By Terri Steele

July 17, 2017 (San Diego) -- There’s a ray of hope on the horizon for 16 to 24-year-olds looking for jobs, an education and a better future.  It springs from a $1.3 million U.S. Department of Labor grant recently awarded to the not-for-profit Heartland Coalition. 

The hope is with a program called YouthBuild.  And it’s working with East County community partners like Rock Church, Foothills, the County of San Diego and City of El Cajon to help them identify disaffected youth who are eager to get back to work and need an education.

August 28, 2015 (Lakeside) -- The Heartland Foundation, publisher of East County Magazine, an award-winning community publication, has been named a media partner of the 2015 Kids Care Fest, a free, family-oriented event open to the public. Kids Care Fest, featuring free health care screenings, will be held on Saturday, Sept. 12 at the Lakeside Rodeo Grounds,12584 Mapleview St., Lakeside. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

June 30, 2015 (San Diego's East County)--Our April 2015 radio shows are now online!  You can listen online now (sound files may take a minute to load). For links to listen to the shows plus a full list of topics and interviews in April, click here and scroll down.

Our interviews included Megan Hamilton with Surfrider Foundation on water-saving ideas, Author Deborah M. Pratt, Ashley Mazanec, San Diego Energy District Foundation, Ken Woodward, Ramona’s Woodward Museum, Jim Cooper, Ramona Old West Days, Joel Gossett, Circle Players on Café Murder, and Estela de los Rios on human trafficking.

By Leon Thompson



May 30, 2014 (Lakeside) -- “Heartland Charter School helped me get a job,”  said Andy Casteruita.  “I learned good work habits and leadership skills.” Andy is one of 49 students at the Heartland Coalition’s one year old Youth Build Charter High School with classes and an office on Orange Avenue in City Heights.

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MAY 10

Win prizes for your prose--including admission to a writers conference and a literary festival

April 25, 2014 (San Diego's East County)-- Love to write?  East County Magazine invites you to enter our 1st annual East County Writing Contest.  Description: Crank up your creative juices and send us your best short story, or first chapter of a novel, set in our inland region, East County (mountains, deserts, cities or towns east of I-15 in San Diego County).  Your story can be historical or contemporary, in any genre or style you choose – dramatic, romantic, mystery, humor, time travel…The only limit is your imagination!

September 12, 2013 (San Diego) – Jim Bell, a San Diego expert on developing cost-effective and life-support-system-effective (low and carbon free) economies, will present his findings on creating  a sustainable future at the Low Carbon Earth Summit in Xi’an, China,  held September 26-28.  Founder of the Ecological Life Systems Institute, a division of the Heartland Coalition, Bell will instruct conference attendees how efficient energy use and renewable energy development are foundational to the long term success of regional and national economies worldwide. He will also show how renewably produced, carbon free electricity can be used to make regions and countries renewable energy, water and food self-sufficient, in life-support sustaining ways. Additionally, he will show how true-cost and cradle to cradle pricing can be used to create real, mutually beneficial, free-market economies.

Story and photos by I.C.  Jimenez

November 8, 2012 (San Diego)--Heartland Coalition has received the prestigious “Service Firm of The Year” award by the Minority Business Development Agency.  The award, presented October 25 in Riverside, recognizes individuals and organizations that have demonstrated leadership and commitment in advancing minority business enterprises.  The MBDA theme for this year is “Build it here-sell it everywhere.”

Find inspiration, savor a fresh foods buffet, and learn the latest in sustainability

By Walt Meyer

September 16, 2012 (Lakeside)--At Heartland Coalition/UnitedGREEN's  Forging a Sustainable Future event at San Diego State University in March, keynote speaker Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shared the importance of changing how we all live in light of the global climate crisis. But as has been said many times, all global change starts with local action--and there has never been a better time to take steps for real change. Toward that end, Heartland Coalition’s UnitedGREEN division is producing a series of customized Forging a Sustainable Future Solutions events to advance its mission of transforming the San Diego region.

The first FSFS event will be “Living Green at Blue Sky Ranch” on September 29 from 3-6:30 p.m. Exhibits and experts will explain permaculture, wildfire protection, Community Supported Agriculture, grey water, water catchment, organic farming and gardening, and other aspects of this self-sustaining community in Lakeside. The aim is to encourage others to emulate techniques used at Blue Sky Ranch (BSR) and invite people to showcase their innovations on the property. Early bird rates of $20 have been extended; at the door rates are $35/person or $60/couple.

By Ellinoa Blake

June 19, 2012 (San Diego)--Recently I won a $48,000 scholarship funded by STOP2011, a Heartland Coalition project. This number represents more than a weight off my chest for college, however. It is the amount of debt each American owes if the United States national deficit was divided by the number of our citizens.

Jan McAdams, national grantwriting expert with over $125 million in funded grants and sponsorships, will speak at event sponsored by Heartland Coalition/UnitedGREEN

HUNDREDS OF JOBS FOR LOCAL WORKERS: 

LMI teams up with Urban League, Heartland Coalition,  Progressive Environmental Services and Job Corps to address nation's worst environmental disaster

Update June 14:  LMI's team of 50 trained local workers have been delayed departing for the Gulf because BP has failed to provide payment for their transportation.  Hanson has called for President Obama to set up an escrow fund with BP money to be used to expedite cleanup of the spill. 

By Miriam Raftery
 

June 5, 2010 (San Diego) – “This is an unprecedented oil    spill,” Lakeside resident Mark Hanson, chief executive officer of Leadership Management International in San Diego, told a crowd of eager job applicants assembled at Urban League in San Diego yesterday. “Oil is now landing on one of the most pristine coasts in Florida and satellite images show a reddish glob of goop in the ocean that’s the size of several states.” 

Hanson, who also heads up Heartland Coalition, publisher of East County Magazine, led the successful effort for LMI to obtain a contract from Progressive Environmental Services (PES) of Virginia to provide hazardous materials training locally and ultimately send hundred of San Diego-area workers to Gulf coast states to assist in cleaning up oil from beaches, coastal wetlands, waterways and wildlife.