Breakthrough, peer-reviewed research from Dr. Sonny Magana was shown to double student learning productivity regardless of grade band or content area. The Ventura County Office of Education has partnered with Magana Education to expand their highly successful CyberTeacher training system with the new CyberLeader Lab.
California is one of the nation’s leading providers of fresh citrus fruit, including oranges, mandarins and lemons. The California citrus industry is worth $3.4 billion and provides 22,000 jobs. However, our backyard citrus trees and the citrus industry as a whole are currently under threat by a devastating disease called Huanglongbing (HLB).
The Ventura County Community College District is deeply troubled by the behavior seen in a video posted on social media by students on Feb. 18, showing an interaction between a student who is hard-of-hearing and an Oxnard College faculty member.
“The Ventura County Community College District is opposed to any language or behavior which is offensive or harmful to anyone based on gender, ethnicity, religion, sex orientation, age or disability,” stated Board Chair Joshua Chancer. “Comments in the video do not reflect the District’s values of integrity and honesty in action and word, respect and the constant pursuit of excellence.”
Even in these unusual times, California Lutheran University’s School of Management continues to provide a stimulating environment for our learners and the community around us. Today, we are once again happy to share a selection of exciting news, updates, and upcoming events to our communities in Southern California and beyond.
If you want to stay current on what is going on at the School of Management, please follow our Showcase page on LinkedIn.
¡Nuestros héroes usan máscaras! ¡Gracias especiales a nuestro equipo de Servicios Ambientales por su dedicación a nuestros hospitales durante la respuesta al COVID-19 y durante todo el año! Estas personas excepcionales trabajan 24/7 detrás de las escenas proveyendo apoyo crítico para las operaciones. Estamos muy agradecidos por su servicio.
The State of California is launching an Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) to aid income-qualified tenants most at risk of eviction due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is calling on community-based organizations to sign up as partners to reach out to those who qualify.
In Ventura County, $52.2 million has been designated to assist households affected by COVID-19, with priority on those below the area median income and recently unemployed.
The Santa Maria High School FCCLA recently joined more than 182,000 members across the nation in raising awareness of Family, Career and Community Leaders of America and advocating for Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) during FCCLA Week.
Held annually during the second week of February in conjunction with Career and Technical Education Month, FCCLA Week celebrates the accomplishments of FCCLA and the positive impact FCS has on our society, according to Saint Teacher and Advisor Nicki Pedeliski.
Carpinteria’s only senior living and memory care community, GranVida, can rest easier, as almost all of their staff and residents received their final vaccinations.
Management has expressed deep gratitude to the residents for adhering to vaccination schedules, and for staff and residents’ immediate cooperation with COVID-19 protocols.
“Ok, fine, but I go wherever I want and don’t worry about anything. In fact, I don’t believe what the scientists say about the coronavirus.”
This was more or less the response I got from a family relative who wanted me to go into Los Angeles, the global epicenter of COVID-19 at the time, to meet with her. She had arrived from out of town. We hadn’t seen each other in years. This would have been our big chance to reconnect, but I couldn’t bring myself to contravene the health guidelines that the health authorities have been pounding into our heads for the past year—guidelines, by the way, that have made perfect sense to me.
The situation in Texas is dire. Dozens of people have died and countless more have been hospitalized for treatment from hypothermia and other effects of freezing weather. Electric power for millions has been knocked out. This has left people trapped in their homes without power for heating or a way to cook meals. Major water supplies have gone dry as sources and pipelines have frozen. The situation has led to alerts for residents to boil all remaining drinking water. Seniors are at especially high risk, along with patients operating medical equipment at home and are now using portable generators. Many food stores and gas stations are unable to meet the demand for essential items or fuel.
Please help us rush assistance to the worst affected areas of Texas. Donate what you can and ask others to do the same.
After closely evaluating 423 Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) programs across the western United States, NursingProcess.org has ranked Santa Barbara City College’s Vocational Nursing program No. 10 for 2021. Programs were ranked based on four important factors: National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-PN) pass rates, academic quality, the nursing school’s reputation, and affordability.
SBCC’s three-semester Vocational Nursing program prepares students to practice as competent, compassionate and ethical Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVNs) in homes, clinics, extended care, sub-acute care units, surgery centers, and hospices. Classroom and laboratory courses include the foundation of nursing practice, nutrition and care for patients with gastrointestinal problems, administration of therapeutic agents, maternal and child nursing, pharmacology and medical-surgical nursing.
More vaccine appointments are now available for those 65 or older or in health care. Please make your appointment by visiting www.venturacountyrecovers.org/vaccine-information/portal/ or by calling 805-477-7161.
