2020 Year-End Report

2

0

2

0

Y

E

A

R

-

E

N

D

R

E

P

O

R

T

FROM OUR PRESIDENT Let me start by saying the world is changing beyond recognition as I write and as this report goes to press. Commonweal has foreseen the kinds of changes we’ve seen this year for decades. We are as prepared as we can be to serve in turbulent times.

Welcome to the first Commonweal Year-End Report. We have two dozen programs and projects currently. We have a 44-year history of many significant projects and programs behind us.

Commonweal is quite unique in the range of initiatives we have in our three focal areas of health and healing, education and the arts, and environment and justice.

Among our past projects of significance, I would include the thousands of children and young adults helped by our Children and Young Adults Program directed by the late Carolyn Brown and the Ocean Policy Program that changed California’s off-shore management directed by Burr Heneman.

Many of our current projects have had significant impact: the Commonweal Cancer Help Program, Healing Circles, Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, Because Health, the Biomonitoring Resource Center, Healthy Environment and Endocrine Disrupter Strategies, The New School at Commonweal, the Commonweal Garden/Natura Institute for Ecology and Medicine, the Center for Creative Community, the Gift of Compassion, the Fall Gatherings, The Resilience Project, the Commonweal Juvenile Justice Program, and the Commonweal Retreat Center.

Other Commonweal programs are doing great work as well. Over the past 44 years, our way of choosing projects and people has been intuitive. Most major projects we developed ourselves. We offer support and resources to our programs and then wait to see what develops real power and traction over time. But in some cases, remarkable people showed up with strong visions whom we believed belonged at Commonweal. Now with Oren Slozberg’s leadership, Commonweal intends to become more intentional in nurturing projects that we believe will make the greatest difference now.

Our founding vision has been to contribute to healing people and the earth. The words have changed over time, but the vision remains. In our 44th year, we have a wise board of directors, strong intergenerational leadership, a gifted staff, and a remarkable global community of Commonweal friends.

We’re planning the next 44 years of service to people and the earth. We hope you will join us as we continue to change and grow.

With gratitude, Michael Lerner, President

2 COMMONWEAL

COMMONWEAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS Michael Lerner, President Catherine Dodd, Vice President Steven Bookoff, Treasurer Jaune Evans Katherine Fulton Judy Hatcher Angela Oh

F ROM O U R E X E C U T I V E D I R E C TO R Each year brings new horizons into our field of vision. Over the past year, so much has changed and so much has emerged. Through the density of challenges—the never-ending pandemic, fundamental threats to the United States and global democracies, the immediacy of climate change as experienced in natural disasters, and the deafening cry for social justice—the task of finding purpose and direction has become an existential challenge and necessity. Commonweal heeded that call through contraction, expansion, and resilience.

For most of this year, our Commonweal land has been quiet. Other than personal restorative retreats for friends that are working on the front lines of health, justice, and environment, there have been no cancer help programs, summer camps, or contemplative gatherings. However, we have found a presence and calling through virtual spaces. Hundreds of online healing circles, webinars, and conversations about our core areas of health and healing, education and the arts, and environment and justice have emerged and proliferated.

Working with the board, staff, and community, we also developed a 2020 Vision Statement for Commonweal. This always-evolving narrative helps define and guide us as we look beyond the horizon. Our core values—healing, resilience, and justice—resonate all the louder in our work over this last year and will continue to shape our work into 2021.

In the upcoming years we expect to see our work continue to grow deeper and broader, developing a virtual environment to hold our integrative medicine, healing, and community support work; strengthening the Commonweal physical site to be more resilient to withstand social and environmental challenges; adding new youth programs for young women and for youth climate activists; broadening our work in environmental health through education and research; offering monthly Visual Thinking Strategies trainings online; deepening our internal and external justice work; and, when it’s safe for our community and staff, re-opening the Commonweal Retreat Center and the Commonweal Gardens.

In her book, My Grandfather’s Blessings, Rachel Naomi Remen says, “Helping, fixing, and serving represent three different ways of seeing life. When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole.”

Life is whole. And Commonweal remains committed to serving the needs of life today and in the days and years to come. With eyes on the horizon and feet on the ground, we are resilient and we are ready.

Happy New Year, Oren Slozberg, Executive Director

2020 YEAR-END REPORT 3

SOME OF OUR WORK THIS YEAR:

Developed an online model for the Commonweal Cancer Help Program with a successful pilot program called Sanctuary.

