600 active young people making a difference

For the second year in a row, the entire incoming freshman class at California Lutheran University will be spending a day cleaning up the Ventura River bottom. Last year's clean-up removed more than five tons of trash from the Ventura River bottom.

In tough economic times, government services have been reduced. Ventura cut $11 million to balance this year's budget. But that doesn't mean that we can't be creative and work together for a better community.

On Monday, August 31, 600 students from will join forces with the City's Volunteer Ventura! and work alongside staff from the Community Services, Public Works/Environmental Services, Police, and Fire departments for the City's largest annual volunteer project. Cal Lutheran president Chris Kimball, along with staff, faculty and cabinet members, will participate in the event.

Student volunteers, City staff, and community members will begin work along the beach at the Ventura River mouth and spread out north along the riverbed to remove mountains of trash left behind by homeless encampments.

This event will reduce the waste washed into the ocean during the rainy winter months, while raising students' awareness of the social issues surrounding homelessness and its impact on the natural environment. Under new environmental regulatory requirements, the City of Ventura could be fined as much as $25,000 per day if trash levels exceed already stringent standards.

Stine Odegard, CLU's Coordinator for Community Service, declared, "We believe that getting incoming students to help with the river clean-up in their first few days on campus is a great way to introduce them to CLU's commitment to service and justice and to connect them to the local community in a meaningful way."

The partnership extends well beyond Cal Lutheran and the City of Ventura. Local waste disposal company E.J. Harrison, Home Depot, the Water Store, the Salvation Army, Goodwill Industries, and Costco in Westlake provided services, donations and financial support to make the clean-up a success.

Last week, media around the State covered a push by business leaders to promote constructive Economic Development in California. Zoe Taylor, President/CEO of the Ventura Chamber was prominently featured, telling the story of how business, community and environmental leaders came together through our Economic Summit to build consensus and take united action. She urged California to pursue a similar approach.

"Partnerships" is more than a buzzword. Working together works. Carl Guardino, President of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, clearly spells out the formula for community success. "People often ask us how we've been able, in the face of intense competition, to keep Silicon Valley a world leader in technology. It's simple. Communities and regions that succeed are the ones that spend at least 80% of their time on achieving the 80% of the goals on which they agree. Communities that fail spend 80% of their time bickering about the 20% of their goals where they disagree. Nothing gets done and everyone blames everyone else. Shared success is the only way to go in today's world."

It's election time in Ventura, with 15 candidates for City Council and three ballot measures vying for attention. There will be lots of debate on issues of disagreement. But the bigger picture shouldn't be missed. When elections are over, everyone has to work together if we want to achieve the vision of Ventura's citizens for a better future. Whether it is students wading into the river bed to clean up five tons of trash or 150 citizens banding together to work for economic development in their community, partnerships are the way to shared success.