I will admit that Team Barn Owls finally hid this cache down the road in an unabashed effort to create a cluster of caches worth the country drive. We hope we’ve created a varied handful of caches that will provide just the right amount of challenge, and pique your interest just a bit.
I originally wanted to place this cache across the nearby intersection, at what used to be the DACE building, so I could fit in a bit of personal history, and thus incorporate it into the majority of my hides. They were, however, not willing to allow a cache on their grounds when I approached them a few years ago.
So . . . a little history, anyway, because . . . well, just because.
D.A.C.E. – Desert Alliance for Community Empowerment was an Empowerment Zone funded by a federal grant of $1,000,000 a year that began in 1999, and ran for ten years. The last I heard, the zone had reached it’s goal of becoming the first Empowerment Zone to become a self-sustaining non-profit organization, and thus continue to exist past the ten years of the grant. But, I was unable to reach them, to find information on them past 2015, or to find a viable website for them.
The Empowerment Zone covered nearly all of the unincorporated land in the Eastern Coachella Valley, stretching east to the county line. It’s purpose was to spearhead projects that would remedy problems and fill unmet needs in ways that “empowered” the small communities to take the reins, and become self-sufficient in meeting their own needs. The governing board was made up of citizens from the various communities and Native American tribes within its borders. Both my husband and I served on that board for a time, and were very proud of the many projects that took place while we were there.
I know that history is a bit of a weak link, but there you have it – my reason for the hide.