Reflecting on the Past, Embracing the Future: Celebrating 30 Years of Valley Vision
The following is a transcript of CEO Evan Schmidt’s speech given at Valley Vision’s 30th Anniversary Celebration on September 12, 2024 at The California Museum. The speech reflects on Valley Vision’s history while offering commitments for the future.
“As our team at Valley Vision embarks on a new year, I am reminded of the phenomenal body of work our team accomplished in 2024. I also reminisce on the progress Valley Vision has made since our humble beginnings in 1994. In 2024, we celebrated our 30th Anniversary and hosted an event to celebrate in tandem with a 30-year impact report. I am thankful for the many individuals who contributed to both the report and our event – our sponsors, speakers, movie stars, interviewees, Valley Vision staff, board members, and many more for joining us in this celebration of our achievements.
Harkening back to my own beginnings, I wanted to share my own story with Valley Vision, which began in the early 2000s when I was a grad student in the Community Development Group at UC Davis. A part of my program included a “lunch and learn” series that featured professional community development practitioners in the region. Staff from Valley Vision came to our session to talk about their work, specifically the 2004 Sacramento Region Blueprint. That presentation was a lightbulb moment for me; I heard about community engagement, research, and collaborative problem-solving to make our region a better place. It was a perfect fit for my values and talents, and my path was clarified. From the first few years I landed in Northern California, I held Valley Vision as a north star for my career. It took another 10 years, a couple of graduate degrees, a couple of kids, and some other career opportunities before I landed at Valley Vision. I’ve been here ever since and personally celebrated my own 10-year anniversary last year.
Valley Vision wouldn’t be what it is today without visionaries building its foundation and impact. Founders like Gordon Schaber, Dean of the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law; James McClatchy, Chairman and Publisher of the McClatchy newspaper chain; and Len McCandliss, then CEO of the Sierra Health Foundation, who saw a problem, knew it needed to be addressed for the good of the region, and created an enduring vision. I had the opportunity to get coffee with our surviving founder, Len McCandliss, a couple of weeks ago. He remembered those early days of Valley Vision well and noted that its founding was one of his most proud professional accomplishments. We are grateful for it. Early CEO Susan Frazier, who brought me into the fold, set Valley Vision’s path and coined the phrase “radical collaboration” to articulate what Valley Vision does—maximizing “collisions” both inside and outside the organization to use collaboration to drive innovation and new ideas. Bill Mueller, our longest-serving CEO, steered Valley Vision through a recession and built many of the structures of modern Valley Vision. He is also a mentor to me, and I am grateful for his contributions.
So many dynamic civic leaders from our region have sat on the Valley Vision Board. Their contributions have made it what it is. I’d like to especially call out the current and all the past Board Chairs—it is a big job and a huge commitment to the region. We couldn’t do what we do without community partnerships, and we have too many to name. Some particularly long-standing relationships that have been fundamental to our work are SACOG, our regional workforce Boards, Sacramento Metro Air District, and the California Emerging Technology Fund, among many others. Thank you for trusting us.
The work of Valley Vision rests on all the staff over the years, and Valley Vision staff are some of the most talented and passionate people you will find. I’d like to recognize our current staff who are excelling on a regular basis. I’d like to call out our leadership, Trish Kelly, Alan Lange, and Renee John, and congratulate Adrian Rehn on his 10-year anniversary with Valley Vision this year. Alan and Trish are right behind him.
To provide clarity about who we are and what we do, we created a retrospective report and a video that showcased our initiatives over the past 30 years. Our 30th Anniversary video highlights our history, accomplishments, and vision for the future. Additionally, our 30-Year Impact Report offers a comprehensive overview of Valley Vision’s contributions to the well-being of our region, focusing on areas such as healthcare, air quality, workforce training, economic development, and support for vulnerable populations. These resources reflect not only Valley Vision’s history but also the broader history of our region, serving as a testament to the vision and impact of many individuals.
Valley Vision works on systemic solutions to long-term issues, often within systems that aren’t plainly visible or by supporting partners through indirect means. This can make our work challenging to communicate and sometimes difficult to understand. Boiled down, Valley Vision leads a shared vision for ensuring the quality of life for everyone within the Capital Region. We use the values of community equity, economic prosperity, and environmental sustainability in all that we do to drive that shared vision. We achieve this by facilitating collaborative problem-solving, working with community, business, and government partners to improve the lives of people in our region, creating and guiding actionable research, aligning regional systems and advocating for system change when needed, and mobilizing partners for community change by engaging and co-designing solutions with those most impacted. This is our shared agenda for quality of life through collaboration, actionable research, system alignment, and community impact—always driving toward sustainable, inclusive, thriving communities.
There are several opportunities that I am particularly excited about. Despite national challenges, the Sacramento region’s economy is stronger than ever. According to the Brookings Metro Monitor analysis of the top 54 metro areas, we’ve launched into the top 20 across metrics in job growth, inclusion, and prosperity, with standout progress in closing inclusion gaps. There is still plenty to do, but this reflects significant improvement from prior years, as recent as 2023 when we trailed outside of the top 34 in some categories. I am excited about building on that momentum through We Prosper Together, a collaborative regional effort (of eight counties and more than 150 partners) supported by the State of California, bringing more than $19M to our region to reimagine our economy and workforce to meet community needs. I see an opportunity to truly align key strategies, bring about new investments, and create inclusive opportunities and livable wages, especially for those often excluded. I am also excited about the ways we are knitting climate resilience and economic growth closer together in our economic, workforce, and community development work. The Sacramento region has the opportunity to become a shining star in this space by amplifying climate-smart food innovation, clean mobility, and sustainable infrastructure that supports a low-carbon economy. This progress reflects the efforts and robust leadership of many of our partners and stakeholders. We have the opportunity to align and amplify these themes by creating climate-resilient infrastructure and workforce and economic opportunities that support it. Furthermore, I am excited about a new generation of leadership and a focus on inclusivity. Organizational and institutional cultures are becoming more adaptive and inclusive, which is a good thing. We can harness these changing sensibilities to build new, more inclusive systems for our region. This is a call to action for everyone, new or old, to civic spaces: make room at your table for new voices and champion and support new leadership.
In order to seize these opportunities, I want to share Valley Vision’s commitments for the future. These commitments reflect the energy and leadership of our Board and staff. Valley Vision will continue to serve as your trusted community partner, build our regional capacity to drive economic inclusion, climate resilience, and community well-being, and challenge our communities to collaborate and address tough issues through hard conversations, shared accountability, and courage to try new things, demonstrate our commitment to moving collaborative thought and data analysis toward clear action and community change, and work in service of improving the lives of the people of this region.
Reflecting on the strength of our team and the dedication of our board members, I am energized by what’s possible at Valley Vision and for our region and state. As we move into 2025, we are committed to building on our successes, deepening our community partnerships, and continuing to drive positive change. We look to the future with optimism and excitement, knowing that together, we can achieve a sustainable, inclusive, and thriving community for everyone. Thank you for being a part of this journey and for your support.”
