The Brief

Victoria Charles has been getting students at Santa Monica College to think differently about waste for over a decade.

On the first day of class, she often gives them a warning: “You won’t be the Belle of the ball.” After learning how much waste the average person produces in a day and how this impacts the planet, they’ll feel compelled to live differently and speak up at social functions. And when they do, people won’t always like it. “You’re going to be the party pooper,” Charles cautions.

Charles teaches two of the four courses required to earn a certificate in Recycling and Resource Management at SMC. The coursework delves deep into waste — examining how culture, laws, and daily habits inform what ends up in landfills. Perhaps more importantly, students learn how waste can be prevented and repurposed.

In practice, this can involve small changes, Charles said. When she buys lunch on campus, for instance, she’s usually offered a plastic fork. Charles always declines it, even if it’s recyclable.

“Recycling is very energy intensive,” she explained. Her fork would have “to be shipped somewhere,” then “go through a lot of mechanical processing.” Instead, Charles keeps a set of reusable utensils in her office. In class, she and her students spend a lot of time discussing the need to use something for “less than five minutes and then toss it away.”

Because there are no prerequisites for the certificate, Charles’ students come from all walks of life. Some of them are fresh out of high school. Others already have higher ed degrees and are looking to chart a new path. But by the time they complete the coursework, all of them gain a new outlook on waste. Many of her students are using this knowledge to launch new careers.

Finding the right fit

Sofia Ratcovich began her higher ed journey at Santa Monica College in 2000, and it took her about five years to graduate.

“I kept changing my major,” she said. “I was like, ‘Maybe I want to be a singer, or maybe I want to look into acting.’” She still appreciates getting the chance to explore those interests.

Ratcovich earned associate degrees in biology and environmental studies, then transferred to Cal State Dominguez Hills for her bachelor’s degree.

At the time, she envisioned a career in environmental law. She was looking for a way to make a living while caring for the environment.

Throughout her undergraduate career, Ratcovich volunteered with several environmental groups. On Saturdays, she was often at the beach, leading group cleanups.

The ocean means a lot to her, Ratcovich said. She and her parents migrated to the U.S. from Mexico and, growing up, they didn’t have the means to take her to the movies or Disneyland. Instead, they spent a lot of time along the shore.

Through her volunteer work, Ratcovich met several people who encouraged her to sign up for the Recycling and Resource Management certificate at Santa Monica College. Eventually, she returned to the place where she began her higher ed journey.

The experience reinvigorated her. She said she loved being surrounded by students and faculty who also cared deeply about the planet. Plus, the classes helped her see that there were many other careers she could tap into.

Ultimately, Ratcovich went on to found Zero Waste Company, a sustainability consulting firm that advises companies on how to host events with minimal impact on the environment. The inspiration: a sustainability conference with unsustainable practices — coffee served in styrofoam cups with plastic stir sticks. Lunch served on styrofoam plates with plastic forks and cups. When it came time to discard her waste, she couldn’t find a recycling bin.

Ratcovich asked to speak with the conference’s organizers.

“I’ve been coming to this conference for years,” she told them. “I love your speakers, I love your program. But this really bothers me.”

When the organizers asked what she’d do differently, she had a list.

Since then, Ratcovich has provided guidance for major clients, including UCLA, Adidas, Red Bull, and the L.A. Times.

She offers practical advice, like wrapping cookies in paper sleeves, instead of plastic wrap. Ratcovich and her employees have also been known to comb through garbage bins, sorting out what can be recycled or composted.

“These things might seem miniscule,” she said. “But, in the end, if you change those things, you end up with food waste that can be composted, as opposed to material that just goes straight to landfill.”

For years, Ratcovich’s father wondered aloud about the sacrifices he’d made so that his daughter could devote herself to tallying trash. Then he saw the logo for her company in the newspaper.

Reinvention

Other students have also used Santa Monica’s program as a stepping stool, either for further study or to reinvent themselves.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in art history at Florida State University, Simone Paz completed the SMC program as a way to discern whether she wanted to pursue a master’s degree in environmental studies.

Years later, she recalled an assignment that required her to track everything she discarded.

“It was four days worth of gathering and collecting everything that you throw away, and just laying it all out there, cataloging it, photographing it,” she said. “It was really eye opening.”

Paz ultimately earned a master’s degree in environmental studies at Cal State Fullerton. Today, she’s preparing to launch her own startup, with a focus on sustainability in the arts.

Kyle Winterboer grew up on a farm in Iowa, then went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in music performance at Cal State Long Beach. After earning his degree, he went to Santa Monica College with plans to go into health care.

“I was thinking about physical therapy for specific music injuries,” he said. “I got through my anatomy class and really was happy with that, mom was so glad.”

