Patricia Quintero Estades

Community Engagement Post #4: On social media and online engagement

by Bedrosian Center

In our previous post on community engagement, we talked a lot about innovation and how to make citizen engagement more attractive for community members. Additionally, during our first LA Civics Initiative workshop, we talked about the barriers that prevent people from becoming civically engaged in LA. One of the barriers that our attendees pointed to was a certain disconnect or feeling of apathy from Angelenos towards government or other formal institutions. Could online engagement and social media be the keys to making communities feel more interested and connected to local governance and decision-making?

Community Engagement Post #3: On informing and educating the public, and innovation

by Bedrosian Center

by Patricia Quintero Estades One of the barriers discouraging civic involvement identified in our LA Civics Initiative kick-off workshop last year was “baseline knowledge”—the idea that people need to be informed and educated in certain issues and processes in order for them to fully engage and participate. It is no surprise that Sherry Arnstein writing on…

Community Engagement Post #2: On being genuine and building trust

by Bedrosian Center

Building trust is paramount for genuine community engagement

As I mentioned in our first community engagement post, Arnstein’s article on citizen participation (1969) shows us that there are wrong and illegitimate ways to do community or stakeholder engagement. In my research and my classes at Price, I’ve found that the first step to a legitimate process seems to be a legitimate desire by the engager to listen to the stakeholders and take their input into account when making decisions.

A Conversation with Journalist Pilar Marrero: Toxic Immigration Rhetoric and America’s Future

by Bedrosian Center

by Patricia Quintero Estades Last Wednesday, we had the pleasure of welcoming journalist Pilar Marrero for a conversation with our own Sherry Bebitch Jeffe about toxic immigration rhetoric and the 2016 Presidential Election. Pilar Marrero is an immigration expert; she’s been covering social and political issues pertaining to the Latinx community in the U.S. for over…

Agriculture and Water in California (Part II: Problems of groundwater depletion)

by Bedrosian Center

by Patricia Quintero Estades In a previous post, I discussed some of the issues of agriculture and water use in California. Though constantly stricken with water scarcity issues, California is a large agricultural supplier, with most of its operations concentrated in the Central Valley. In talking about agriculture and water use in California, it is impossible…

Agriculture and Water in California (Part I: Issues of water use and conservation)

by Bedrosian Center

As the recent spate of wildfires around the state should remind us, California is still in the midst of its worst drought in recorded history. Water in California often becomes too scarce to support all of the state’s population and its economic activity—and this is made more dire by the existence of a rather large agricultural sector concentrated in the Central Valley. California is a massive agricultural supplier (⅔ of the country’s fruits and nuts) and a large portion of the state’s available water is allocated to agricultural uses.

5 Things to Know About Water Desalination

by Bedrosian Center

Worldwide use of water desalination has been growing in the past years. Countries in the Middle East (such as Saudi Arabia and Israel) have made impressive advances and significant investments in desalination technology in the last decade. Israel opened its first large-scale desalination plant in 2005. Ten years later, desalination plants produce 40% of the country’s water supply.

In the U.S., the largest desalination plant came online in Carlsbad, San Diego County this past December— along with a billion-dollar price tag. Although smaller plants have been operating since the 1970s …

Tackling U.S. Water Infrastructure Problems

by Bedrosian Center

by Patricia Quintero Estades The water crisis in Flint Michigan has shed light on problems of water contamination and of crumbling water infrastructure facing communities all over the U.S. With presidential candidates like Trump and Sanders regularly highlighting infrastructure issues as key aspects of their platforms and the considerable national attention given to water because of Flint, it…