BY VIVIENNE AGUILAR

Central Valley Journalism Collaborative

The start of what organizers hope will be an ongoing conversation around building a thriving, ecologically sustainable economy that works for all in the northern San Joaquin Valley began this week with a roomful of women who already have deep roots in the community. 

The largely Spanish-speaking cohort of 18 women are part of BEAM Circular’s inaugural ambassador programs, for both adults and youth. Among the adult group is Amanda Morales, the only English-speaking participant and a mother of five. 

Morales spends her time speaking on parent advisory committees around the Modesto area and joined BEAM Circular’s program to gather more information and resources to bring back to her community.

“I am interested in this for our future. This is just another part of keeping our earth healthy and safe,” she said about the group’s mission.

On Monday, BEAM Circular hosted its debut meeting of its Community Ambassadors Program, where the women who traveled from all around Stanislaus County to the nonprofit organization’s headquarters in downtown Modesto joined the first of three lecture-discussion style sessions. 

The BEAM Youth Ambassador program is scheduled to meet for the first time on Thursday in San Joaquin County. The cohort is made up of 11 high school students, ages 17 to 18, several of whom are bilingual and also speak Spanish, Punjabi or Farsi.

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Participants of both the community and youth programs will receive stipends for $25 an hour at the end of each weekly educational session, as well travel reimbursements to class and field trips. Participants heard about the ambassadorships through other local community based organizations and civic groups and signed up to join the program.

“The ultimate goal of both programs is to provide a deeper learning experience for community members and youth so they can become ambassadors of our message,” spokeswoman Adrenna Alkhas wrote in an email.

The youth program has an extra goal of exposing the cohort to a variety of bioeconomy careers, in fields such as engineering. The hope, Alkhas said, is that students will learn about jobs they’d never heard of before and discover how they are connected to the bioeconomy.

BEAM, which stands for “Bioeconomy, Agriculture and Manufacturing” is a Modesto-based nonprofit organization focused on economic development and environmental solutions for residents in the northern San Joaquin Valley, which comprises San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Merced counties.

A bioeconomy includes repurposing waste through creative recycling, which will hopefully create more jobs. For example, instead of throwing green waste, like grape vines or nut shells, into a landfill where its decomposition will contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, these materials could be reused.  

Launched in 2023, BEAM Circular’s goal is to create environmentally and economically sustainable jobs for residents in the northern San Joaquin Valley, through programs and community partnerships across agriculture, education and public sectors. 

Yolanda Meraz, program director of Stanislaus 2030, a public-private partnership focused on economic development in Stanislaus County, said working with BEAM, North Valley Thrive and other organizations across the northern San Joaquin Valley has allowed them to attract funding and resources to the region because of their connectivity.

Through Spanish-to-English translation, Meraz said they have completed the first-ever economic development plan for the three-county region which will help guide local priorities to promote job and industry growth.  

“We’re laying the groundwork for this industry to thrive and grow in our region. We believe that every person should have access to a good job between air and water and a thriving community,” Martinez told the group during the opening presentation.

Several participants already have backgrounds in education or as community health workers, or “promotoras” from surrounding communities like Patterson, Oakdale, and Newman. 

After the program ends, these women will continue to do community outreach with adults, because they already have a network of people they work with, said Briana Gonzalez, community partnerships manager for BEAM, and the advisor for the youth ambassadors program.

“(These ambassadors) have a very big reach at Stanislaus County, which is amazing, and they’re usually people who are underserved, underprivileged, and don’t get as much access to things. So they are the ones that are bringing that access,” Gonzalez said.

On top of bringing the access to their communities, the ambassadors began discussions about their concerns to one another and the BEAM facilitators. Through Spanish translation, one participant talked about how she is worried that a community-wide push for more technological advancements to the agriculture workforce in the name of economic development is potentially harmful for employees. 

She recounted how her mother’s job at Blue Diamond once paid the bills and allowed her to raise a family and retire, but was later replaced by machinery. How, she asked, is the region going to make sure this isn’t the direction we continue to move in?

“The reason why we’re doing this is really to not only increase awareness of the circular bioeconomy, and how it’s impacting our region, or how it can, and then the jobs it’s bringing, but also making sure we’re getting that community feedback loop, and that way it’s going to steer the way the future prosperity programs that we create,” Gonzalez said. 

In June, BEAM released its first report from a community feedback loop, titled the “Good Jobs Framework”.

Vivienne Aguilar is a reporter for The Modesto Focus, a project of the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. Contact Aguilar at vivienne@cvlocaljournalism.org.