Californians are speaking loud and clear during the ongoing series of Stakeholder Roundtables CA Fwd is hosting across the state. On April 27, CA Fwd held the Inland Empire Regional Stakeholder Roundtable, the first event of its kind, hosted by the Inland Empire Economic Partnership.
The venue brought together a passionate group of stakeholders, education experts, private and public sector representatives, community leaders and local government officials to discuss California Forward’s Smart Government Framework, and share their own ideas for restructuring state government.
Key discussion items included: restructuring state-local relationships and empowering community government. A panel of experts including Rick Bishop, executive director of Western Riverside Council of Governments, Kevin McCarthy, president and CEO of the United Way of the Inland Valley, and Lt. Chris Catren, Redlands Police Organization, shared important highlights about the Inland Empire region.
The forum was highly interactive, allowing participants to gather into small groups to review The Smart Government Framework, debate and share ideas. The outcome: everyone has different ideas and insights about “real world” solutions, but ultimately share only one definitive goal: the urgent need of immediate government reform to drastically restructure California.
Highlights of the ideas and opinions shared at the Inland Empire Regional Stakeholder Roundtable include:
“It’s nice to hear more about the word ‘collaboration.’ We don’t hear that very often and we cannot afford not to do so anymore. It’s time to move together and forward. However, we need more focus on specific objectives vs. outcomes. We need more of a blueprint.”
Danielle Kilcheistein, United Way of California
“The fiscal climate the state is in provides a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity: the roles of local governments can change drastically.”
Rick Bishop, Executive Director of Western Riverside Council of Govts.
“Who is at the table? We need to expand the people who are having these discussions. We need to go to churches and community centers so we can really think outside the box. How are we going to engage those people if they are not sitting at the table? We need to sell this person by person and community by community.”
Elena Carrasco, Latino Education & Advocacy Days, LEAD
“We need to identify who’s going to create the ‘tipping point,’ who’s going to create change? Is it the business community, the nonprofits, the general public or is it going to be the youth population?”
Jeff Serranka, Enterprise Funding Corp.
Believes measurement parameters of success are still lacking in the plan. But, “at the end of the day people want to feel connected. We want to be able to pick up the phone and call our local elected officials and meet up with them for coffee. When you can work with people in a less structured type of format, that’s always a good thing.”
Lt. Chris Catren, Redlands Police Organization
“California used to have the most attractive education system in the world. We defunded it! There’s no federal/constitutional mandate for education and schools. It comes down to the state level. There has to be a sense of accountability at the local level.”
Kevin McCarthy, president and CEO, United Way of the Inland Valley
“As we look to redesigning the system we have to give ‘locals’ the ability to decide how things are done. You cannot tell someone to do something without taking responsibility for the outcome. There’s no democracy without personal responsibility.”
Enrique Murillo, CA Student Aid Commission
“Everybody in this room knows people. We all need to go back to our communities and maximize our spirit of influence. We can fix California.”
Steven Lowder, superintendent, Hemet USD
