LAKE COUNTY
Lake County Library receives nationwide NEA Big Read grant for 2023
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), in partnership with Arts Midwest, has announced support for 62 nonprofit organizations to hold NEA Big Read programming in 2022-2023. Among the grantees is the Lake County Library. In total, the NEA is investing $1,071,140 to support programming centered around one of 15 different contemporary books, with the aim of inspiring meaningful conversations, artistic responses, and new discoveries and connections in participating communities. The NEA Big Read showcases a diverse range of contemporary titles that reflect many different voices and perspectives, aiming to inspire conversation and discovery.
The Lake County Library is a recipient of a $9,500 grant to host the NEA Big Read countywide with dynamic community reading programs, and has selected Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz for 2023 programming. Activities will take place from February 2023 to March 2023.
Winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, Postcolonial Love Poem is a collection of poetry by Arizona poet Natalie Diaz—who is Mojave, an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Tribe, Latinx, and queer. The poems push against the forces of racism, environmental destruction, addiction, and mental illness with the power of desire, love, and language. From publisher Gray Wolf Press, “Postcolonial Love Poem is an anthem of desire against erasure. Natalie Diaz’s brilliant second collection demands that everybody carried in its pages—bodies of language, land, rivers, suffering brothers, enemies, and lovers—be touched and held as beloveds.”
Confirmed partners for the 2023 program include the County of Lake Board of Supervisors, Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians, Mendocino College Lake Center, Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College, County of Lake Special Districts, Lake County Library Genealogy and Local History Group, Museums of Lake County, Lake County Office of Education, Lake County Farmers’ Finest, Lake County Arts Council, Middletown Art Center, and O’Meara Bros. Brewing Company. Organizers expect to add more partners as planning continues.
Follow the Lake County Library on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, or sign up for their online newsletter for updates. Visit the Lake County Library’s website at http://library.lakecountyca.gov.
About the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read
The National Endowment for the Arts Big Read, a partnership with Arts Midwest, broadens our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. Since 2006, the National Endowment for the Arts has funded more than 1,700 NEA Big Read programs, providing more than $24 million to organizations nationwide. In addition, NEA Big Read activities have reached every Congressional district in the country. Over the past 16 years, grantees have leveraged more than $56 million in local funding to support their NEA Big Read programs. More than 5.9 million Americans have attended an NEA Big Read event, over 97,000 volunteers have participated at the local level, and over 40,000 community organizations have partnered to make NEA Big Read activities possible.
Visit arts.gov/neabigread for more information about the NEA Big Read. Organizations interested in applying for an NEA Big Read grant in the future should visit Arts Midwest’s website for more information.
—Submitted
LAKE COUNTY
NCO seeking subject matter experts for Lake County Home Hardening Initiative
North Coast Opportunities, Inc (NCO) invites qualified Subject Matter Experts (SME) to join the California Wildfire Mitigation Program (CWMP) Home Hardening Initiative. NCO seeks qualified companies and individuals to provide historical, cultural, and biological resource services as described in NCO’s SME Request for Proposals. More information and a detailed Scope of Work is available at www.ncoinc.org.
NCO is currently working with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) to pilot the Lake County Home Hardening Initiative, which will be funded in part by a FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant. The Home Hardening Initiative aims to perform defensible space and retrofit measures on existing residential homesites to mitigate against wildfire loss. The program will target one area within Lake County, the Kelseyville Riviera Community Association.
The infusion of federal funds into the program requires compliance with federal and state environmental regulations, including NEPA, CEQA, and Section 106. As such, NCO seeks the professional services of qualified Subject Matter Experts to inform the possible environmental impacts of this program in the proposed project areas including biological, archaeological, architectural, and historical research services.
Interested and qualified agencies and individuals are invited to submit proposals through July 15, 2022 at 5pm. Electronic submissions may be delivered to homehardening@ncoinc.org, please reference “CWMP proposal” in subject line. Questions may be submitted to homehardening@ncoinc.org by July 8, 2022 at 5 pm. Phone inquiries may be directed to 707-461-0760.
—Submitted
SACRAMENTO
Here’s a roundup of other California Capitol news you should know:
- As Newsom and state lawmakers continue to wrangle over the particulars of California’s $300 billion budget — including relief for skyrocketing gas prices — CalMatters’ team of data journalists put together an incredibly helpful interactive to help you visualize its mind-boggling scale.
- Speaking of gas relief, a spokesperson for the California Assembly Republican Caucus told the Sacramento Bee that Assemblymember James Gallagher of Yuba City misspoke Wednesday when estimating that suspending the state gas tax in January would have saved drivers over $2,400; instead, the average driver would likely have saved in the hundreds of dollars.
- David Alvarez, a business-friendly Democrat who prevailed over progressive Georgette Gómez in an expensive special election to fill the remainder of labor powerhouse Lorena Gonzalez’ term in the state Assembly, was sworn into office Wednesday.
- Despite the push to reform California’s recall system after last year’s failed attempt to oust Newsom from office, proposed constitutional amendments to implement various changes appear to have to stalled in the state Legislature, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. And a bill that would have required employers to accommodate workers handling unforeseen “family responsibilities” failed to advance amid intense opposition from business groups, per the Los Angeles Times
—CALMatters
