UC Davis Retirees' Association
October 2023 Report
Submited by: Emily Galindo, President
Since the Fall 2022 CUCRA meeting, the UC Davis Retirees Association has continued to meet on a regular basis in person. Our board is fully staffed with nine members.
UCDRA continues its biannual meetings with the Chancellor and the Provost. Association leadership also attends quarterly Campus Community Council meetings facilitated by the Chancellor. Association updates are provided at these meetings. This year's fall meeting with the Provost included an extensive conversation regarding the RASC in Oakland and our advocacy for establishing campus staffing of retirement facilitators due to challenges for retirees in getting timely service. An additional meeting with the Provost occurred in March 2023.
In March 2023, a Retirees Resource Fair was held by our campus Retiree Center with 39 vendors and approximately 100 attendees. We hope to see this become an annual event as it was a great opportunity to connect with many of our members.
UC Davis retirees continue to receive free parking privileges through a simplified method of registering two vehicles per retiree. This allows easy access to campus and hospital parking lots without a physical permit or requiring the use of a mobile app.
Our new assistant director, Pam Solano, joined the Retiree Center staff in December. This means that our center is now fully staffed with three career employees and student employees as needed. Efforts are underway to secure office space on the Sacramento campus to provide weekly in person support for medical center retirees.
Following the success last year of our joint fundraising committee from the UCDRA and UCD Emeriti Associations, we are once again raising funds for the Aggie Compass Basic Needs Center on the Davis campus. Our focus continues to be on raising funds for housing insecure students.
Recently the association awarded $2500 in scholarship assistance to three staff recipients in coordination with Staff Assembly. In addition, we participated in the 109th UC Davis Picnic Day parade on April 15th with Sue Barnes designated as our honoree.
Finally, as a part of our Speakers Series we offered a session about the "Yolo County Aging Alliance" in December 2022 and a session on the "In and Outs of Social Security" in February 2023. We also continue to collaborate with the Emeriti Association to provide Brain Food Talks from various Davis faculty members for our membership.