As we continue to find new ways for the City, the County of Marin, our services providers, and our community members to come together to address homelessness (check out the Marin Voice article this week highlighting the positive impacts of collaboration), I think it is important to remember that at the end of the day,...
This Spotlight honors the thousands of community volunteers who participate in the Volunteer Program’s Days of Service. The accomplishments on these days could not happen without dedicated volunteer leaders and the enthusiastic volunteers who choose to give their time on a particular day. Community groups including local nonprofits, neighborhood associations, Boy Scout troops, Rotary Clubs,...
On Monday, September 19 at 7 p.m., the City Council will consider labor agreements/resolutions pertaining to compensation and working conditions for SEIU Local 1021, unrepresented executive management,unrepresented mid-management, and the elected city clerk and city attorney. The City Council will also discuss the Police Mid-management MOU before requesting staff to bring the MOU back to them for a...
At Monday’s City Council meeting, MARINET will make a presentation about gigabit internet for all public libraries in Marin. Funded by a grant from the California State Library as well as MARINet (Marin’s library consortium) every public library in Marin County will soon be connected to a gigabit network connection—rapidly increasing network access speeds. The...
National Preparedness Month serves as a reminder to prepare, now and throughout the year, for emergencies. This year’s theme is “Don’t Wait, Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today,” with an emphasis on youth, older adults, and people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs. Disaster can strike at any time without warning. The...
The Downtown Streets Team and the City of San Rafael are teaming up to reduce panhandling Downtown. San Rafael is filled with compassionate people who want to help those less fortunate. Rather than give to panhandlers, we are asking you to “Put your Change to Work” by using the new purple donation meters that will...
As SMART progresses with its systemwide testing, we encourage everyone to be #TrackSMART by following railroad safety practices. SMART is asking motorists and pedestrians to be alert and aware at all crossing gates and remember the following safety tips: Never stop your car on the railroad tracks. Do not cross the tracks until you are sure...
The County of Marin is offering new incentives to landlords who participate in the Housing Choice Voucher Program. If you own or operate rental housing, check out the County’s new Landlord Partnership Program and learn how you can take advantage of new benefits and program features, including enhanced security deposits, special loans, vacancy loss coverage,...
Last week we held our 22nd annual employee Bocce tournament at the Albert Park Bocce courts. This City tradition is a fun way for coworkers to get to know each other and bond over a potluck picnic and a friendly game of bocce; but it can get quite competitive! This year’s final round was a...
As we continue to work to end homelessness in San Rafael, it is critical that we simultaneously create lively and active public spaces filled with residents, visitors, businesses, and customers. In July of 2016 the City welcomed aboard Danielle O'Leary as our new Director of Economic Development and Innovation to help achieve that goal. Danielle brings: ...
Here's an update of what we've done and what we're doing next to better serve San Rafael. Done Had an awesome Labor Day weekend and some well deserved r&r. Created new online forms for claims, a neighborhood association directory, various applications and complaints. Identified about 50 PDF handouts to be converted and consolidated into webpages....
This Spotlight shines on a group of volunteers who combined have served almost 15 years as Concierge Volunteers. Some are retired, while others have jobs and seek another venue for experience or to meet and help a diversity of people. Thank you to our current volunteers: Joanne Doyle (9 years), Judy Herman (3 years), Dennis...
In a post a few weeks ago, I shared that people experiencing homelessness typically fall into one of three buckets. At the risk of making some even broader generalizations, as the number of challenges a person faces increases (e.g. no job, loss of connection to family, addiction, mental illness, etc.), it becomes: Harder to establish...
Here's an update of what we've done and what we're doing next to better serve San Rafael. Done Developed draft content for smaller department pages (City Attorney, City Clerk, City Council, City Manager, Human Resources, IT, and Finance). Provided feedback on design options for color palette, image gallery, iconography, typography, and overall look & feel...