Frequently Asked Question: How do I get my 2nd dose appointment?
After receiving your first dose, you will become eligible for your second dose after a waiting period of 21 days if you received Pfizer and 28 days if you received Moderna.
You do not need to receive your second dose on the exact date you become eligible. You have a window of 6 weeks from getting your first dose to receive your second dose. Please do not schedule your second dose earlier than recommended. Refer to your vaccination card, which will list the date you received your first dose.
Assemblymembers Steve Bennett (D-Ventura), Robert Rivas (D-Holister) and Senator Monique Limon (D-Santa Barbara), introduced legislation today to establish a state-wide grant program for counties to create farmworker resource centers.
“The Covid pandemic demonstrated how valuable it was to have county employees who have developed trusted relationships with this important community,” said Assemblymember Bennett, “and the agriculture industry and the State of California need farmworkers who feel valued respected and supported. There are so many things for low-income non-native speakers to navigate. The Farmworker Resource program can help them tremendously.”
VENTURA COUNTY — Over the past year, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors approved the recommendation from the Workforce Development Board (WDB) to appoint four new WDB board members. Each will serve a three-year term. New member Shaffiq Rahim is…
City Manager Alexander Nguyen has appointed Alexander Hamilton as Fire Chief, effective February 20, 2021. Hamilton has served as the Interim Fire Chief for the City following the retirement of Chief Darwin Base on August 31.
“Alex has thrived in the Interim Chief role, and I have faith in his ability to modernize fire services and enhance the fire department’s role protecting the safety of our community,” said City Manager Alexander Nguyen.
United Way of Santa Barbara County (UWSBC) has more than $13 million in rental and utility assistance funds generously allocated by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors for eligible County of Santa Barbara residents, that have experienced a loss of income due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This Emergency Rent Assistance Program is intended to prevent homelessness by providing rent assistance to residents who can demonstrate the need for rental support.
Four PVHS Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) members are competing in this year’s annual FCCLA competitions, with hopes they will place at region and move on to the state level where scholarships, prizes and awards can be earned.
Once students created their projects and the supplemental materials, they had to record a video of themselves as if they were presenting to a panel of judges. Results will be shared during this year’s virtual State Leadership Meeting in March.
New analysis finds that the Tongva people of Catalina Island hunted sea lions over 1,000 years ago and likely transported meat by plank canoes.
February is National Children’s Dental Health month. Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease and unmet need of children in California. More than 50% of California’s kindergartners have a history of dental decay. Nearly 25% of California’s children, ages 0-11, have never been to a dentist. When children don’t get the care they need, there are costs to taxpayers and families – the cost of emergency room visits for preventable dental problems and missed school days resulting in a loss of attendance-based school district funding.
Through the Building Healthy Smiles Initiative, United Way and its partners work to reduce dental disease in Ventura County through education, care coordination, and advocacy. Our goal is to eliminate untreated tooth decay for children in Ventura County. Pre-pandemic, over 2,500 children received oral health assessments in 2019 alone.
Frequently Asked Question: How do I get my 2nd dose appointment?
After receiving your first dose, you will become eligible for your second dose after a waiting period of 21 days if you received Pfizer and 28 days if you received Moderna.
You do not need to receive your second dose on the exact date you become eligible. You have a window of 6 weeks from getting your first dose to receive your second dose. Please do not schedule your second dose earlier than recommended. Refer to your vaccination card, which will list the date you received your first dose.
There are three ways to secure a 2nd dose appointment:
Newly elected Assemblymember Steve Bennett (D-Ventura) introduced legislation today to modernize open court proceedings by requiring courts to provide remote access for the public and media.
AB 716 strikes a balance between meaningful access and court flexibility, without limiting a judge’s ability to hold closed proceedings. The bill would require courts to provide the public and the media with remote access to hearings, via internet or telephonic services, during open court proceedings.
Declining COVID-19 case rates could soon remove a roadblock that has been preventing some Ventura County elementary schools from reopening for in-person instruction. Several local school districts already reopened their elementary schools when Ventura County was in the red tier on the state’s coronavirus watch list or by receiving waivers while the County is in the more restrictive purple tier.
Join us in celebrating all of our Port customers and partners who continue to make cargo move!
The Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) is happy to announce its March activity in celebration of its 30th anniversary year. Local artist Brett Bednorz has created a wonderful whale “totem” coloring page for the Museum in honor of the magnificent animals that are so often seen off the local coast. Coloring contest participants are invited to let their creativity and imagination run wild. There will be four age categories, Adults? 18 years and up, Teens ? 13?17 years, Kids – 7?12 years, and Kids ? 6 years and under. One coloring winner will be selected in each age group.
The Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Board of Education and district officials on Feb. 16 held a groundbreaking for the Santa Maria High School 50 classroom/administration building that is projected to be completed in April 2023.
The new building will help ease the congestion on Camino Colegio, that small dead-end street, now the front entrance. It will also create permanent classrooms and eliminate nearly all portable classrooms.
Fourteen Santa Maria High School Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) members recently shined at the Virtual Gold Coast Section Competitive Event Conference.
The students participated in various business & financial, entrepreneurship and software systems development career paths to qualify for the FBLA State Leadership Conference in April. The Saints Zoomed through the exams in professional business attire and captured several top awards.
Vaccine Update – now open to 65 and older. Appointments open weekly.
Vaccines are in limited supply throughout the State of California. Appointments are full at this time. The current phase in Ventura County is Phase 1A: Healthcare workers, long-term care residents and now 65 and older.
Appointments are limited because of the limited supply of vaccines. It will take time to secure an appointment if you are in the current phase. The County of Ventura wants you to have a vaccine and is advocating for more vaccines.
Once more appointments open a message will be sent. At that time, community members who are eligible to be vaccinated may:
1) Register online www.venturacountyrecovers.org/vaccine-information/portal/.
2) Those with limited computer/internet access may call the phone registration line at 805-477-7161. The phone line is open Monday through Friday 8:00-5:00.
When the COVID-19 pandemic required Ventura County Community College District’s employees to transition to remote work in March, the District’s information technology team faced a challenge. They needed to provide over 500 employees with an immediate, reliable secure process for accessing their core applications and files. A transition process that historically would take six to 10 weeks, the IT team did in 10 days. They accomplished this feat by evaluating, selecting and implementing Amazon AppStream 2.0, a fully managed application and desktop streaming service built on Amazon Web Services.
Two national studies about college campuses and COVID-19 suggest that the California State University’s (CSU) early decision to pivot all 23 of the CSU campuses to virtual instruction went a long way toward keeping communities safer throughout the state.
“Both reports carried a similar message that campuses can be super-spreaders of the virus,” said Vice Chair of the CSUCI Academic Senate and Professor of Mathematics Jason Miller, Ph.D., who reviewed the two studies and extrapolated the results for CSUCI.
MCASB is happy to be part of this wonderful team of Museums and
Cultural Organizations, sponsoring a Virtual Blood Drive in Santa Barbara.
Click the link below to schedule a time and location that works for you!
Residents of Santa Barbara County who are age 65 and older will be eligible to receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine beginning Tuesday, February 16, 2021. This expanded eligibility means that local health care providers, pharmacies, hospitals, and Public Health vaccination sites can open appointments to those 65+ once vaccines become available to them. Vaccine supplies are still very limited and health care providers are simultaneously ensuring those that received a first dose will also be able to receive a second dose.
Yesterday, the Latino Elder Outreach Network (LEON) surprised 400 isolated seniors in Goleta, Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Isla Visa, Santa Maria, and Lompoc with goodie bags and Valentine’s Day cards to share a message of support during the pandemic. LEON is exploring the expansion of its network to North County and used the opportunity to introduce itself to seniors and organizations in Lompoc and Santa Maria.
RISE and Lemos Feed & Pet Supply are partnering together to host a Pet of the Year photo contest. They are inviting community members to sign up for the contest by February 21st. Participation is FREE; all you need is a pet and an interest in supporting an important cause. Each participant will receive a unique voting page with a profile of your furry (or not-so-furry) friend. Participants will share their voting page with friends and family, who will vote with a donation to support RISE and ongoing services for local survivors of sexual assault/abuse and intimate partner violence and their loved ones.
The Economic Development Collaborative encourages you to sign up for our no-cost webinars. Space is limited. Register today!
COVID-19 Business Resources – EIDL, PPP, UI and Grants
Alternating Wednesdays & Fridays @ 12:00 pm
Next Webinar: February 19, 2021
The EDC invites you to join our webinar series on alternative Wednesdays and Fridays at 12:00 pm to answer questions about EIDL, PPP, UI, Grants and all currently available COVID-19 related business resources. Please register in advance. Space is limited.
Welcome to Our Winter 2021 Livable Communities Newsletter
As we recognized last quarter, COVID-19 is not only still with us, but it also casts a shadow over everything we think we know, including our understanding of the 3 Es that are the foundation of the Ventura County Civic Alliance: Economy, Environment, and Equity.