Offered COVID-related information and support via online Community Medicine Circles for almost 400 people through the Natura Institute for Ecology and Medicine.

Held on-line, volunteer-led Healing Circles and trainings for more than 5,500 people in 15 countries.

Helped to pass new California legislation that will close the California state youth prison system, transferring full responsibility for about 4,000 at-risk youth each year to counties and capping 30 years of system reform advocacy by our Juvenile Justice Program.

Provided 125,000 users in almost 200 countries with comprehensive, science-based integrative cancer treatment resources on the Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapy website.

Provided COVID-related resources, tips, and toolkits to 100,000 monthly visitors on the Collaborative for Health and Environment’s Because Health website.

Brought online “Look Clubs” to more than 1,500 participants— and online trainings for more than 2,500 teachers and 75,000 students­—through Visual Thinking Strategies.

4 COMMONWEAL

Explored the new pandemic world through webinar conversations for more than 270,000 viewers and 57,000 listeners around the world at The New School at Commonweal.

Supported almost 300 South American migrants in a Tijuana sanctuary through our Migrant Support Program, funneling support to build 20 tiny homes for migrants who remain at the sanctuary waiting for their asylum hearings to be held.

Produced two Last Acts of Kindness: Care and Compassion at the End of Life weekend workshops, in collaboration with the MERI Center at University of California San Francisco.

Co-authored a series of articles about the need to regulate Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), published by the Global PFAS Science in a number of high-profile scientific journals through the Biomonitoring Research Center—with efforts over the past ten years to biomonitor the toxic effects of chemicals on 370,000 professional U.S. firefighters and 700,000 volunteer firefighters and firefighters globally.

Offset electricity use on our site by 95% with a new solar electric system, a new electric vehicle charging station, ham radio equipment, and many other resilience resources at our Commonweal site through The Resilience Project at Commonweal.

With the help of your generous donations and support, our programs stepped up to offer healing, support, and resources to hundreds of thousands of people during this unprecedented year of pandemic and climate-related emergencies.

2020 YEAR-END REPORT  5

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

COMMONWEAL PROGRAMS Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies Biomonitoring Resource Center Collaborative on Health and the Environment Commonweal Cancer Help Program Communitas Foundation for Embodied Medicine Gift of Compassion Healing Circles Bay Area Global Langley Houston Healing Yoga Foundation Healthy Environment and Endocrine Disruptor Strategies Integrative Law Institute Juvenile Justice Program Kids & Caregivers Natura Institute for Ecology and Medicine Power of Hope Youth Camp Regenerative Design Institute SafetyNEST Science Taproot The Courage & Renewal Network of Northern California The New School at Commonweal The Resilience Project Visual Thinking Strategies

Coming Together in Uncertain Times Healing Circles Launches Free Online Circles for All In response to the social isolation and anxiety that became significant issues as the pandemic blossomed, our Healing Circles programs began piloting and experimenting with online circles.

We started in March by launching Healing Circles Bay Area, with five weekly online healing circles for our Commonweal Cancer Help Program alumni. This volunteer-run program has been able to touch the lives of hundreds by offering sacred spaces for listening and support. Both Healing Circles Langley and Houston also moved their community support programs online as soon as lockdown began.

Our Healing Circles partner centers— Callanish, Harmony Hill, and Smith Center—were also quick to find ways to support their communities during these unprecedented times. We formed a Healing Circles Global online Steering Council in April.

Since the first training in May, our Healing Circles Global program has trained 390 people in the host and guardian roles.

People with a tremendous amount of personal and professional experience in serving others have joined the training from more than 32 states in the U.S., six Canadian provinces, and 13 other countries from North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia.

We encourage trainees to offer circles wherever they can best be of service but invite them to host with us through Healing Circles Global. In addition to training, mentoring, and visioning teams for our volunteers, we have six teams providing healing support for anyone facing grief, cancer, caregiving, and social isolation. We also have now offered our first professionoriented (healthcare), geographically

specialized (Europe), and language-based (German) teams. This is a labor of love and service. Although we volunteer our time, we gain back a sense of belonging to community and meaning along with the health benefits of being a volunteer.

