CNRA’s Wellness Information and News Digest – Monday, June 14, 2021

TODAY: CNRA Virtual Town Hall @ 3:00 PM

Please join a virtual CNRA Town Hall meeting today from 3:00-4:00PM on Zoom (details in the below invitation). In advance, please check out this short video message from Secretary Wade Crowfoot.

Invitation from Secretary Crowfoot:

Colleagues,

This spring has brought welcome changes to our work and lives. COVID rates have dropped to historic lows, Californians have received over 30 million vaccinations, and our state’s economy is roaring back from the pandemic. Just this month, Governor Newsom released a historic May Revise budget with critical natural resource investments and economic relief for millions.

Thank you for your perseverance and patience over the last 15 months. Each of us has navigated an uncertain, challenging period in our own lives while continuing to move work forward that benefits the people of California. I am amazed at what we’ve accomplished together over the last year. Now, the light at the end of the tunnel from the global pandemic has never burned brighter.

This spring, our agency launched Thrive@Resources, an initiative to improve employee wellness and career development, and build a more dynamic and collaborative workplace together. The Thrive@Resources website is where we are regularly updating information and resources to help transform our workplace and support our workforce. If you have not done so already, I encourage you to check it out. We are continuing to learn from this challenging last year and improve support for your work across our agency.

In a few short weeks, the first teams will begin moving into our new Natural Resources Headquarters. It’s an exciting moment. This physical move will jump start a new way of working in a hybrid workplace that promises to expand employee flexibility and choice while improving our productivity, efficiency, and collaboration with each other.

To share more information about the move and to receive your input, we are holding our next New Natural Resources Headquarters Town Hall virtual meeting on Monday, June 14th from 3:00-4:00PM on Zoom. We will use this meeting to share how this move will take place, answer your questions about the new building, and update on our efforts to transform our workplace.

Over 2,000 of us joined our first Town Hall meeting on these topics in March. We received hundreds of great questions during this discussion that are answered in our FAQ section on Thrive@Resources.

Thank you once again for all you do. I hope to see you at our Town Hall convening on June 14.

Best,

Wade

California Natural Resources Secretary

California Natural Resources Agency Recognizes Pride Month this June!

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Within our Agency, we are continuously striving to create a culture of equity and inclusion in our workplace and our programs for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (or Questioning) (LGBTQ+) individuals. This Pride Month, we want to affirm our commitment to an equitable and inclusive workplace for all, including LGBTQ+ individuals. We also commend all the efforts across the Departments, Boards, Commissions, and Conservancies to advance this mission and encourage continued learning and improvements to better support our LGBTQ+ employees, prospective employees, and larger LGTBQ+ Community.

This Pride Month marks 52 years since the Stonewall uprising, predominantly led by black and transgender community members, that sparked the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement in the United States, spearheaded by the resistance of people who were low-income, experiencing homelessness, facing family rejection, and targeted by the police because of their race, sexual orientation, and gender identity. A comprehensive record of U.S. LGBTQ+ events can be found on the History Channel’s website.

There is much to celebrate as a result of this movement.  We join with Governor Newsom, who issued a statement regarding the importance of Pride Month and its significance. We also recognize that there is much more work to do to ensure that our state, our workplaces, and our communities honor the dignity of every LGBTQ+ person.Not a part of the LGBTQ+ community, but want to know how to better support and assist those who are part of it? Check out these resources:

Lastly, we want to see your Pride! If you are participating in any Pride festivities and would like to show off your Pride for a chance to be featured on the agency’s social media, email appropriate photos to Elizabeth.Williamson@resources.ca.gov (any content shared will not be confidential and will be treated as a public record).

Thank you for your ongoing work to support our LGBTQ+ community members and program participants.

