Two years ago, Judy Ennis helped launch the Davis Community Action Network (DCAN), a grassroots initiative formed with a bold goal: to bring the community together to face the interconnected crises of housing affordability and climate change.
Now, with over 225 participants, a strategic plan, and an expanding presence in local policy conversations, DCAN is emerging as a model for inclusive civic engagement in Davis.
In an in-depth conversation with the Vanguard, Ennis reflected on what inspired the group, what they’ve learned, and how they hope to reshape the local housing narrative—one conversation at a time.
Before diving into housing, Ennis worked for a decade in education policy. What she saw there stayed with her: ZIP codes, she noted, were a consistent predictor of student outcomes, yet her field seldom addressed the root causes of place-based inequality.
“I wanted to dedicate more of my professional life toward housing issues based on seeing its effects on the education space,” Ennis explained. “The security and stability of housing impacts children, families, and schools in profound ways.”
That realization eventually led her to serve four years on Davis’s Social Services Commission. But it also left her frustrated. The conversations she had at city meetings felt disconnected from the reality she saw on playgrounds and at farmers markets, where families quietly lamented the friends and neighbors they were losing due to rising housing costs.
“We started DCAN to create more opportunities for those private conversations to become part of the public conversation,” she said. “Because we are in a housing crisis—and a climate crisis—and we have to address both at the same time.”
One of DCAN’s most striking contributions has been its focus on broadening the housing conversation beyond the same familiar voices often heard at public meetings. Over two years, DCAN has organized 13 events, conducted outreach across generations and income levels, and intentionally included commuters who work in Davis but can no longer afford to live there.
“That doesn’t make them any less part of our community,” Ennis emphasized.
Parents were the hardest demographic to reach—a fact Ennis, herself a mother of two, knows intimately.
“Parents are stretched thin. They’re working long hours, raising kids, driving across town. Their bandwidth for civic engagement is minimal,” she said.
Yet their voices are crucial—not only because housing costs affect family stability, but because declining enrollment is forcing hard choices in Davis schools.
DCAN now plans to launch a dedicated “parent landing page” on its website to make engagement more accessible and relevant for busy families.
The link between housing and school health is something Ennis believes has been too long ignored.
“Neighborhoods and schools are inseparable. When you have an enrollment decline, you have a funding decline. And when you have a funding decline, the district is forced to make very difficult choices,” she explained. “This isn’t about voting yes or no on a single project. It’s about understanding how all of these pieces fit together.”
Ennis sees this as a core part of DCAN’s mission: translating policy into plain language, showing residents how the decisions they make as voters affect not only housing development but educational opportunity.
For Ennis, part of the reason DCAN formed was to confront the outdated dichotomy between environmental protection and housing development.
“For too long, these two issues have been treated as oppositional,” she said. “If we build, we hurt the climate. If we protect the climate, we push housing elsewhere. But that frame is broken. We have to do both.”
Rather than calling for the removal of environmental regulations, Ennis advocates for improving them—updating outdated processes, addressing inefficiencies, and centering their original purpose: protecting people.
“Protecting people can’t mean leaving them without access to shelter,” she argued. “Effective environmental policy and climate-smart housing must go hand-in-hand.”
One of the biggest surprises in DCAN’s outreach? How many residents across demographics expressed interest in new models of neighborhood design—especially cooperative housing and shared common spaces.
“People are hungry for connection,” Ennis said. “Parents want safe places where kids can play in earshot. Seniors want to age in place with support. The post-war suburban model doesn’t meet those needs anymore.”
Ennis believes the pandemic accelerated this shift. As people realized how isolating the existing neighborhood model could be, many became open to alternatives that prioritize shared space, sustainability, and community.
“We need every kind of housing,” she emphasized. “Yes, more apartments and missing-middle housing. But we also need retrofits to make our older single-family homes livable in 120-degree summers. And we need options for seniors to downsize without leaving their neighborhoods.”
Throughout the conversation, Ennis returned to a central idea: that solving the housing and climate crises isn’t just about policy—it’s about people.
“We’re focused on the people who are impacted by these issues,” she said. “If we’re going to be resilient in the face of economic downturns, climate disasters, and social division, we need stronger human networks. Mutual aid. Neighbor-to-neighbor care. That’s what we’re building.”
And part of that, she believes, is bringing joy back into community life. On April 24, DCAN will celebrate its two-year anniversary with an event focused on education, connection, and—yes—joy.
“You can have information and joy mixed together,” she laughed. “That’s part of community.”
As Davis continues to grapple with development, displacement, and division, Ennis hopes DCAN will keep expanding the conversation. She’s encouraged by the reception so far—especially from residents who’ve never attended a City Council meeting but want to learn how housing impacts their lives and neighbors.
“There’s a temptation to treat housing as a zero-sum game. But what we’ve seen is that people want to collaborate. They want their neighbors to be okay. They just need the space and the tools to be part of the solution.”
With DCAN, Ennis and her team are working to create that space—one story, one neighbor, one shared vision at a time.
“Before diving into housing, Ennis worked for a decade in education policy. What she saw there stayed with her: ZIP codes, she noted, were a consistent predictor of student outcomes, yet her field seldom addressed the root causes of place-based inequality.”
So, their “solution” is to move everyone to a “successful zip code”, and then “write-off” those left-behind in “unsuccessful zip codes”. Leaving behind increasingly-decimated communities, blight, abandoned houses, etc.