The Police Department is offering the Parent Project program again this September. This award-winning program helps parents raising strong-willed or out-of-control adolescents. Parents of kids ages 11 – 18 meet once a week for ten weeks and learn how to manage their child’s decisions in regards to: drugs and alcohol use, running away, gang involvement,...
It may seem early, but our Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) celebrations will be upon us before we know it! We invite you to participate in this powerful and meaningful celebration of life and honor. The community event will be held at the Albert J. Boro Community Center on Saturday, November 5,...
On Sunday, August 14, our very own Cory Bytof, Volunteer and Sustainability Program Coordinator, received the Sustainability Hero award at Sustainable San Rafael’s summer celebration. He was honored with this award “for his sustained energy, creativity, care, intelligence and fun in guiding our city towards a lighter impact on our planet and a fuller embrace...
What do you do for the City? Carol Jacobs-Courtz began working with the City in 1971/72 as a Recreation Leader with the Parks and Recreation Department, now the Community Services Department. Carol has a degree in Sociology and an Associate Degree in Gerontology. Soon after she began her work with the City, she was put...
The City-Ritter Memorandum of Understanding At the August 15th City Council Meeting, the Council approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ritter Center to work in partnership on a number of operational changes at Ritter. In an effort to continue to provide critical resources for people experiencing homelessness, while simultaneously addressing the growing concerns...
Describe your volunteer activity with San Rafael? As weather permits, I pull French broom from the 15 acre Gerstle Park open space. This project started about 25 years ago. At that time, nobody knew this area was public open space. The primary entrance was marked with no trespassing signs. Even if a hiker didn't heed...
Here's an update of what we've done and what we're doing next to better serve San Rafael. Done Wrote a post about our current site analytics. Decided the team needed a Trello board for better coordination and communication. It’s already helping. Pretty much finished all the answers content! Whew! There’s a few we still need...
Understanding our current site analytics is a piece of our new content strategy. Although they don’t tell the whole story, they provide insight on what people are looking to do on the current site and how they are getting there. Over the past year, our site had almost 371,382 unique page views and 56.4% exited...
If you're a local-government manager or elected official, by now you've probably heard a fair amount about the need for better citizen engagement in government decision-making. You may even have your own success stories about times your city or agency made a special effort to involve community members in policies that affect them. And you...
by Andrew Hening, Director of Homeless Planning & Outreach Celebrating Ongoing Partnership As a quick refresher, Ritter Center has been looking for a new site for over three years, and in March, the City Council established a subcommittee comprised of Mayor Phillips, Councilmember Gamblin, and City staff to help intensify the search efforts. At the...
Here's an update of what we've done and what we're doing next to better serve San Rafael. Done Created design subcommittee to work with local design firm on color palette, image gallery, iconography, typography, and overall look & feel. Identified workflow and process issues to solve with online forms and new digital services, such as...
This month San Rafael, Calif., has released a beta site along with a new strategy to modernize its digital presence. The Bay Area city just north of San Francisco plans to revitalize its outreach and citizen services with a number of digital upgrades. Read full article on techwire.net...
Describe your volunteer activity with San Rafael? I created the Resilient Neighborhoods Program in 2011 and have been running it since as a full-time volunteer. Resilient Neighborhoods is a Marin program that works to bring residents together to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions, prepare for emergencies, and make their communities safer and stronger. The program...
Here's an update of what we've done and what we're doing next to better serve San Rafael. Done Developed mission statement for the project: Easy to use online services to make your life better. (And, we decided on a theme song). Started interviewing departments to learn about key programs, services, and common questions. Discovered some...
Even though we know we shouldn’t attribute the characteristics of a minority to the overall group, we do that all the time with homeless people. Communities that are ending homelessness have understood that individualization is the key to success. When we do this, new insights emerge, and we begin to see that there is a...
San Rafael, California, is hoping to re-design its web presence with some help from the public — and improve city services in the process. Read full article on StateScoop.com...
