The Central San Joaquin Valley encompasses over 40,000 square miles of what was once arid and nearly barren desert until Federal water projects transformed the land into some of  the most productive agricultural real estate in the world.   As the region's economy grew, established Valley communities grew to become major urban centers of agribusiness, banking, and transportation .  Fresno, Visalia, Tulare, Merced, Modesto --- located along U.S. 99 which became the transportation artery of the San Joaquin Valley,  these are California's newest cities with modern hospitals, financial centers, airports, and other urban amenities.  Fresno is the largest city in central California  and is home to over 650,000 people.  

Numerous small, rural communities also developed throughout the second half of the 1900's.  On the eastern side of the Valley near the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains may be found some of the oldest orchards and vineyards in the state.   Here one finds the farms that produce over 50% of the nation's raisins, grapes, oranges, stone fruits, almonds, and similar crops.  Communities on the eastside are mostly older, long-established towns which are nearly identical to what Fresno looked like in the 1940's.  Many eastside agricultural worker families enjoy permanent stable  employment in these crop industries that require year-around attention.  

In sharp contrast, on the west side  of the Valley one finds some of the nation's largest family-owned and corporate farms producing cotton, tomatoes, melons, and other row-crops.  Dozens of small communities sprang up with the introduction of Federal water and are scattered across the  Valley floor in virtual isolation from the urban centers.  These small communities struggle to provide effective educational programs for the Valley's rapidly growing population of school-aged children.  All areas of public human services suffer from the same condition of high need and low availability due to geographic and other barriers. 

ENLACE will develop tools and strategies to reduce the barriers of time and distance which often prevent education and other human service providers from effectively meeting the needs of central California's rural populations.  The whole MUST be made greater than the sum of its parts through the use of technology and other innovative tools.