The UC Davis Center for Regional Change, or CRC, is entering a new chapter, focused on renewing its mission and driving meaningful change for both the campus and the communities it serves. As part of this new direction, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES) has appointed Professor Michael Rios to help guide the CRC’s framework. 

Yolo County’s poverty rate is 25% higher than the California average. To bring that number home, nearly one in five people live in poverty in the county. Poverty is defined as living on less than $30,000 a year for a family of four. If you run the numbers for what you personally spend on food, utilities, and housing, these numbers loom starkly. Families below the poverty level face numerous additional stressors day-to-day.

University of California, Davis, researchers have launched a new online database that can help community members, policymakers and advocates view and compare local governments’ vision for the future with the California General Plan Database Mapping Tool.

Catherine Brinkley, an associate professor in the Department of Human Ecology, has been selected to lead the Center for Regional Change (CRC) as its new faculty director. She succeeds Jonathan London, who steps down July 1.

UC Davis study shows solutions for San Joaquin Valley

Tens of thousands of people living in the San Joaquin Valley’s unincorporated, rural, low-income communities have unsafe drinking water pouring from their taps. That water is delivered from a patchwork of community water systems that often don’t meet state or federal standards for drinking water, or from private wells that are not tested.