Through classmates, he heard about the sustainability courses at SMC. He enrolled for fun and fell in love. Like Ratcovich and Paz, he reveled in being surrounded by faculty and classmates who were enthusiastic about resolving waste issues. Outside of the classroom, the campus itself was an inspiration.

“I loved seeing the giant worm bins behind the cafeteria,” he said. The bins, which house hundreds of thousands of worms, convert about 500 pounds of food scraps into nutrient-rich soil each week, which is then used for landscaping on campus.

Winterboer went on to earn a master’s degree in public policy at UCLA, with a focus on food and sustainability studies. He’s now weighing whether to go to law school, earn a doctorate so he can continue doing more research — or both.

Companies that create and manufacture personal delivery devices, those cute bots you see on public sidewalks, have been working on growth plans for years.

Cities, on whose public sidewalks the delivery bots travel, are only now catching up to regulating them and charging the companies fees.

That's what's happening in Glendale, where, City Councilman Dan Brotman says, “[The delivery bots] just appeared out of nowhere. The company that operates [them] never reached out and talked to us."

He and other council members, he said, want to know if the delivery devices make it harder for Glendale residents using wheelchairs to use public sidewalks.

“I also am curious who is getting the financial benefit from these,” he said.

Glendale’s City Council asked city staff last month to draft two proposals, one with regulations and fees and the other pausing the operation of delivery bots while the council studies their impact. Brotman said staff may deliver those proposals to him and his colleagues in the months to come.

The two largest cities in LA County, at two different stages

The City of Los Angeles approved rules for personal delivery devices a few years ago, including flat permit fees. The City Council has since asked staff in the Department of Transportation to revaluate those rules and make suggestions.

One idea being considered — charging companies for every bot trip instead of the flat fee.

A delivery robot sits next to the bike path by the beach

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Courtesy Coco

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L.A. City Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez successfully introduced the motion last year to have the regulations revisited. 

“[The companies are] starting to put movie ads or show ads, and if they're generating revenue off that, we want to know what that looks like but also be able to have a fee for them,” Hernandez said.

That report should be presented to the City Council later this year, she said. 

She’s also keen to hear from the public about their views on delivery bots. 

Companies that make the devices argue they’re providing an essential delivery service to residents while cutting down on the number of vehicles on the road making the deliveries.

“We currently pay fees in Los Angeles, Chicago and West Hollywood as part of their permit programs and are open to similar models in other cities,” said Vignesh Ram, vice president of policy at Serve Robotics, by email.

Starship Technologies' delivery robot exits the elevator in the company's office.

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Meg Kelly

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NPR

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The company is now operating in Long Beach; Ram says it notified the city before beginning to operate there.

A City of Long Beach spokesperson told LAist its business licensing, planning and public works teams are currently working on recommendations for regulations. Those should be presented to the City Council early this summer.

The story first appeared on The LA Local.

When Hermila Melero trains future therapists at Cal State LA, she emphasizes something she learned over nearly two decades working on the Eastside: It matters where you’re from. 

“When you know the difference between East LA and Boyle Heights … they appreciate that on a really fundamental level,” Melero, director of field education at CSULA’s School of Social Work, said. “You feel a sense of safety and being seen when the person reflects what you look like, has a foundational understanding of where you come from.” 

Now, a $48 million grant to California State University, Los Angeles, will open new opportunities for students to serve the communities they come from. The funding will expand the university’s social work and counseling programs, training 1,000 new students to support youth mental health in Eastside communities and other underserved areas of Los Angeles.

What will the funding do?

The five-year investment by the Ballmer Group — the largest grant in the university’s history — will significantly grow Cal State LA’s Master of Social Work program. 

Its one-year MSW program will double in size, the two‑year program will increase by 50%, and the School-Based Family Counseling program will also double. The bulk of the funding will support scholarships, new faculty and the expansion of clinical placements.

Cal State LA already partners with organizations across the Eastside, including El Centro De Ayuda, AltaMed, Survivor Justice Center and schools across LAUSD. The new funding will allow more students to work directly with these groups, serving families who often lack access to care. 

“This speaks to the amazing work our social work and counseling programs are doing within our schools and with LA’s agencies serving youth and families,” said CSULA President Berenecea Johnson Eanes in a statement to Boyle Heights Beat. “With more clinical placements and greater numbers of master’s alumni, we will make real strides in meeting a critical shortage of qualified social workers and counselors.”

In addition to CSULA, CSU Dominguez Hills received $29 million to expand mental health resources in South LA and UCLA will use part of its $33 million grant to develop a minor in youth behavioral health. The three universities have received a total of $110 million. 

When Hermila Melero trains future therapists at Cal State LA, she emphasizes something she learned over nearly two decades working on the Eastside: It matters where you’re from.