Already, the school district poaches students from other zip codes rather than right-size itself. (Why am I not surprised that this person “worked for a decade in education policy”?)
(Or maybe they should just expand the area covered by zip codes, if zip codes are the “problem”.)
Housing of all types is complicated by state law and city rules and is one of the biggest challenges for Davis to be more inclusive. Judy Ennis is the perfect person to lead DCAN. The goals laid out are clear in intent. One attribute she has is being a very competent listener. I signed onto the DCAN list two years ago and also aa member of Davis Planning Professionals Group. Educating the public about the interface of (affordable) housing and climate change is sorely needed by citizens of Davis. Judy Ennis has the skills to have DCAN succeed.
I agree that cooperatives should be part of the mix.
David J Thompson
“For too long, these two issues have been treated as oppositional. If we build, we hurt the climate. If we protect the climate, we push housing elsewhere.”
That actually makes no logical sense.
I think the basic idea is that if you don’t build housing here, people have to live somewhere.
They’re already “living somewhere”. What you and Judy Ennis are advocating for is that they actually move FROM “somewhere else” to Davis.
And that for those who won’t (or can’t) move, “tough luck” in regard to the impact on THOSE communities as a result of poaching students, etc.
The resulting impact is the exact opposite of what you “claim” to support.
By the way, how is it legal for a school district to engage in political advocacy on behalf of its own interests, using public resources?
Sort of
This all sounds so wonderful, and I’m sure David Greenwald loves it. And most people will smile because of all the “good” being done.
But there is one cynical annoying a-hole in opposition. His organization — DCAN’T — has one central slogan, “Davis Can’t — Save the World — So Please, Stop Trying”.
Alan C. Miller is the Executive Director and Chief Bottle Washer of D-CAN’T. This is no board of directors so that there can be no disagreements, and there is no 401c3 status so Mr. Miller doesn’t have to pay taxes or fees or deal with the government. There is just a man, and a t-shirt.
Davis can’t save the world, but what does that have to do with anything discussed here?
See the comment in the article regarding zip codes, already referenced.
The implication being put forth is that those in “unsuccessful” zip codes need to move to “successful” zip codes, and that it’s the responsibility of those in successful zip codes to go along with that plan.
Essentially, move places like West Sacramento, Stockton, etc. – into Davis. (Perhaps entire towns.)
It’s not unlike moving the entirety of El Salvador, for example, into the United States because El Salvador is a lost cause. (Just picking a random example – not sure if El Salvador is actually where immigrants are coming from – there may be other, better examples.)
Like I said, your answer is sort of correct, but it lacks nuance to it.
It wasn’t intended to show “nuance”. If you actually examined “nuance”, the impact goes back to those “left behind” (since it’s obviously not realistic for Davis, for example, to absorb the entirety of other towns).
The problem is the underlying “plan”. That is, rather than address conditions in poor-performing zip codes (assuming that’s actually a problem in the first place), you and others are writing them off as unsalvageable. (That’s probably “news” to officials in West Sacramento and Stockton, for example.)
Taken to extreme, I’d suggest that Atherton or Tiburon “absorb” Davis itself – they’re obviously more “successful”. (Plus, they have better weather, outdoor recreational opportunities, etc.).
Essentially abandon the entire valley. (For that matter, other universities in those type of areas might have a better reputation than UCD. For example, UC Berkeley, Stanford, etc.). UCLA as well.
For sure, UC Merced would have to be closed down.
“ It wasn’t intended to show “nuance”.”
I can tell
Ironically, it’s the “nuance” that creates the problem (especially for someone with your point of view) – as already pointed out:
“Those left-behind”. You, DJUSD, and those like Judy Ennis apparently couldn’t care less about them.
The fact that you don’t (or “won’t”) see that undermines your entire claimed belief system, in regard to your advocacy.
(It’s similar to support for proposals like DISC – which would obviously create more demand fo housing if “successful”, with that support coming primarily from those who claim there’s ALREADY a housing shortage).
It’s so easy to pick-apart glaring inconsistencies in positions. This is why no one believes in the “stated” motivations of the growth advocates.
Huh?
Huh, indeed. It’s already been explained. For example (repeated again), there will be people FURTHER “left behind” in other communities, as DJUSD intensifies its poaching activities (e.g., encouraging people living in other communities to abandon those communities, and move to Davis). The ones with “unsuccessful zip codes”, to paraphrase Judy Ennis.
And then there’s developments like DISC, which if successful – would INCREASE demand fo housing in a community that those like you claim is already experiencing a housing shortage. And yet, it’s folks LIKE YOU who advocated for DISC.
Does this actually need an explanation for you, or are you just playing political games?
Your position is at odds with your own advocacy. (And when I say “you”, I’m referring to all of the growth advocates.)
Now I at least understand what you were trying to say
Really? You needed me to point out the inconsistency/conflict in your own position? Despite me pointing it out on an almost a daily basis?
DISC is where I first noticed it – a long time ago.
But you’re not alone. YIMBYs who are supported by the technology industry which “created” the so-called housing shortage in the Bay Area (also) refuse to acknowledge the cause created by their billionaire “corporate masters”. Instead, the YIMBY shills pick on the middle class residents (many of whom lived in the area for decades prior to the rise of Silicon Valley – and never asked for it to be created in the first place.)
No, I needed you to explain what you were trying to say in your previous post.