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Rick Breeze-Martin                                    (DBA) Breeze-Martin Consulting

Providing effective consulting services to communities and organizations for their planning, organizational development, program evaluation, staff training, community and economic development projects.

Rick Breeze-Martin, Breeze-Martin Consulting, provides private and public organizations with technical assistance in strategic planning, economic and community development projects, program evaluation, organizational assessment and development, business planning, employee training, project design and technology projects.  Rick has over 25 years of work with, and often for, non-profit organizations, public agencies and commissions, private corporations and cooperatives.  He is well versed in federal regulations and grant funding requirements for local government entities as well as Community Development and Community Action programs. 

After nine years in the U.S. Navy and then college at U.C. Santa Cruz, Rick first began his career in 1976 with the non-profit self-help housing organization, T.E.C.H.O. operating in the Monterey Bay and Salinas Valley area.  Rick moved into Community Action work in 1979 as a Deputy Director of the Santa Cruz CAA. 

In 1981 he accepted a public appointment as Executive Director, and first employee, of the Amador-Tuolumne Community Action Agency (www.a-tcaa.org).  As Executive Director, Rick was instrumental in the design, development and management of the agencies systems for governance, administration, planning, finance and operations.  By the time Rick left 10 years later A-TCAA community service programs included:  Housing and Emergency Shelter Assistance, Community Volunteers (500+), Energy Conservation, Head Start, Community Youth Services, Senior Nutrition and Services, and Community Resource Development.

In 1991 Rick left non-profit work and went to work in the private sector for RHA, Inc.   At RHA Rick provided a wide variety of consulting services for designing, developing and managing energy and water utility low-income conservation programs for California and major utility companies, providing  administrative and management services for a California Public Utilities state wide telecommunications education trust that provided funding and technical assistance to trust grantees, and a lead abatement environmental certification training program design and development. 

 In 1996 Rick launched himself as an independent consultant providing diverse technical services to non-profit, government and private sector clients.  Rick’s consulting projects since 1996 include, but is not limited to:

• Development of the Inyo County, California Job Creation Plan for workforce development and a Community Economic Development Strategy for the Department of Commerce.

• Facilitation of community visioning and community action planning for the Lone Pine, Independence and Big Pine communities of Inyo County.

• Organizational development technical assistance for the Nevada Community Action Association.

•  Organizational Assessment and executive management services for the Cal-Neva CAA Association. 

• Facilitating formation of a micro-entrepreneurs’ co-operative in Merced County, California

• Assistance to the Merced County CAA in developing an entrepreneurial and cooperative approach for Workforce Development (www.mercedcaa.org)

• Work with community based nonprofit organizations providing technical assistance with fundraising events centered around music

• Provide technical assistance with grant development and writing for CSA & DC Reno (www.csareno.org), Tuolumne County (California: www.co.tuolumne.ca.us) and the Nevada Community Action Partnership Nevada Community Action Association

Rick also helped negotiate principles of upper watershed stewardship and community involvement with the Sierra Nevada Alliance, a regional environmental organization and the association of Rural California Resource Counties.  He has been a technical reviewer of watershed planning and restoration proposals for California’s State Water Resource Control Board and the CalFed Bay-Delta Program. Rick assisted WVCADA with an HHS/ ACF-OCS funded design project for a CAA model of community stakeholder involvement in West Virginia’s watersheds.  Also, the Community Education and Outreach consulting for the Clavey River Ecosystem Project's CALFED Bay-Delta funded watershed analysis www.claveyriver.net

Over the years Rick has served on the Board of Directors or advisory committees for several local and regional non-profit organizations. (You can find out more by visiting Rick's Involvements)

Rick and his wife Vonna live in Sonora, California in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada with their dogs Mia and Dafi, and Rockstar the cat.  Rick and Vonna recently started www.mismaluna.com an on-line company.  Vonna teaches Spanish at the local community college and is introducing Rick to the idea of living in Oaxaca, Mexico part-time in retirement.   Rick and Vonna have four grown children, Donna Renee, Rick, Leslie and Erin.  They have three grand children, Aedan Martin Carlton in California and Rebecca Lynn Martin and Rick Graham in Alabama.

