Agency: Tides Center
Support Needed: $50,000
Purpose: Residential treatment program for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts

Nearly 1.8 million troops have served or currently are serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those lucky enough to make it home after completing one or more tours of duty often arrive with invisible wounds. About 20 percent of returning service members have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or experienced a traumatic brain injury; 14 percent meet the criteria for depression. These factors contribute to an increase in substance abuse, domestic violence, unemployment, homelessness and suicide.

In 2008, an innovative residential treatment program, called The Pathway Home (TPH), started helping male veterans learn to successfully reintegrate into civilian life. TPH's model combines evidence-based traditional therapies, like behavioral counseling and anger management, with holistic healing arts, such as yoga, meditation and tai chi. The typical client profile: 24 years old; a California resident; served multiple tours of duty; difficulty keeping a job after military discharge; taking a variety of pain or anxiety medications; and, has behavioral or relationship challenges.

Clients, who reside at the Yountville Veterans Home during the four-to-six months of treatment, experience structured days that include a range of therapies, plus groups like art and music expression, and bicycling. Weekly bowling nights hosted by local Rotary Clubs, as well as dinners or poker games at the homes of area residents, also are part of the routine. TPH's emphasis on community engagement is unique and a powerful antidote to the strong feelings of isolation and stigma held by veterans.

Text-message prompts and podcasts are used to monitor clients' well-being and provide support after they complete the program, which currently is staffed by a cadre of 20 full- and part-time psychologists, social workers, PTSD counselors and nurses.

To date, TPH has treated 160-plus service men, plus family members. The annual budget is $1.8 million; TPH recently cut operating expenses and launched a campaign to raise $500,000 by July, since start-up funding (from an individual donor) will run out. An advisory council has raised $150,000 toward the immediate need to keep the doors open and build fundraising capacity. Support of this program would help war veterans return to a life worth living.

Editor's Note: Tides Center serves as fiscal sponsor for grants to The Pathway Home.

Agency: Napa Communities Firewise Foundation
Support Needed: $20,000
Purpose: Operating expenses for grassroots fire prevention program

Today, 70 percent of Napa County is considered to be in a "high fire danger" zone. Why? Although 240,000 acres have burned here since the 1940s, many places have never burned.

Another reason: Our "built environment" (mostly houses) continues to encroach upon wildlands. Not only do fires threaten air quality, soil composition, homes and lives, but they also are expensive--it typically costs at least $1 million per day to fight a wildfire.

In 2005, a group of community members and fire safety professionals formed a nonprofit called Napa Communities Firewise Foundation, with the twin goals of educating residents about how to make their neighborhoods safe, and sparking them to take action.

Napa Firewise has targeted 16 areas that are at the greatest risk of conflagration; the all-volunteer organization goes into each community and provides basic fire education workshops. A few local leaders, who have a passion for making their area fire safe, usually emerge from that initial meeting. Napa Firewise works with the newly-formed local group to convene additional neighborhood meetings and develop an action plan.

Typical fire safety projects include: clearing brush and chipping the vegetation; conducting defensible space inspections for homeowners at no cost; and, developing perimeter fuel breaks. Napa Firewise also will help local areas form their own "fire safe council," so they can continue the work.

So far, Napa Firewise has assisted eight neighborhoods, including Circle Oaks and Berryessa Estates, to develop and implement a fire safety plan and start their own councils. The goal is to add four new areas to the program each year; more recently, Mt. Veeder and Alta Heights residents have come on board.

This systematic approach is showing results. The organization has hosted 30-plus fire awareness workshops in neighborhoods and school classrooms; conducted 250 defensible space home inspections; cleared nearly 600 acres of dry wildland plant life; chipped 200,000 cubic yards of vegetation; and, developed six miles of fuel breaks.

To date, Napa Firewise has paid for its services, which average about $120,000 per year, with government grants--totaling more than $500,000--plus significant in-kind support from local fire protection agencies and Napa County residents. Your support would help Napa Firewise begin to diversify its funding and continue to ignite initiative among community members.

Agency: Preservation Napa Valley Inc.
Support Needed: $10,000
Purpose: Photography and architectural design costs for preservation projects

The old barns and dilapidated buildings that dot Napa Valley's landscape go unnoticed by many residents and tourists. Yet, Preservation Napa Valley (PNV) considers these unassuming structures to be unique treasures that tell our County's history. PNV, a fledgling, all-volunteer nonprofit, works to inform people about buildings shuttered long ago, document their history, and explore the possibilities of revitalization. The group also engages in advocacy when historic structures are impacted by new development projects, asking questions like "how do old buildings fit into growth?"

Since launching 18 months ago, PNV has: put together a first-ever tour of 19th-century barns that sold out to an audience of 200; worked with developers to document buildings before demolition, or find ways to repurpose them; and, created a public discussion forum that tackles thorny questions about growth and preservation.

PNV also completed a few preservation projects, with the goal of documenting particular historic buildings and their significance, coming up with plans for adaptive re-use, and sharing the work with community members via exhibits at local libraries or schools. For example, PNV organized a competition for kids at New Technology High School in Napa, in which 150 students studied the Old Adobe restaurant (165 years old and the oldest building in the County) and created plans for revitalizing and repurposing it. Community members came together to review the projects and vote for the best one.

Next on PNV's preservation project list: documenting the heritage of the Pope Valley Store and the Rutherford Depot--two of Napa County's most bustling places in the past, where people met to post a letter, exchange stories, purchase sundries or catch a train more than 100 years ago. Long-since closed, both buildings are in significant disrepair.

PNV wants to hire a local professional photographer to capture their current state and character, as well as an area architect to create designs for revitalizing both. The end-product will be a public exhibit of vintage and contemporary photographs, plus design renderings and sketches, that could serve as a springboard for future adaptive re-use of the structures.

Total cost for the project is $10,000, with $3,500 to pay the photographer, and the balance for the architect's fee. Support of this project would inform community members and invite them to consider a renewed future for two iconic, historic assets.