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Kaiser Permanente recently appointed Alena Wall, MA, CHES, as the new Public Affairs Director for the Marin-Sonoma Service Area. In the role, Alena will be leading the department responsible for internal and external communications, community and government relations, and community benefit functions for the hospitals located in San Rafael and Santa Rosa and the medical offices throughout Marin and Sonoma counties. Alena has served as the Community Health Leader for Marin-Sonoma since 2018, as well as interim Public Affairs Director since April 2021.

“Alena has been instrumental in advancing our mission to improve the health of the communities we serve across Marin-Sonoma. She has built lasting, deep relationships between local KP leadership, elected officials, and community partners as well as the business sector,” said Tarek Salaway, Senior VP, Area Manager, Marin-Sonoma Service Area.

Since May 2020, Alena has also been on assignment to Kaiser Permanente’s National Social Health team to help lead an enterprise-wide strategy to address loneliness and social isolation, resulting in the launch of Life Experienced, a national community-facing social marketing campaign with a goal of reaching 10 million people.

Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente in 2018, Alena served as Executive Director for the Center for Well Being, where she and her team led efforts to address root causes of health outcomes and partnered with major nonprofit hospital and health systems to ensure high-quality, patient-centered services.

Alena’s 15-year track record in healthcare leadership serving mission-driven organizations has been a strong foundation for Kaiser Permanente Marin-Sonoma’s groundbreaking work in the community health space with a wide range of partners.

In addition to her years of experience, Alena holds a bachelor’s degree in Health Science from California State University, Chico, and a master’s degree in Holistic Health Education from JFK University. In 2017, Alena was named Woman of the Year, California State Assembly District 2, presented by Assembly Member Jim Wood, for her meaningful contributions in addressing health equity.

“It is an incredible honor to be appointed to the role of Public Affairs Director for such a mission-driven organization that consistently leans in to meet the needs of our most vulnerable community members,” Alena says. “In fire recovery alone, we have given nearly $24 million in Kaiser Permanente grant funding to support our local nonprofits to improve housing and homelessness, mental health, community infrastructure and language access, and mitigating financial insecurity for vulnerable community members.”

This summer, more than 3,150 residents in Marin, Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino counties took action to protect themselves from fraud and identity theft by bringing old financial records and other paperwork to Redwood Credit Union’s (RCU’s) free Shred-a-Thons.

Shred-IT trucks were onsite at each event to help communities safely dispose of and recycle 170,750 lbs. of documents. In addition, Conservation Corps of the North Bay collected more than 28,522 lbs. of e-waste at the Marin, Sonoma, and Mendocino events—including old TVs, printers, monitors, computers, and other personal electronics for secure recycling.

“We missed seeing our communities at Shred-a-Thons last year due to the pandemic, and we were excited to welcome people back this year,” said Matt Martin, senior vice president of community and government relations at RCU. “It’s gratifying to look at the numbers and realize we were able to help thousands of people safeguard themselves from identity theft.”

At each Shred-a-Thon location, attendees had an opportunity to donate to a local nonprofit. In total, the events raised more than $9,450 to support SchoolsRule Marin, Puertas Abiertas Community Resource Center in Napa, and Redwood Empire Food Bank in Sonoma and Mendocino counties.

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About Redwood Credit Union

Founded in 1950, Redwood Credit Union is a full-service financial institution providing personal and business banking to consumers and businesses in the North Bay and San Francisco. RCU offers complete financial services including checking and savings accounts, auto and home loans, credit cards, online and mobile banking, business services, commercial and SBA lending, and more. Wealth management and investment services are available through CUSO Financial Services L.P., and insurance and auto-purchasing services are also offered through RCU Services Group (RCU’s wholly owned subsidiary). RCU has more than $6.8 billion in assets and serves more than 385,000 members with full-service branches from San Francisco to Ukiah. For more information, call 1 (800) 479-7928, visit redwoodcu.org, or follow RCU on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn for news and updates.

The innovative cannabis industry conference Hall of Flowers prepares for its Santa Rosa, California, event on September 22 and 23, 2021. It’s the first large-scale, in-person conference for the industry since the pandemic began in 2020. With it, cannabis industry insider attendees can expect outdoor activations, close to 300 exhibitors, and plenty of California cannabis worth showing off.

How many people is Hall of Flowers expecting for its redemption song? “3,500 – 4,000 attendees,” says Hall of Flowers Marketing lead Chris Gonzalez. “I feel like the energy is high and the industry is excited to all gather together again. Although we had very successful virtual events, I am eager to get that feeling of walking through the consumption lounge and seeing the community enjoying the event.”

Hall of Flowers first launched its B2B conference series in Santa Rosa in 2018. What attendees can expect in 2021 at the Sonoma County fairgrounds, Gonzalez says, are some engaging firsts for the conference. “Outdoor activations will be mind blowing this year,” says Gonzalez. “Not only will we have the most outdoor activations we have had, but Lincoln has been working closely with each activation to create an incredible experience.”

“It’s time for our essential industry to come together again, bigger and better than ever,” says Lincoln Barnett III, Partnerships lead for Hall of Flowers. “Brands are going above and beyond this year to create consumption friendly environments.”