In September, Healing Circles turned a corner as we launched a new website and welcomed the general public to join our community in an amazing selection of circles. Circles included Coming Together: Facing uncertainty; Grieving Together: Losing a loved one; Living with Cancer: Healing together; Supporting Healthcare: Caring for professionals; Caregivers Together: Supporting loved ones; and Coming Together: Toward social justice.

If you add all of our Healing Circles programs together (Global, Bay Area, Langley, and Houston), in 2020 we’ve offered more than 1,000 volunteer-led circles and trainings that have served more than 5,500 people across the United States and in 15 countries.

In a world that’s hurting, many of us are looking for ways we can help. Healing Circles Global is here to help all of us grieve our losses, cope with uncertainty, increase our resilience, and continue to envision and create the world ahead of us.

We invite you to join a circle or come host a circle. You are needed.

—Diana Lindsay, Co-Director, Healing Circles Global / Director, Healing Circles Langley healingcirclesglobal.org

Closing the State’s Youth Prison System New California Legislation Reflects Four Decades of Advocacy by Commonweal Under legislation signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom in September, the California state youth prison system will close all its remaining facilities. The new law—Senate Bill 823—stops intake at the state Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) by July of 2021. Full shutdown is likely to come in 2024 when all currently confined youth complete their state sentences. Going forward, counties will inherit full responsibility for the care and supervision of youth who can no longer be committed to the custody of the state.

facilities—including gang fights and even muggings of new inmates as they lay sleeping at night. Three subsequent Commonweal reports laid out an agenda for a more humane approach including reduced commitment rates and shorter stays in confinement. In 2007, Commonweal Juvenile Justice Program Director David Steinhart played a key role in helping lawmakers draft and implement a landmark reform that sharply reduced commitments to the state system while providing state funds to counties for local services to “realigned” youth.

SB 823 will have its strongest impact on a core and recurring at-risk juvenile population of approximately 4,000 California youth per year. This represents the number of youth who are adjudicated by the juvenile courts annually for a listed, serious offense that would qualify them for commitment to the DJJ under current law. These youth are also, by the nature of their offense, eligible for transfer to the adult criminal justice system.

SB 823 establishes a range of treatment and custodial alternatives at the local level for youth who qualify for state (DJJ) commitment under current law but can no longer be sent to the custody of the state once SB 823 is fully effective.

The passage of SB 823 is aptly described as an historic event in the long history of juvenile justice reform in California. We recognize, as well, that the work is not finished, and we remain committed to collaboration with policy makers and advocacy colleagues to ensure that youth will be well served in the newly realigned and reconfigured California youth justice system.

—David Steinhart, Director, Commonweal Juvenile Justice Program juvenilejusticeprogram.kinsta.cloud

A troubling feature of the state youth prison system has always been that youth of color make up nearly 90 percent of the state custody population. Multiple juvenile justice reforms in California in recent years have sought to address this disparity while mandating upgrades in trauma informed care, conditions of confinement, access to education, record sealing and other areas. These reforms, combined with steep drops in youth crime rates, have driven the inmate population of DJJ from all time high of 10,000 (in 1996) to fewer than 800 youth today.

The closure of DJJ is a significant milestone for Commonweal. For nearly 40 years, Commonweal has been active at the state level as a prime advocate of youth prison reforms. Our advocacy traces back to 1982 when Commonweal published The CYA Report—Conditions of Life at the California Youth Authority, written by Steve Lerner. Lerner’s book documented a culture of institutional violence spread across 11 large, state-run youth

CHRONICLE / BRANT WARD

2020 YEAR-END REPORT 7

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Collaborative on Health and the Environment Meeting the COVID-19 Challenge and More June 30, on a Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) live webinar, more than 300 people assembled to hear experts talk about how to use safer, greener cleaning products to disinfect child care facilities and schools during COVID-19. Participants included government representatives from 20 states and a reporter from National Public Radio.

This and other COVID-19 and environmental health webinars, which included topics like indoor air quality, air pollution, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals and COVID-19, have drawn close to 2,000 attendees with recordings viewed approximately 3,000 times. The webinars are part of our diverse response to the needs of our constituency that emerged since mid-March—a constituency that includes both our scientific community as well as parents, caregivers, and policymakers for young children.