B.A., Major: Anthropology, minor work in: Information Sciences, University of California at Santa Cruz, (UCSC) College 8: Thesis Honors, 1973 - 1976

Graduate course work towards an M.S. degree in Cybernetic Systems Science, California State University at San Jose, (SJSU) 1978 - 1981

Certified as an Economic Development Finance Professional, National Development Council, cert. # 9012-248, 1990
 

Continuing Education Since 1996

• U.C. Davis Extension: Water Laws & Audits, 1.5 units
• U.C. Davis Extension: Principles of Environmental Management 3 units
• U.C. Davis Extension: Fundamentals of Environmental Auditing 3 units
• U.C. Davis Extension: Community Participation in Planning, .6 ceu
• U.C. Davis Extension: Role of the Planning Commissioner .6 ceu
• U.C. Davis Extension: Water Resources Planning, .6 ceu

• U.C. Davis Extension: Watershed Planning: Managing Water Quality and Preserving Natural Resources, .6 ceu

• U.C. Berkeley Extension: Clean Water Act and Regulations .6 ceu

• U.C. Davis Extension: Watershed Conference 2001- The Challenge of Collaborative Management  .6 ceu

• U.S.F.S & Pinchot Institute: Collaborative Leadership Workshop, June 1997

• Columbia College: Conversational Spanish, Spanish 170, 3 units

• Columbia College: Beginning Spanish, Spanish 1A, 5 units

• Columbia College: Beginning Spanish, Spanish 1B, 5 units

• Lake Tahoe Community College Intensive Spanish Summer Institute, 4 units

Military Service

Honorable Discharge after nine (9) years in the U.S. Navy, 1964 - 1973

Work Experience

May, 1996 to present - Doing business as Breeze-Martin Consulting, providing private and public organizations with assistance in strategic planning, economic and community development, program evaluation, organizational assessment and development, business planning, website development and administration, employee training, project design and development. 

Recent projects include facilitation of non-profit Boards of Directors’ strategic planning retreats, organizational development and executive management services for statewide Associations, independent program evaluations for a California Endowment regional Welfare Reform project and an AmeriCorp mentoring project, corporate staff training in managing meetings and planning, organizational transition planning for a Community Development Corporation, facilitating development of a micro-entrepreneurs’ co-operative, community assessments in the Sierra foothills, Central and Owens Valleys.  

Other projects include facilitation of strategic economic and community development planning in three rural communities of the Owens Valley, development of a rural Inyo county’s Job Creation Plan and Community Economic Development Strategy, negotiated principles of upper watershed stewardship and community involvement with Rural California Counties association, and technical reviewer of watershed planning and restoration proposals for the State Water Resource Control Board and the CalFed Bay-Delta Program.

1991 to April, 1996 - Regional Manager with RHA, Inc.  Provided management, technical assistance and program evaluation for major utilities’ residential energy demand side management programs; did project design and pilot development for demand side management projects for California energy and water utilities; provided pilot project design, development, and evaluation with community based organizations; provided administrative services for statewide CPUC telecommunications education program; and, was part of team that provided program design and development of statewide environmental training certification program for lead abatement.  Designed and delivered training projects and program management technical assistance to state agencies and community organizations.

1981 to 1991 - Executive Director of the Amador - Tuolumne Community Action Agency, a joint powers authority.  Provided oversight, administration and development of social service delivery programs in a multi-county area of the Sierra foothills.  The agency’s annual budget was in excess of $4 million per year, with over 80 staff and 500+ part-time community volunteers.  A-TCAA Programs included housing development, designated as the Amador Housing Authority, economic and small business development, energy conservation and weatherization, housing rehabilitation, homeless emergency shelter, Head Start, community volunteers,  Senior services, Youth Services and Recreation, literacy assistance, emergency food assistance, community gardens project, low-income and senior tax assistance.  

A-TCAA funding sources included California’s Departments of Economic Opportunity, Housing and Community Development, Social Services, Education, and Employment Development.  Its federal funding sources included Office of Community Services, Housing and Urban Development, USDA/Farmers Home Administration, Federal Housing Administration, Administration for Children Youth and Families, Federal Emergency Management Administration, Department of Energy, and Health and Human Services.  Private funding sources included local individual donations, Kaiser Foundation, Wells Fargo Bank, United Way, and local service clubs.

1979 to 1981 -  Deputy Director of Operations for the Santa Cruz Community Action Board responsible for field oversight and implementation of all program operations.  (Programs and funding sources similar to those listed above with A-TCAA).

1976 to 1979  -  Program Development Officer for The Environmental Community Housing Organization (TECHO) located in Watsonville, CA.  Responsible for development, implementation, and management  of self-help housing projects in the Monterey Bay and Salinas Valley area.  Basic funding was provided by U.S.D.A./ Farmers Home Administration with other funding from sources such as the California Housing and Community Development, financial institutions complying with the Community Reinvestment Act, and local government.  Rick did grant writing and reporting for these USDA/FmHA and CA CHDC funded projects.  Also, conducted a year long research project in alternative building technologies for self-help housing funded by the Rosenberg Foundation.

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copyright Breeze-Martin Consulting © Wednesday, August 16, 2006 contact: rick@breeze-martin.com