One piece of this B2B conference that makes it stand out is its on-site, outdoor consumption element. It’s one actionable step for buyers and sellers to get a feel for the product they’re purchasing. “Cannabis is a multisensory experience, you need to activate all 5 senses in order to know what you’re getting yourself into—and taste is a vital component of this,” says Aengus Cawley, Marketing Lead for Hall of Flowers.

Among the nearly 300 companies exhibiting are Raw Garden, Papa & Barkley, Alien Labs, Boveda, CannaCraft, Pax Labs, Ember Valley, Kings Garden, Wyld, The Stanley Brothers, DIXIE, The Cure Company, and many more. The complete list of retailers is even more expansive, including Stiiizy, Wonderbrett, Caliva, Planet 13, Cookies, Emjay/Sherbinskis, The Pottery, and more. There will be a Loyalty Lounge exclusively for retail buyers who supported Hall of Flowers throughout the past year at its virtual event ENGAGE. “It’s our way of saying thank you is by giving them the ultimate lounge,” says Gonzalez.

Hall of Flowers also boasts its two-day speaker series Core Conversations with sessions including Tammy Pettigrew, the Cannabis Cutie, Mary Pryor, founder of Cannaclusive, Elliot Lewis, CEO of Catalyst, Chris Walsh, CEO of MJBiz, and more. “The gathering of our community and sharing of industry learnings has long been at the core of the Hall of Flowers experience,” says Barnett. “We always aim to add value beyond the Show floor.”

While celebrity sightings do often pop up at Hall of Flowers, it’s not the company’s MO. But it is California, after all, a state whose industry is sprinkled with celebrity endorsements (I recall Seth Rogen making an appearance at the last Santa Rosa event). This year, expect Jim Belushi of Belushi’s Farm, Cody “No Love” Garbrandt, Former UFC world Champion, Chuck Liddell, Former UFC Champion, and actor Chauncey Leopardi, famous for his role as “Squints” from the cult classic film Sandlot.

Jim Belushi tells Forbes he highly anticipates the event, and that it will be his first time attending Hall of Flowers. “Yes, I’ve been hearing about Hall of Flowers for a while now,” says Belushi. “I get excited to attend any cannabis event because the community is enlightened. And if they aren’t enlightened the plant will drag them there, and I want to be there when it happens.”

The actor’s cannabis brand Belushi’s Farm spans 93 acres in Southern Oregon. His cannabis work is well-documented in the Discover Channel’s reality TV show Growing Belushi. “Santa Rosa is the center of California cannabis,” says Belushi. “Bhang and I are putting together an invite-only Blues, Burgers & Brew night at The Whiskey Tip on the 22nd. Bring your sunglasses and dancing shoes… but no bongs allowed.”

Exhibitors harbor the same palpable excitement as they build up to this huge gathering. Raw Garden will be exhibiting at Hall of Flowers Santa Rosa, offering some new experiences for attendees and fans of the brand, as well as giving back to its community.

“We’re thrilled to be exhibiting at this year’s Hall of Flowers,” says Raw Garden’s Head of Product Khalid Al-Naser. He says it’s the company’s first major foray back into trade shows since the pandemic began. “We are so excited to be back at Hall of Flowers for next week’s event and can’t wait to reconnect with our colleagues across the industry. HoF will be a great opportunity for us to build upon our commitment to quality and stewardship.”

“At the event, we’ll debut the Raw Garden General Store,” says Al-Naser. “The intent of the exhibit is to create a space for trade and consumers to experience Raw Garden in a deeper and more personal way.”

Raw Garden is well known for its agricultural “farming-first” philosophy. So the company plans to launch Scan a Seed at Hall of Flowers, a campaign aimed at raising awareness around food scarcity. “For each scan of the QR code, printed on upcycled seed paper, Raw Garden will donate $1 to the Food Bank of Santa Barbara County—an organization we’ve been supporting for years,” says Al-Naser. “Studded with seeds of various veggies and herbs, the cards can be planted to grow your own food, furthering Raw Garden’s commitment to sustainability, stewardship, and farming-first ethos.”

To bring this to life, Raw Garden has developed an interactive seed wall where all guests will have the opportunity to “scan a seed” to help minimize food scarcity. The seed wall is a physical, visceral representation of the 26 million seeds in Raw Garden’s seed bank.

2021 marks the first year Hall of Flowers teams up with MJBiz, hosts of MJBizCon in Las Vegas October 19-21, 2021. “We are thrilled to be partnering with the largest cannabis industry show and bringing the retailers and brands into the larger cannabis community offering our base greater nationwide exposure,” Hall of Flowers founder Dani Diamond says of the new B2B event partnership. Expect to see a Hall of Flowers buying experience inside the massive MJBizCon show floor.

https://www-forbes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.forbes.com/sites/lindseybartlett/2021/09/17/hall-of-flowers-cannabis-conference-returns-with-mind-blowing-outdoor-activations/amp/

According to the 2022 College Factual Best Colleges Ranking, Dominican University of California is ranked in the top 15% in the nation for academic excellence and student outcomes.

Placed at 309 of 2,576 universities and colleges nationwide, DU has moved up by 72 places since the previous year.

That’s not all, this is Dominican’s second top ranking of the week! The US News and World Report 2022 Best Colleges Guidebook once again ranked Dominican as one of the top regional universities in the west, placing DU at 23rd.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6844357007399628800/