Written and contributed by Dean Hovey

Tuesday morning was a beautiful clear, sunny day—ideal for my drive to Watsonville for a full day of scheduled meetings.

I live over the hill in Los Altos.  As many of you know, a morning drive from Silicon Valley to Santa Cruz is a reverse commute. Traffic flows pretty freely.  I reached Route 1 South a little before 8:00 AM and noticed traffic flow coming north was getting congested. By the time I reached Live Oak, traffic northbound was stop and go until just after the La Selva Beach exit.

Later, I checked Google Maps to see how long the average commute was from the La Selva to Santa Cruz. The average 8:00 AM commute time was listed as 55 minutes … to travel just 11 miles.

When I ask people who live in Santa Cruz County What sucks?, the top two responses are traffic and the lack of affordable housing.

I think these issues are related.  And one of the measurable outcomes of our work in Watsonville just might reduce Highway 1 commuter traffic by up to one third; giving back residents precious time, minimizing stress and significantly reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Let me elaborate.

We think Watsonville is at a tipping point. With heightened community collaboration and modest outside resources it can become the healthy thriving community it wants and deserves to be. A community where new jobs, paying good wages, make housing affordable and let people live, work, and take pride in their local community.

Our goal is to stimulate collaboration within Watsonville which in turn will induce investment and Watsonville’s vitality.

A great outcome for all residents of Santa Cruz County might be the reduction of commuter traffic. Fewer people will commute from Watsonville to Santa Cruz and residents of communities south of Santa Cruz might find new employment in Watsonville. 

A Design Thinking Systems approach can help catalyze Watsonville’s transformation. If you attended the last Design Thinking themed Santa Cruz Works event you may recall the five stages of the process.

Over the past 18 months many conversations with community members have provided input to the first three stages of the process: empathize, define and ideate. Good ideas have surfaced and some are being implemented. The opportunity is through systems thinking, integration and collaboration these ideas unify conceptually and practically Under One Roof.

Under One Roof is first a place-based physical structure where community members can conveniently access new and current services. Ideally it would be built and located within the bounds of Historic Watsonville Center where many currently services exist. This in turn will stimulate new business, housing development and cultural events aimed at the residents of the community.

While ongoing conversations continue, we will be identifying and mapping the location of the services and resources within the community. This mapping will illuminate the strengths and potential gaps that need to be filled.  Once compiled it will be the basis for a technology based referral system. The system will give community members easy mobile access to personally relevant, useful services from the county, city, not-for-profits and businesses such as: health and specialty care, financial assistance, immigration, legal, daycare, education, business incubation, culture and arts.

Under One Roof is more than just a building, it represents the community, all living, working and thriving together … Under One Roof.

We will be launching a website soon to provide more details, status and ways to comment and connect. In the interim, if you are interested in discussing how you might get involved please email me: dean@hoveyllc.com.