With concern about cleaning and the need to kill the COVID-19 virus in the home, Because Health provided science-based information on exactly what is needed— and not needed—to stay safe. We developed a guide to non-toxic cleaning as well as toolkits for safer cleaning

Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies A Searchable Evidence-Based Integrative Cancer Care Website Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies (BCCT) is the searchable web presentation of the updated material in Michael Lerner’s 1994 groundbreaking book, Choices in Healing: Integrating The Best of Conventional and Complementary Approaches to Cancer, the first book on integrative cancer care that was well received by mainstream medical reviewers. The site offers motivated patients and their loved ones the information needed to

and disinfection during coronavirus in the home and at childcare facilities and schools.

In addition to ongoing COVID-19 work, CHE launched another major project called Generation Chemical: How Environmental Exposures Are Affecting Reproductive Health and the Environment in partnership with University of California San Francisco’s Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment and health provider groups such as the Endocrine Society and the International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FIGO). The series of CHE webinars and corresponding articles on Because Health highlight the latest science on how toxics affect fertility, pregnancy, fetal development, and male and female reproductive health. You can find more at https://tinyurl.com/generationchemical.

The silver lining to COVID is the emphasis on prevention.

I’d like to see that lens of prevention move to more areas of public health where we can positively impact our health—consumer choices, changes in government policy, requirements for companies to disclose ingredients, more affordable organic foods, and many others.

—Dr. Karen Wang, Director, Collaborative on Health and the Environment and Because Health healthandenvironment.org and becausehealth.org

navigate through a cancer diagnosis via the thoughtful use of an integrative approach. Healthcare professionals also use the research-grounded site as a reference for themselves or their patients.

The focus of the site is on what is scientifically known, or at least scientifically informed. The ultimate goal of BCCT is to contribute to evidence-based integrative cancer care.

On the website, we present the landscape of integrative cancer care, the power and multidimensionality of healing, and the concept of making one’s body terrain less hospitable to cancer. We go on to review a wide range of integrative and complementary therapies, starting with 7 Healing Practices as the foundation. We report on what’s

Gift of Compassion Bringing Contemplative Practice, Healing Art, and Service Work Together Through Gift of Compassion, we have introduced meditation as a healing practice to under-served, underresourced communities such as foster youth, formerly incarcerated people, social justice organizers, undocumented youth, and individuals in alternative sentencing programs.

We have been hosting continuous weekly evening meditations for the last five years, which moved online with COVID, bringing together a diverse group of participants from across California and other parts of the country.

The Migrant Support Project began in 2018, with support for a walking pilgrimage made from Northern California to the southern border by Pancho, an activist in northern California who was moved to support migrants and their search for safety, only to be confronted with the inhumane immigration policy of the United States. Pancho’s 93-day walk led to the connection with a refuge at a church in Tijuana that shelters 200-300 migrants from Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras, and parts of Mexico. Thanks to the generosity of donors who want to ensure sustainable and healthy food options, there has been a recent focus on planting a garden. Gift of Compassion is also working as a portal for support of an economic development project that includes building about 20 tiny homes for migrants who remain at the sanctuary waiting for their asylum hearings to be held.

The “Faces of California—Reflections in the Mirror” project was completed in August 2020. Tu2 did portraits of more than two dozen remarkable Californians. I wrote the narratives about their work. The Mirror Project portraits include healers, policy experts, environmental researchers, community activists, philanthropists, and bridge-builders who provide support for disparate views to come together. Past experience has shown us that Tu2’s artwork can be used to develop critical thinking about the collective challenges we face as the great transformation we are experiencing today unfolds.

—Angela Oh and Tu2, Co-Directors, Gift of Compassion gocompassion.org

known about benefits, risks, side effects and anything else that we believe will help someone with cancer make choices that fit their lifestyle, disease, philosophy, finances, and especially their sense of what is right for them.

of educational brochures with KNOW Oncology and Ottawa Integrative Cancer Center; and cross-linking and publicizing with Healing Circles Global, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Helpsy Health, and Nancy’s List.

This year, BCCT has reached more than 125,000 users in more than 170 countries. We’ve helped a number of patients and caregivers who have requested personal assistance navigating the site, with great response. We’ve also focused on building collaborations and partnerships, and are working with impactful organizations and advocates on behalf of our visitors and participants.

Collaborations include webinars with the Society for Integrative Oncology; a joint workshop this year with the Anticancer Lifestyle Foundation; development

With information we’ve been collecting from surveys and focus groups this year, we’re building a new, easy-tonavigate interface for the content that should be ready to launch next year.

