BMCRC History

BMCRC evolved from an economic renewal process sponsored by the Foothill Conservancy and the Sierra Nevada Alliance that began in February, 1999. Following the Rocky Mountain Institute guidelines for developing sustainable communities and funded by grants from the W.Alton Jones Foundation, a series of town hall meetings were facilitated by a core group of community residents which became known as the Mokelumne Alliance for Economic Renewal.

 

Between February and November, 1999, more than 200 residents of the Glencoe, Rail Road Flat, West Point and Wilseyville area participated in the process. (For more in-depth coverage of, and results of business and household surveys conducted in conjunction with, the process, see the 1999 Calaveras Community Renewal Project). This report requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

 

The economic renewal process resulted in the creation of a community vision for a preferred future in the northeast region of Calaveras County. Based on this vision, and an analysis of community assets and needs, participants in the process reached a consensus in November, 1999, to start up some community renewal projects.

 

These included:

•  Creation of a long-term organization to support on-going community projects.
  
  

•  Community Learning Center, to provide instruction nights twice a month in both Rail Road Flat and West Point. Preceded by dinner, classes include computer skills, cooking and nutrition, arts and crafts, and a young children’s program.
  
  

•  Community Revive and Re-Leaf, to provide "beautification" activities and to organize a Community Garden in West Point.
  
  

•  Community Switchboard, later renamed the Community Network, to provide resources information to and for the Blue Mountain community. It produced its first "Business and Community Services" directory in 2001. In addition to a print version, the directory also was made available on this Web site. An updated second edition was completed in the summer, 2002.

 

In December, 1999, volunteers formed an economic renewal council advisory group to look into what forms of organization might best support the goals derived from the town hall sessions. This advisory group formed the Mokelumne Alliance for Community Renewal in February, 2000, by a Memorandum of Agreement among 12 community members to keep alive the progress that had been made during the previous year. Using grants obtained through SNA and Foothill Conservancy, they received organizational development technical assistance and training in strategic and implementation planning from Rick Breeze-Martin of Breeze-Martin Consulting

 

In May, 2000, four members of the MACR Board of Directors were elected officers of the West Point Park and Recreation Association, Inc., a non-profit organization whose governing board was considering dissolution of the corporation. In June, WPP&RA’s Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws were revised to provide for the broader objectives the community had set. Submitted to the Secretary of State of California, WPP&RA was officially reorganized in July, 2000 as Blue Mountain Community Renewal Council, Inc., with non-profit, tax-exempt status.