Geographic Assessment.

Monterey County ranks worst among all 58 California counties in food insecurity. A third of residents experience hunger. Half are diabetic or pre-diabetic. This is happening in the Salad Bowl of the World, a region producing over $4 billion in agriculture annually. The farms are in the Salinas Valley. The people are on the Monterey Peninsula coast. There is no bridge. Groundworks builds that bridge through culture.

Four strong institutional targets: Hartnell College (agriculture, partners with ALBA — closest alignment), MPC (general education and community programming), Cabrillo (horticulture/sustainability), CSUMB (environmental studies, in the target site area, student intern pipeline). The deepest teaching bench of any geography assessed.

The Monterey Paradox remains the strongest strategic case among all four geographies. The structural gap is real, documented, and acknowledged by existing organizations. Existing players are complementary, not competitive. Institutional teaching alignment is excellent. Commercial rents are affordable. Farm supply is year-round and proximate. Grant funding landscape is deep. Drew is planning to be there. This is the launch geography.

San Diego County has a significant agricultural sector and genuine food access gaps, particularly in South Oceanside and inland communities. The original Groundworks concept was developed here during the Foodshed Cooperative apprenticeship.

Teaching outreach to San Diego community colleges (SDCCD system and MiraCosta) provided community education delivery experience and institutional relationship skills that transfer directly to the Monterey corridor.

San Diego remains a viable geography if life circumstances change. The pre-launch validation work has value regardless. The food access gap exists, the farm supply network is present, and Drew's existing relationships provide a foundation. However, the Monterey Paradox narrative is structurally stronger for grant funding, and the institutional teaching alignment is deeper in the Monterey corridor.

The North Bay food systems ecosystem is among the most developed in the country. MALT, Agricultural Institute of Marin, FEED Sonoma, Singing Frogs Farm, SingleThread. The obvious reading is saturation, but the gap is different, not absent. There does not appear to be a Groundworks-style integrated space — café, farm stand, and education center under one roof in a walkable commercial corridor — in Petaluma or Sebastopol.

SRJC (Santa Rosa Junior College) has an agriculture department. Sonoma State University is nearby. Not as deep a bench as the Monterey corridor's four-institution lineup, but workable for a portfolio career.

Viable but would require a different narrative, a higher rent tolerance, and differentiation from a crowded field. The food insecurity grant narrative is weaker here. Strongest sub-geography is Petaluma. If Drew were to relocate, the concept could work — but it would need to earn its place in a way the Monterey version wouldn't, because the gap is softer.

Central Oregon (Bend metro ~100K, Sisters ~3K) is growing fast with transplants from Portland, the Bay Area, and beyond — people who want connection to local food but arrived in a high desert landscape without knowing where to start. The appetite for farm-to-table culture is proven by Rainshadow Organics and Lazy Z Ranch.

Central Oregon Community College (COCC) is in Bend. OSU Extension is active. Teaching alignment is thinner than California but not zero. Adjunct opportunities would need to be validated.

Viable in Bend (not Sisters, where Seed to Table already fills the niche). Community hunger for food system connection is real and growing. Supply chain in high desert is the most significant structural constraint. Teaching alignment is thinner. Grant landscape is different but not absent. M.N.R.S. connects well to the rangeland landscape.