—Nancy Hepp, Project Manager, Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies bcct.ngo 2020 YEAR-END REPORT 9

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Rising to Meet the Times A Vision of A Deeper, Reciprocal Relationship with the Earth In this tumultuous time, the healing balm that is connection to the natural world, the path of service, and supporting community health and resilience feels more precious and potent than ever. In Commonweal Garden, the Natura Institute for Ecology and Medicine is cultivating this medicine alongside the many medicinal foods and herbs we are growing on the land we are stewarding.

health with that of the natural world, and began creating a series of videos, filmed in the garden, supporting the content. From dampening systemic inflammation and respiratory health during wildfires to the health of our gut, microbiome and our soil, these talks have reached nearly 400 people, are a place of connection and empowerment in a time of isolation and loss of control—and are inspiring the next generation of health professionals.

In March, several year-long programs, including Art of Vitality, Four Seasons Permaculture Design Course, and Permaculture for Kids, were mid-course. When the pandemic shelter-in-place hit, we were no longer able to convene tightly-knit healing and educational circles in our yurt. We moved online to Zoom in the spring, and successfully (and safely) returned to the garden in June to complete the programs. We are now securing funding to have an outdoor classroom so that we may continue to teach courses outdoors in all weather.

Through my work directing Natura and my practice in the local Community Health Center, I have had increasing opportunities to teach and mentor resident physicians in Family Medicine. Beginning in 2021, Natura’s Community Medicine Circles will become a part of the curriculum for Kaiser Permanente’s Family and Community Medicine residents.

Prior to the pandemic, our Community Medicine Circles had been convening once a month in our yurt. When the pandemic began, we sensed a need to have a place to learn about the virus, public health strategies and updates, how our immune system can be optimized, and end-of-life decision-making. We moved the circles onto Zoom and focused our twice a month calls from April through June on COVID-related themes. In late summer we broadened our focus to foundational health topics linking our human

10 COMMONWEAL

In September, my article “Nature as Ally in our Chronic Disease Epidemic” was published in the peer-reviewed journal Ecopsychology and can be found on our website.

I continue to write with a prayerful goal of shifting our culture, medical and otherwise, toward being in deeper, reciprocal relationship with the Earth. Natura’s evolving programs are an embodiment of this prayer.

—Anna O’Malley, MD, Director, Natura Institute for Ecology and Medicine naturainstitute.org

W I T H

G R A T I T U D E

We express our deep gratitude to the following organizations that have supported Commonweal this year: Alberta S. Kimball – Mary L. Anhaltzer Foundation Benevity

●

Bessemer Trust

●

AmazonSmile Foundation

The Blackbaud Giving Fund

●

The California Endowment

●

Fetzer Institute

Fidelity Charitable

Glenmede Trust Company

●

GoodRx

Dancers’ Group Inc

●

Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation

●

●

Jonas Philanthropies

The Left Coast Fund - Solar Moonshot Program

●

Lloyd Symington Foundation

Mulago Foundation

●

The Oregon Community Foundation The Randleigh Foundation

●

●

●

●

●

●

The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation The Schmidt Family Foundation

●

Tea Lane Real Estate LLC

●

The Thomas P. Waters Foundation

Rockefeller Brothers Fund

TEDx, INC ●

●

●

●

Jewish Communal Fund ●

Law and Mediation Offices of Clarissa Park

Marin Community Foundation

PayPal Giving Fund

●

●

RSF Seed Fund

Spirit Matters

●

●

●

●

Wells Fargo Community Support Campaign

●

Medtronic

NewStories

Rise Up - Social Good Fund

Salesforce

Stupski Foundation

Virginia Wellington Cabot Foundation

●

●

Prospect Hill Foundation

The Cold Mountain Fund of RSF Social Finance

Tides Foundation

Each Foundation

Muriel Murch Full Circle Endowment Fund

Panta Rhea Foundation

Schwab Charitable Fund

●

●

The Fred Gellert Family Foundation

Richard and Barbara Sachs Senn Foundation at Seattle Foundation ●

Bothin Foundation

The Hull Family Foundation

Korein Tillery

●

●

Community Initiatives

●

Jenifer Altman Foundation

Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund MMHBO Fund of Schwab Charitable

Association for Independant Science

Distracted Globe Foundation

The Heinz Endowments

●

●

Bolinas Community Land Trust

Firehouse Fund: Cultivating Sparks

●

●

As You Sow

The California Wellness Foundation

Compass / Pacific Union Marin Community Fund ●

●

●

●

●

●

●

Scheidel Foundaiton

Szekely Family Foundation Theobald Foundation

WEB Network Activation Fund

West Marin Fund

We offer special thanks and gratitude to the following Commonweal Friends for their generous contributions of $250 and above during the last six months.

