Dee Davis Checks On Francisco Guajardo

In this week’s edition of #CheckOnYourNeighbor, Dee Davis, President of the Center for Rural Strategies, checks in on Francisco Guajardo. Francisco was the first Chairman of the Board of Rural Strategies and is currently the CEO of the Museum of South Texas History.

You can find more stories from our neighbors here.  Ready to check on your neighbor? Find out more information about the project and share your conversation with us via the form below the video. 

Have you found yourself wondering how an old friend or acquaintance is doing during this remarkable, uncertain time in our nation?
We would like you to join us in checking on our neighbors. It’s easy to participate.

  1. Choose someone you don’t talk to often and reach out over phone, email, facebook, or text. It could be a friend from college, a neighbor down the street, an old colleague. 
  2. Ask them some questions. Try one or two of these: How is today different than a month ago? How is this situation affecting your work? How are you keeping your spirits up? What do you or the people in your work need right now? Or simply ask, how are you doing? Ask them to send you a photo that illustrates their current life. 
  3. Send us a few sentences (or a few paragraphs!) below about what you heard in your conversation. Not sure what to share? Check out some examples from checking in with our neighbors here.
  4. Ask them to pay it forward and check in with their neighbor. Send them the link to this page so they can send us some information on their conversation.
  5.  

Drawing Resilience: Lissette Garay

Lissette Garay is a Michelin-trained Chef specializing in traditional Mexican cooking techniques. She and her wife Cassandra Garay own La Cocina, a restaurant in Port Townsend, Wa. Lissette has been working with the Organic Seed Alliance to create a type of masa corn for tortillas that will grow in the short daylight season of the Pacific Northwest. After years of research, the Garay’s and their staff are finally planting their first crop. Their dream is to make corn tortillas for their community with the smallest possible footprint, while creating jobs for local farmers and cooks.

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Whitney Kimball Coe on stage at University of Chicago

Watch: Our Fraying Common Purpose: Rebuilding Democracy One Neighborhood at a Time

Watch: Our Fraying Common Purpose: Rebuilding Democracy One Neighborhood at a Time, featuring Whitney Kimball Coe in conversation with Stephen Heintz, Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Michael Smith, CEO of AmeriCorps, for “Our Fraying Common Purpose: Rebuilding Democracy One Neighborhood at a Time at UChicago Institute of Politics’ Bridging the Divide: Forging the Ties between Urban and Rural America conference.

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Rio Grande reflections

Taneum Fotheringill shares her reflections on traveling to the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas — and how it changed her understanding of a region often misunderstood by outsiders.

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