Vax for the Win – California’s COVID-19 Vaccine Incentive Program🌮 Let's taco-bout-those-deals on 6/15 for vaccinated Californians! @tacobell is giving away a FREE Doritos locos taco @ChipotleTweets is offering FREE queso The @Warriors, @LAClippers & @teamlastore are offering all kinds of discounts! Get vaxed and celebrate CA's full reopening! 🥳

Telework Training – Beyond the Pandemic: The Hybrid Model

Telework training is available now from CalHR and GovOps titled “Beyond the Pandemic: The Hybrid Model” on CalLearns. This is a new requirement for managers/supervisors, whether or not you directly manage or supervise employees. The entire six course hours can be counted toward the biennial minimum requirement of 20 hours of leadership training. If you haven’t done so already, create an account on CalLearns (instructions below). Once you sign in, select/add to your cart ‘Beyond the Pandemic: The Hybrid Workforce 6/1/2021-7/13/2021: https://calhr.geniussis.com/PublicWelcome.aspx

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Once added to your cart, you will need to click on ‘Proceed to Checkout’ in the upper right hand corner:

Follow the rest of the prompts to complete your registration.

Directions for Registering for CalLearns

  1. Create a CalLearns Profile (a prerequisite for registering) if you do not have one:  Use this link: Create an account
  2. Log onto Your CalLearns Account via Access CalLearns using any borrower (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari) except Internet Explorer (IE).  
  3. Register for the Course on your CalLearns Dashboard.   Please refer to this document: Register for Training
  4. Take the Course You can begin taking the course immediately after registration.  The course consists of sequential, self-paced modules.  You can exit the course at will and re-access it again later to continue. You will have until end-of-day on July 13 to complete the course; there will be no extensions.
  5. Retrieve Your Certificate – Certificates of Completion, in downloadable pdf format, are available via your CalLearns Dashboard usually within 15 minutes after you complete the entire course. Please refer to this document: Print Transcripts and Certificates

Information and Troubleshooting:  Visit the CalLearns Homepage for information about the CalLearns resources.  Additionally, typically questions and problems can be resolved easily by referring to the FAQs and troubleshooting links on the homepage.  If you encounter a registration or course problem that cannot be resolved via the FAQs or troubleshooting links, then please address your questions in writing to training@calhr.ca.gov.

Time Capsule Submission Request

We have the exciting opportunity to place a time capsule in the new CNRA Headquarters Building and we want your input! We are requesting concepts to be submitted by June 18, 2021 through this survey. Categories to keep in mind while considering your submission should include:

  1. Something that is reflective of CNRA’s mission: To restore, protect and manage the state’s natural, historical and cultural resources for current and future generations using creative approaches and solutions based on science, collaboration and respect for all the communities and interests involved.
  2. California current events.
  3. Something that is specific to the building.

In thinking about ideas, please keep in mind the limitations due to the size of the time capsule box: 14”W x 10“H x 32“D.

If you would like to submit an idea, please fill out this form.

Scenic California

Photo shared from the Coastal Commission of Muir Beach below and the famous San Francisco landmark in the distance.

If you would like to submit a photo you’ve taken to be shared in the West WIND, please email Elizabeth.Williamson@resources.ca.gov with a brief description.

Virtual Water Cooler

Tweet of the Day

Telework Tip

Visit telework.govops.ca.gov for best practices and tips to help make telework successful for every employee and the Californians we serve.

Featured Activities

Juneteenth Virtual Celebration: Lift Every Voice and Sing

Tuesday, June 15, 2021, 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.

Commemorate Juneteenth as the California African American Museum (CAAM) and nine other Black museums and historical institutions across the country join forces with blkfreedom.org to honor the day that the news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached enslaved people in Texas. This year’s annual collaboration is a film inspired by the deep-rooted anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing” that explores the words of the song from the perspectives of the participating institutions, including focuses on pride of 200+ years of Gullah culture, the perseverance of Little Africa, tenacity through industry and pop culture in Detroit, and resiliency during the COVID era, and also features poetry plus performances by the African American Cultural Ensemble and West African Dance. Stream it live at 9 a.m. PDT on blkfreedom.org.

22nd Annual California Ocean & Coastal Amateur Photography Contest

Show us your California coastal photos! Enter the 22nd annual California Ocean & Coastal Amateur Photography Contest until July 17. You can also vote for your favorite photos through July 30. Visit http://mycoastalphoto.com.