A full list of all of our donors can be found on our website under “About Us.” Kathryn Adams Sonali Aggarwal Susan Amussen Gaia & Daphne Anderson Kimberly Arnold Deborah Baker Carol Banquer Debra Barnes Katie Beacock Kathleen Becket Michael Bissell Juliet Blankespoor John Boynton Bill Braasch Alison Carlson Sylvie Carnot John Colla-Negri

Harriet Derwingson Nischala Devi & Bhaskar Deva Alex Dorsey James Dreyfous Catherine Dussault Jaune Evans Dawn Fairbanks Ulrike Faubert Susanne Fest Dennis Fitzgerald Kristina Flanagan Debra Fournier Liora Katherine Gale Anne Germanacos Bing Gong & Eleanore Despina Cynthia Graham

Bess Granby Kita Greenberg Elizabeth Greene Thordis & Gary Gulden Susan Hammer Connie Harden Wendy Hawkins Alan Heggen Martin Hellman Linda & Don Henderson Meg & Gary Hirshberg Catherine Howard Vivian Hsu Irene King Jane Klassen Sanford Koltonow & Mary Schlaff Maxine Kraemer

Trish & Larry Kubal Ellen Labelle Jeremy Lew Diana Lindsay H. Christopher Luce Peter Lyman Jerry Mander William Mayo-Smith Josephine Merck Peter & Anna Marie Morton Lynn Murphy Robyn Muscardini Lynn Nelsen Carolyn North Michael Northrop & Kathleen Regan Kathleen O’Malley Shelia Opperman

David Osborn Eliza Perkins Jean & Gary Pokorny Carles Poles-Mielgo Julie Portelli Jim & Caren Quay Ruth Rosen & Wendel Brunner Marcie Rubardt Susan & Bob Rufsvold Roger Sant Miki Scheidel Patty Schmidt Elisabeth Semel & James Thomson Judith Shaw Jesse Smith & Annice Kenan Smith

Janet Staub & James DeLong Lee Stobby Gwendolyn Stritter Barbara Terao Charles Terry & Betsy MacGregor Claire Theobald Susie Tompkins Buell Tom & Claudia Walker Debra Waterman Jill Weed Mark Westwind Victoria White & Claire Whitmer Carol Williams Carol Wuebker

2020 YEAR-END REPORT 11

P.O. Box 316 Bolinas, CA 94924

Building Resilience at the Commonweal Site As power outages and other emergencies have become more common, the need to make our site and buildings more resilient has become critical. We want Commonweal to be prepared to weather future storms and to be able to continue with operations even when the power is down—and to be a resource for our staff and community.

Initially, after an experience during winter 2019, when power went out in the midst of a Cancer Help Program with very sensitive participants, it was clear that we needed to have robust backup at our Retreat Center. This year, a generous donor allowed us to install an automated back-up propane generator that is sized to keep the house warm and provide hot water for retreatants during power outages.

We worked to “green” the houses as well, weatherproofing windows and making changes to insulation.

To offset 95% of our power use across our site, this fall we installed a 92-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system funded by grants from the Bothin Foundation and the Solar Moonshot Program (funded by Left Coast Fund) as well as by an anonymous donation. We’re looking into a battery system so that we can be completely self-sufficient when the power is out. We also have two electric-vehicle charging stations at our site now thanks to an incentive from Marin Clean Energy.

Other projects include a site-wide internet network and a cloud-based server. We’re creating a more

fire-resistant site by clearing brush and reducing the fuel load in the forest. We’re minimizing water use and looking into water storage tanks, so that we can be a resource for firefighters. For off-the-grid communications, we recently finished the installation of new antennas and equipment that allow us access to the ham radio network.

Finally, for some time now we have been designated as a Red Cross shelter, as well as a storage facility for some of the local fire department’s emergency equipment.

Our move toward resilience allows Commonweal to thrive and be a place of refuge, despite disturbances—epidemics, wildfires, and loss—to both our community and land.

—Arlene Allsman, Commonweal Chief Operating Officer