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Courtesy CSULA

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Why representation matters

For Melero, who was born and raised in East LA, the expansion is personal. 

Melero spent 17 years of her professional career as a social worker in her own community and the surrounding areas. She witnessed firsthand how much her patients appreciated it when she spoke to them in Spanish or told them where she grew up. 

“You don’t have to explain yourself, you don’t have to explain what it’s like, you know, to grow up here,” she said. 

Now as director of field education, she helps place students in organizations, clinics and schools across the region, many of them serving the neighborhood they call home. 

Barriers to access

The need for more mental health workers comes at a time when many Eastside families are facing more barriers to care.

Stigma around mental health combined with fear tied to immigration raids have discouraged some people from seeking services, Melero said.

At the same time, financial challenges are making it harder for students to enter the profession. 

In January, the U.S. Department of Education updated its definition of a “professional degree” and excluded social work, which will affect graduate students’ eligibility for federal student loans, creating a significant financial barrier, according to the Council on Social Work Education.

Students hope to give back

For students like Silvia Perez, 41, financial assistance would be a great help.

The Cal State LA undergraduate student is pursuing her master’s degree after she graduates in May, all while raising two teenagers and a 23-year-old. Perez has been paying for her education by selling shoes and perfume outside of her home in East LA. 

Her decision to pursue a career in social work came after seeing her sister navigate the Department of Children and Family Services system with her children and witnessing how young people in her community struggled with substance abuse and homelessness. 

After graduating, Perez hopes to work in East LA to help the people she encounters every day. She believes that level of understanding can create trust with an already vulnerable population.

“I would like to help the people in my community first…I live the daily life that everyone else in my community faces,” she said.

For more information on CSULA’s MSW programs, click here.

Editor’s Note: The LA Local also receives support from the Ballmer Group.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

California scored a legal victory Monday that for now, undermines the Trump administration’s efforts to drastically cut funding for homeless housing.

Changes that would have diverted huge chunks of federal funds away from permanent housing and funneled them instead into temporary shelters and sober living programs will remain suspended after the Trump administration dropped its appeal of an earlier court loss. While the broader case is still being litigated, the new development could provide some reassurance to California counties waiting for the federal funds.

“We continue to fight for Californians and the rule of law, and we continue to win,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a news release. “People experiencing housing insecurity or homelessness need the federal government’s continued support — not a rollback of assistance.”

In November, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development attempted to change the way it doles out money for homeless services via its Continuum of Care program. It decreed that jurisdictions applying for a piece of about $4 billion in federal homelessness funds can’t spend more than 30% of that money on permanent housing — a move that would result in a significant cut to the type of long-term housing that can resolve someone’s homelessness.

Last year, California communities spent about 90% of their federal Continuum of Care funds on permanent housing.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration quickly joined 19 other states and the District of Columbia in suing to stop the Trump administration’s changes. In December, a federal judge in Rhode Island temporarily blocked the changes and ordered HUD to process funding applications under the original rules. The Trump administration appealed that ruling, leaving local governments and homeless service providers unsure of what they would be awarded funding for, and when.

The federal government on Monday dropped its appeal. While the rest of the lawsuit will move forward, and could take months to resolve, counties should be able to access permanent housing funds in the meantime.

Instead of prioritizing permanent housing, as has been the rule in the past, the Trump administration wants to focus more on shelters that get people off the streets quickly and temporarily, and on programs that require residents to be sober. HUD also attempted to ban the use of federal homelessness funds for diversity and inclusion efforts, support of transgender clients, and use of “harm reduction” strategies that seek to reduce overdose deaths by helping people in active addiction use drugs more safely.

A HUD spokesperson said the agency stood by its funding reforms.

“HUD remains committed to reforming the failed ‘Housing First’ approach and restoring the Continuum of Care program to its core objectives; reducing homelessness and promoting self-sufficiency for all vulnerable Americans, ensuring taxpayer dollars are directed towards those goals,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

HUD experienced another legal setback last month when a federal judge in Rhode Island shot down the agency’s attempt to upend another, smaller, source of federal homelessness funding. At issue in that case was a program called the Continuum of Care Builds grant, which funds the construction of new homeless housing. HUD last year made grantees reapply under a very different set of criteria, which seemed to disqualify organizations that support trans clients, use “harm reduction” to prevent drug overdose deaths or operate in a “sanctuary city.”

About $75 million in federal funds had been frozen as that case moved forward.

In March, the court found HUD violated the law through its “slapdash imposition of political whims.”

“This ruling is a victory for people across this nation who have overcome homelessness and stabilized in HUD’s permanent housing programs,” Ann Oliva, chief executive of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, which filed the lawsuit, wrote in a statement. “Today’s news reinforces a fundamental truth: that the work to end homelessness is not partisan, and never should be interfered with for political means.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.