25 STORIES FROM THE CENTRAL VALLEY is one student's master's thesis come to life with 25 stories of personal change and civic engagement. This campus-community project uses photos, theater, stories and sound to paint a vivid picture of the environmental problems faced by Central Valley communities as told by women leading the movement struggling to solve them. Their stories are by turns shocking, sad, and inspiring. Above all, they broaden people's understanding of the Central Valley, community change and the necessity for civic engagement.

25 STORIES: THE EXHIBIT will be on display from April 23 through August 23 at the Richard L. Nelson satellite gallery in the Buehler Alumni Center at UC Davis.

A companion 25 STORIES Web site (twentyfive.ucdavis.edu) will launch April 23 with an online exhibit. Over the summer, the Web site will be expanded to include an interactive map with excerpts from oral histories, audio clips and additional photographs; and additional tools for educators to use in the classroom.

25 STORIES is co-sponsored by the Environmental Justice Project at UC Davis's John Muir Institute of the Environment, Central California Environmental Justice Network, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, Community Water Center, Grayson Neighborhood Council, Tri-County Watchdogs, Association of Irritated Residents and the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment; funding was generously provided by the UC Davis Humanities Institute, Center for Regional Change, Consortium for Women and Research, Community Development Graduate Group, and the Art of Regional Change, a joint initiative of the Humanities Institute and the Center for Regional Change (at UC Davis); American Studies Association and the University of California Humanities Research Institute's California Studies Initiative.