About Hubs & Routes
Hubs & Routes provides readiness tools for the Mendocino Coast and trains people in their use.
Here are the foundational principles underlying the tools of Hubs & Routes.
Hubs & Routes is a Model A fiscally sponsored project of Social Good Fund, a registered 501(c)(3) organization, Tax ID (EIN) 46-1323531. You can reach Social Good Fund at socialgoodfund.org, (510)621-7223, PO Box 5473, Richmond, CA 94805.
Steering Committee:
Project Director: Jennifer Kreger MD of Fort Bragg, Family Physician at Mendocino Coast Clinics, Inc., hubsroutes@mcn.org, 2019-present
911 Advisor: Daniel Maxey of Westport, Chief of Westport Fire District, westportfire1@gmail.com, 2021-present
Additional Advisors:
Loreto Rojas of Mendocino; Alix Sabin of Albion; members of Mendocino County VOAD; & our Public Hub Leaders
We couldn’t do this without our software vendors’ Support people! Our site uses Squarespace, JotForm, ZeeMaps, WeGlot, CalTopo, Avenza and more.
OUR HISTORY
A friend pointed out that ocean rise and earthquakes can isolate the land masses between every two major rivers along our coast. Because we (and our ambulances and supply trucks) rely on Highway 1 for north-south travel, she suggested that each "Island" prepare for self-sufficiency by growing food and storing first aid supplies.
During a prolonged power outage in 2019, our local hospital’s emergency room became the default supplier of oxygen, warm shelter, unspoiled food and other basic resources. Dr. Kreger saw two problems with this. One, it impaired the ER professionals’ ability to focus on the things that only they can do. Two, not everyone could get there.
Many people had wanted to help and be helped in their own neighborhoods, but communication had been an issue. There was no easy way to find out who on one's own Island could offer to re-freeze an ice pack to keep one’s food from spoiling, which homes still had drinking water when the electrical grid was down, which ones could provide warm shelter, and so on. A local cartographer agreed to identify non-Highway One-dependent routes to the hospital and between Islands, and to map resource availability as well.
Our start-up grant from was from Community Foundation of Mendocino County, and was administered by our initial fiscal sponsor, the Mendocino Coast Health Care District, a nonprofit organization of local government. We became a project of Social Good Fund on August 1, 2022. SGF’s Board is described here. We were awarded a second Community Resiliency Grant by CFMC which was used during 2023.
With the help of many Hubs & Routes volunteers and partner organizations, we have succeeding in developing the following: a bilingual website; mobile maps that show where you are in the local landscape and do not rely on internet connection; nearly 100 Public and Private Hubs with cross-referenced resource lists including food, shelter, tools, disposal and First Aid; videos and other educational products for training and supporting Public Hub Leaders; tsunami maps which, unlike governmental maps, show hyper-local details of the most useful trails for leaving high-risk zones; a compilation of printed, foldable Readiness Maps for offline use; increasing familiarity with Mendocino County Officers of Emergency Services and other people focusing on emergency preparedness; a helpful gang of volunteers; and a reputation for respectful inclusion with an honest but hopeful attitude toward the challenging times ahead.