialization efforts of small businesses.

For more information, visit www.thinkbeyondplastic.com

Contact:

Marci Bracco Cain

Chatterbox PR

Salinas, CA 93901

(831) 747-7455

http://www.thinkbeyondplastic.com

Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History Hosts Exciting, Informative Events for Both Children and Adults From July to September 2019

The Museum is Now Open 7 Days A Week.

Pacific Grove, CA, July 11, 2019 — The Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History has a number of fun and informative events for both children and adults on tap for July to September 2019.

Here are the events scheduled so far for July – September, 2019. Events are held at the Museum, except where noted, at 165 Forest Ave., Pacific Grove.

Jul 10, 2019

SUSTAINABLE PACIFIC GROVE: CAN PG BE PLASTIC-FREE?

Why is it critical for us to totally rethink our dependence on convenience and single-use plastics? What can we do to support the city and our businesses during these changing times? How does supporting these city codes help in joining the Zero Waste effort? Join us to learn the answers to these questions and more!

Jul 18, 2019

HARDCORE NATURAL HISTORY SERIES — THE PLASTIC LINK IN THE AGRICULTURE SUPPLY CHAIN

Daniella Russo and Greg Baxter are the co-founders of Think Beyond Plastic, the leader of a global multidisciplinary effort to identify and commercialize upstream innovations that eliminate plastic pollution, with focus on innovative product delivery systems. At Hardcore Natural History, they’ll be discussing their work in agricultural supply chains in our area.

Jul 20, 2019

JUNIOR NATURALIST EXCURSION — GARLAND RANCH

The Junior Naturalist Club will head back to the Carmel Valley for its July excursion, where we’ll be joined by the Museum’s Watershed Guardians Coordinator, Matt McConnell, for an exploration of the Carmel River and its many inhabitants. We’ll ‘fish’ for macroinvertebrates and hike a gentle loop trail while learning about watersheds and the importance of clean, cool rivers.

Junior Naturalist Club Membership required.

Jul 25, 2019

MEMBER EVENT — “BIG SUR FOG: THE SCIENCE AND THE HISTORY”

With Pacific Grove’s notorious summer fog rolling in, we welcome museum members to join us inside our Bird Gallery for a special presentation of the documentary “Big Sur Fog: The Science and the History”. This will be followed by a Q&A discussion with Director and Writer Steven and Mary Albert.

Sep 12, 2019

WILD WONDER NATURE JOURNALING CONFERENCE 2019 — DAY 1

John Muir Laws and the Nature Journal Club are thrilled to be hosting Wild Wonder, the first Nature Journaling Conference. This event will gather people who are passionate about nature, art, science, curiosity, and wonder to share ideas, learn from each other, support each other, inspire each other, and have fun together in a nature’s beauty.

Sep 13, 2019

WILD WONDER NATURE JOURNALING CONFERENCE 2019 — DAY 2

John Muir Laws and the Nature Journal Club are thrilled to be hosting Wild Wonder, the first Nature Journaling Conference. This event will gather people who are passionate about nature, art, science, curiosity, and wonder to share ideas, learn from each other, support each other, inspire each other, and have fun together in a nature’s beauty.

Sep 14, 2019

WILD WONDER NATURE JOURNALING CONFERENCE 2019 — DAY 3

John Muir Laws and the Nature Journal Club are thrilled to be hosting Wild Wonder, the first Nature Journaling Conference. This event will gather people who are passionate about nature, art, science, curiosity, and wonder to share ideas, learn from each other, support each other, inspire each other, and have fun together in a nature’s beauty.

Sep 15, 2019

WILD WONDER NATURE JOURNALING CONFERENCE 2019 – DAY 4

John Muir Laws and the Nature Journal Club are thrilled to be hosting Wild Wonder, the first Nature Journaling Conference. This event will gather people who are passionate about nature, art, science, curiosity, and wonder to share ideas, learn from each other, support each other, inspire each other, and have fun together in a nature’s beauty.

Oct 5, 2019

ANNUAL GALA

Sip, Savor and Enjoy in the Museum on October 5th, 2019!

For more information on Museum events, call (831) 648-5716, email admin@pgmuseum.org or go to the website at www.pgmuseum.org.

About the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History

In 1883, our museum opened its doors among the first wave of natural history museums in America. Naturalists of this era, such as John Muir And Louis Aggasiz, began a national tradition of hands-on science education and nature preservation. The museum has continued this tradition for 130 years. The museum’s mission is to inspire discovery, wonder, and stewardship of our natural world. It envisions a community of curious minds, engaged in discovering the natural heritage and cultural legacy that exist today on the Central California Coast. The Museum is a catalyst for conservation and a valued learning resource in this region, facilitating active inquiry for all ages.

Contact:

Marci Bracco Cain

Chatterbox PR

Salinas, CA 93901

(831) 747-7455

http://www.pgmuseum.org