In this episode, California Chief Service Officer Josh Fryday talks with students from the UC Riverside School of Public Policy about volunteerism and uniting individuals through service.

About Josh Fryday:

Appointed by California Governor Gavin Newsom, Josh Fryday leads California Volunteers, which works to establish and maintain a statewide volunteer corps to help with the state’s response to emergencies and disasters. Josh Fryday was previously Mayor of Novato, Novato City Councilmember, Chief Operating Officer for NextGen Climate and Past President of Golden State Opportunity. In addition to obtaining his B.A. in Political Science and Philosophy as well as his J.D. in law from UC Berkley, Josh Fryday also served in the military as an Officer in the United States Navy and as a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG).

Learn more about Josh Fryday via: https://www.californiavolunteers.ca.gov/about-us/cso/

Podcast Highlights:

"We have really big issues facing California, facing our country, facing the planet... But I feel very strongly that if we're going to actually tackle some of these big issues, we have to figure out how to bring everyone to the table. How do we make everyone part of the solution? How do we engage everyone? How do we bring people together so that they can solve problems in communities together?”

- Josh Fryday on the topic of unity through volunteerism.

"With this [Job Corps] program, we're providing real economic opportunity. But what we're also saying is that you don't have to decide between pursuing your passion, something you're passionate about, or a paycheck - that you can actually do both. That you don't have to decide between whether you want to launch a career and be able to feed your family or help your community, that you can actually do both.”

- Josh Fryday on the topic of creating programs that allow for financial need to no longer be a barrier to service.

"But I think the reason California is viewed as a leader, not just of the country, but of the planet, is because a lot of the values that we hold dear are universal. The value of making sure that people are included. The value of embracing diversity. The value of taking care of our environment. These are things that are not unique just to California. I think… because of our culture's willingness to innovate and try new things and invent new things, [our volunteer programs] are very compelling and become scalable across the rest of the world.”

- Josh Fryday on the topic of the universal values California shares with the rest of the world.

Guest:

Josh Fryday (California Chief Service Officer)

Interviewers:

Rachel Strausman (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Vice Chief Ambassador)

Dinara Godage (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Ambassador)

View the video version here: https://youtu.be/I0jjDm4EyO0

Music by:

C Codaine

https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Xylo-Ziko/Minimal_1625

https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Xylo-Ziko/Phase

Commercial Links:

https://spp.ucr.edu/ba-mpp

https://spp.ucr.edu/mpp

This is a production of the UCR School of Public Policy: https://spp.ucr.edu/

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