Community
Local Students Partner With Chevron Mentors to Invent Technologies

Several “disruptions” occurred at a high school event at Richmond Memorial Auditorium on Thursday.
One involved an idea for a smartphone app that can track classroom performance and then pair students with specific tutors when needed. Another proposed manufacturing “scent cartridges” that can attach to smartphones and, when activated, emit certain smells scientifically proven to combat grogginess.
And then there was the idea for a bar-code security system in the West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) that allows students to scan into campuses as well as classrooms, saving teachers and staff time on tracking attendance and also serving to increase campus safety.
Such ideas were not the brainchild of Google employees, but rather those of dozens of WCCUSD students who took part in the annual Junior Achievement Social Innovation Camp on Thursday, which was sponsored by Chevron Richmond.
Nearly 50 students from the Richmond High Engineering Academy, Pinole Valley High Engineering Academy and Hercules High MESA and Robotics program gathered at Richmond Memorial Auditorium to invent, conceptually develop and present innovative, viable solutions to community challenges.
The students were divided into eight teams whose project proposals were analyzed by judges from the business community, including two managers from the Chevron Richmond Refinery and a program director for the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center. Eight Chevron employees volunteered their time to mentor the students through the design process and with their presentations.
Their ideas exposed a common thread among young people hoping to use their burgeoning technology skills to improve the lives of students on their campus as well as members in their communities. Several student groups on Thursday presented apps that connect students to community service opportunities.
The JA Social Innovation Camp, however, is more focused on the process of invention than the inventions themselves.
“We brought these students together to share ideas, to learn about cutting edge technology and experience the exciting entrepreneurial process from start to finish,” said Andrea Bailey, Chevron Richmond community engagement manager. “We wanted to provide them an enriching, real-world window into the business world. And to show them what skills they’ll need to pursue their ideas.”
The teams of students were given a strict deadline Thursday morning to develop ideas, concept papers and Power Point presentations. In the afternoon, they presented their project proposals to the judges in a Shark Tank-style format, where they had to respond to critical questions.
Later, they heard a talk from Richmond native and celebrity speaker Devin Lars, who launched his successful clothing design company, Doing Everything Different, from his grandfather’s garage.
During the event, WCCUSD Superintendent Matt Duffy could be seen in the audience scribbling down notes.
“This was so much more interesting than us coming and asking, ‘What’s wrong with your school, how can we make it better?’,” Duffy said. “I think this is such an awesome opportunity to hear from you.”
Duffy also discussed an app he would like to develop that aims to improve the WCCUSD system for substitute teachers.
The Social Innovation Camp is one of a number of community education initiatives launched by Chevron Richmond with the aim of sparking interest in STEM subjects, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Bailey praised the record number of female participants at this year’s camp.
What the students accomplished at Richmond Memorial Auditorium last week is exactly what’s going on inside the campuses at Google and Facebook, said Duffy.
“The better you can get at working in teams, the better you can get at listening to people’s ideas, the better you can get at building off each other’s thoughts and notions, the better you will be,” the superintendent said. “I would love to see more of that in our schools.
This story is courtesy of the Richmond Standard.
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Oakland Post: Week of September 20 – 26, 2023
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of September 20 – 26, 2023

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WATCH LIVE! — NNPA 2023 National Leadership Awards Reception
NNPA NEWSWIRE — Welcome to the NNPA 2023 National Leadership Awards Reception
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OP-ED: Delivering Climate Resilience Funding to Communities that Need it the Most
NNPA NEWSWIRE — Just last month, FEMA announced nearly $3 billion in climate mitigation project selections nationwide to help communities build resilience through its Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) national competition and Flood Mitigation Assistance program. In total, more than 50% of these projects will benefit disadvantaged communities, and in particular, 70% of BRIC projects will do the same.
The post OP-ED: Delivering Climate Resilience Funding to Communities that Need it the Most first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

By Erik A. Hooks, FEMA Deputy Administrator
We know that disasters do not discriminate. Yet, recovery from the same event can be uneven from community to community, perpetuating pre-existing inequalities. Recognizing these disparities, FEMA and the entire Biden-Harris Administration have prioritized equity when it comes to accessing federal programs and resources.
The numbers tell the story.
Just last month, FEMA announced nearly $3 billion in climate mitigation project selections nationwide to help communities build resilience through its Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) national competition and Flood Mitigation Assistance program. In total, more than 50% of these projects will benefit disadvantaged communities, and in particular, 70% of BRIC projects will do the same.
These selections further underscore the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to equity and reaffirm FEMA’s mission of helping people before, during and after disasters, delivering funding to the communities that need it most.
Building on this momentum and our people-first approach, FEMA recently announced the initial designation of nearly 500 census tracts, which will be eligible for increased federal support to become more resilient to natural hazards and extreme weather worsened by the climate crisis. FEMA will use “Community Disaster Resilience Zone” designations to direct and manage financial and technical assistance for resilience projects nationwide, targeting communities most at risk due to climate change. More Community Disaster Resilience Zone designations, including tribal lands and territories, are expected to be announced in the fall of 2023.
These types of investments have, and will yield a significant return on investment for communities nationwide.
For example, in my home state of North Carolina, the historic community of Princeville, founded by freed African American slaves, uses BRIC funding to move vulnerable homes and critical utilities out of flood-prone areas.
In East Harlem, BRIC dollars will provide nature-based flood control solutions to mitigate the impacts of extreme rainfall events in the Clinton low-income housing community.
While we are encouraged by these investments, we know more must be done.
Not every community has the personnel, the time or the resources to apply for these federal dollars. Fortunately, FEMA offers free, Direct Technical Assistance to help under-resourced communities navigate the grant application process and get connected with critical resources. Under the leadership of FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, this assistance has been a game-changer, reducing barriers and providing even more flexible, customer-focused, tailored support to communities interested in building and sustaining successful resilience programs.
In Eastwick, Philadelphia, FEMA’s dedicated support helped the city with outreach to multiple federal agencies. Together, we built a comprehensive community-led flood mitigation strategy. When applied and implemented, this will make this community more resilient to hazards like flooding, which was negatively affecting many neighborhood blocks.
In DePue, Illinois, we worked hand-in-hand with communities to improve their ability to submit high-quality funding applications for hazard mitigation projects. We are happy to share that DePue is the first Direct Technical Assistance community to be selected in the BRIC national competition. And, we know they will not be the last. Thanks to this assistance and their ambition, DePue was awarded more than $20 million to build a new wastewater treatment plant, which will reduce flooding and raw sewage back-up into the basements of homes.
In total, our agency is working with over 70 communities, including tribal nations, to increase access to funding for mitigation projects that will make communities more livable and resilient.
With extreme weather events becoming increasingly intense and frequent due to climate change, we must keep pressing forward and continue investing in ways to better protect ourselves and our neighbors. And we are encouraged that local officials are engaging with us to learn more about the benefits of the BRIC non-financial Direct Technical Assistance initiative—just last week, we saw hundreds of participants nationwide register for a recent webinar on this important topic.
We want to see even more communities take advantage of this initiative, and, ultimately, obtain grants for innovative and forward-looking resilience projects. To that end, FEMA recently published a blog with five steps to help local communities and tribal nations learn more about the benefits of this non-financial technical assistance to access federal funding. I hope your community will take action and submit a letter of interest for this exciting opportunity and increase meaningful mitigation work throughout the country.
With the pace of disasters accelerating, communities can utilize federal resources to reduce their risk and take action to save property and lives. FEMA stands ready to be a partner and collaborator with any community that is ready to implement creative mitigation strategies and help build our nation’s resilience.
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