Imperial Region Disadvantaged Community (DAC) Outreach and

Support Pilot Project

Community

 

DACPopulation (2010) Median Household Income (2010)

El Centro ● 41,581  $38,481

Calexico ● 36,304  $34,848

Brawley ●      24,288  $ 39,676

Imperial   14,758 $57,152

Calipatria ●      6,953  $38,586

Holtville ●         5,835  $36,202

Heber ●         5,022  $37,472

Seeley ●  1,861  $31,250

Westmorland ● 1,767  $28,571

Niland1 ●          1,306  $13,588

Ocotillo1 ● 228  $12,396

Poe1 ● 127 Unavailable

Total – Communities Listed 

    140,030  $39,093

Total County 

174,528 $39,402

1. Designated as Colonias

Sources: U.S. Census CDWR, 2012, California EPA, 2004  

Imperial Region Communities

Imperial Region Disadvantaged Community (DAC) Outreach and Support

Pilot Project

Primary Engagement Objectives Are To:

Educate: Educate Imperial DAC Stakeholders • IRWM planning and development activities, and• Associated opportunities for DACs to address their communities’ specific water/wastewater-related needs.

Empower: Empower DAC participation in regional water/wastewater management processes• Demystify those processes, and• Provide clearly defined access pathways to facilitate community involvement down to the household level.

Elevate: Elevate the quality and effectiveness of DAC efforts to gain visibility and priority standing for their specific water/wastewater project • Provide user-friendly support on project technical evaluation methods that conform to state level decision-making requirements/criteria.

Primary Engagement Tasks/Deliverables:

Outreach: Undertake a community outreach effort designed to make DAC public representatives, organizations and households widely aware of ongoing regional water/wastewater project planning and implementation processes, the fundamental elements of those processes and how these stakeholders may contribute.

Workshops: Prepare and conduct public workshops designed to educate attendees on IRWM planning and project implementation and how DAC’s can most effectively participate to successfully address their community water/wastewater needs and management/development goals.

Primary Engagement Tasks/Deliverables:

Seminars: Prepare and conduct public seminars designed to provide an overview and education on economic and other technical analyses that the DACs need to perform to effectively participate in future IRWM planning and implementation activities; particularly as it relates to the preparation of associated grant funding applications.

Report to CDWR: Prepare a detailed summary report on our outreach and support pilot project effort to help CDWR to assemble a set of standard guidelines for DAC water/wastewater-related outreach and support that can be generalized to the entire State.

Primary Engagement Challenges:

Budget: The Imperial Region was provided a budget to perform the outreach and support pilot project that is less than 1/3rd that provided to other regions. The outreach effort will require careful planning and implementation.

Media: Imperial DAC households have relatively limited access to many standard forms of media including, in particular, newspapers and, the Internet.

Our teams first steps:

Outreach: Brainstorm on approaches to outreach that are both strategically appropriate and cost effective. CDWR is really looking for help here.

Support: Identify the technical gaps that emerged during the first round of IRWM funding. Address them through workshop and seminar programs that set the stage for future IRWM-related support to the region’s DACs.

Questions?