Davisville

Last year’s idea for a new “civic information hub” in Yolo County has grown into Yolo Local, a budding project to create a new source for local information and news. This spring the project is surveying people throughout the county to get insights on the types of information people want to access about local civic life and events, but don’t necessarily know where to find as the old ways of distributing information and news continue to fragment.

Today on Davisville we hear an update about the project from Autumn Labbe-Renault, the executive director of Davis Media Access and the project’s main organizer. What Yolo Local will look like, and how it will operate, is not yet decided. That will come after the survey results are released, probably in September. Meanwhile, Autumn offers two examples of existing civic information sites she likes—Lookout in Santa Cruz and The Oaklandside, in Oakland—during today's review of what's driving this project, who's involved, and how it all might come together.

If you go this spring to the Gibson House, a 19th century mansion-turned-museum in Woodland, you can see portraits of people who lived in Yolo County in the 19th century. There are a lot of stories in those paintings, and in the painters, all of whom worked in Yolo County.

One of the six artists exhibited is Calthea Campbell Vivian, described as “one of the leading artists of the West” in her time. Another was an accomplished painter who couldn’t make a living at it, which ended his marriage … and his daughter became a famous opera singer in Britain. And her daughter, his granddaughter, became the youngest baroness in England.

Who are the people in the paintings? What did they want their portraits to tell us? What’s it like to stand in the rooms of this landmark house and look at them, looking back at us? We talk about all this today on Davisville with Sarah Bartlett, museum curator for the Yolo County Historical Collection, which is presenting “Picturing Yolo County exhibit: paintings by past local artists” through June 17.

Photo shows painting of 66-year-old Mary Blowers of Woodland, 1896, by Calthea Campbell Vivian

The Trump administration is hammering away at the federal government by eliminating jobs, cancelling programs, freezing spending and generally creating confusion. Today on Davisville we look at one part of the fallout in Yolo County -- the effect of the spending freeze on local nonprofits -- by talking with Jessica Hubbard, executive director of the Yolo Community Foundation.

Yolo has about 200 nonprofits, not counting hundreds of small ones like school PTAs or neighborhood associations.

“The biggest thing right now … is uncertainty," she said. Some local nonprofits have been hit by the spending freeze, particularly ones working in the areas of food and the environment, and “a huge number of nonprofits [worry] about the impact of the freeze, or anticipate that those freezes or potential cuts will impact them down the road.”

We talk about reactions, Hubbard's advice for nonprofits and donors, the effect on nonprofit workers and volunteers, giving across the political spectrum, similarities to the turmoil caused by the pandemic, and where all this might be headed. The foundation releases its latest State of the Yolo Nonprofit Sector Report in mid-March.

(Photo shows a storm over Yolo County in winter 2018)

You’ll hear a lot of enthusiasm from today’s guest on Davisville — also love for Yolo County, curiosity for the world around her, the importance of “bringing youth perspectives to the table,” talking up civic engagement, appreciation for friendly neighbors, what she notices as she splits her days between Davis and West Sacramento, and respect for officeholders who will help you regardless of whether you voted for them or not.

And that’s only some of the ground we cover. Meet Jazmin Garcia, a Davis Senior High School junior who lives in West Sacramento and the host of new KDRT program NextGen Talks.