Therefore, it is still fitting that this quarter’s Livable Communities Newsletter explores different aspects of the 3 Es and Livable Communities in a COVID-19 world
Happy Valentine’s Day to You and Happy Anniversary to Us
We’ve said it before, but we find it so fitting that the Museum’s anniversary falls on Valentine’s Day–because we are so in love with this place! It has been eleven years since the doors of the Santa Paula Art Museum first opened, and we have only our supporters to thank for each and every year. Thank you for helping us to build and sustain a place where we can share our love–for the arts, for learning, and for our community.
This year, artist Anette Power is helping us to celebrate the Museum’s anniversary with a special addition to her recently unveiled virtual exhibit Silver Linings: Journey of Light. Scroll down for a small surprise!
Have you ever questioned what it means to be a collector?
In our new series we will be sitting down with artists and collectors for an in-depth conversation on the subject! This Thursday, February 18, 2021 kicks off the first installment of Collectors Series, a behind-the-scenes dive into what it means to collect contemporary art.
There are 453 new COVID-19 cases. There have been 6,537 new tests performed for a total of 1,051,626 total tests performed. There are 226 people who are currently hospitalized and 52 in the ICU.
There have been 18 additional deaths: 75 year old male, 72 year old male, 87 year old male, 56 year old male, 81 year old male, 74 year old male, 56 year old female, 82 year old male, 79 year old male, 51 year old male, 64 year old male, 89 year old male, 48 year old male, 53 year old male, 80 year old male, 89 year old female, 62 year old male, and a 85 year old male
We extend our deepest sympathy to the families of those who have passed away.
A COVID-19 vaccine pilot program was launched on Feb. 11 for farmworkers at Kimball Ranches-El Hogar and Rancho Simpatica.
The County’s Farmworker Resource Program team was on site to provide language support in Mixteco, Purepecha, Zapotec and Spanish. Educational materials, masks and hand sanitizer were also provided.
We appreciate the hard work of our Farmworker Resource Program and Public Health Teams in supporting our agricultural community during this time and throughout the year!
The other day, as I sat through yet another Zoom meeting, I heard an unusual series of squawks outside. I thought that maybe I was hearing an angry animal, or, God forbid, an angry neighbor just outside my home.
As I stuck my head out the patio door, I looked up to see a crow persecuting a hawk, trying to make the hawk’s life miserable. The crow would fly straight toward the ascending hawk, miss it entirely on purpose, fly out circularly, only to rampage back in the direction of the hawk, screeching loudly and flying tight circles around it as if to maximize its level of irritability and arrogance. The crow was acting as if it were the ultimate gadfly, trying to provoke the hawk to do something stupid.
Mustang Marketing President Dianne McKay has been named Educational Leader of the Year by Ventura County Leadership Academy. McKay is currently serving in her third term as an elected trustee for the Ventura County Community College District (VCCCD).
National School Counseling and Guidance Week, sponsored by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), was celebrated from Feb. 1-5 at the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District.
This week focused public attention on the unique contributions of school counselors and guidance & support professionals within U.S. school systems and highlights the tremendous impact they can have in helping students achieve success and plan for a career.
With its honored “Promise Program,” SBCC is ready to help First Lady Dr. Jill Biden in her efforts to offer free community college education nationwide. The SBCC Promise Program provides two years of free books and tuition to high school students who graduate in the Community College district stretching from Carpinteria to Gaviota.
Dr. Biden has been a strong supporter of the concept for years, dating back to the Obama administration. Earlier this week she made a speech to relaunch her commitment with the American Association of Community Colleges.
Santa Maria High School officials this month will increase the of number Saints applying for financial aid by helping them complete either the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or California Dream Act Application (CADA), with a goal of 100 percent participation.
26 pop up testing sites are offered during the month of February in addition to the regular testing sites. View the pop up site schedule by clicking here: https://vcportal.ventura.org/covid19/docs/PopupSites_20210203.pdf
Ventura County Leadership Academy (VCLA) is pleased to announce the 2021 Journey to Leadership Awards honorees, recognizing five outstanding community leaders for their contributions to Ventura County. Save the date – Thursday, April 29th the community will join together to honor these local leaders through an online celebration.
* Business of the Year – PODS Moving and Storage
* Educational Leader of the Year – Dianne McKay, Ventura County Community College
* District Board Member, Area 2, and President, Mustang Marketing
* Non-Profit Leader of the Year – Monica White, President and CEO, Food Share of Ventura County
* Public Sector Leader of the Year – County of Ventura COVID Response Team
* Alumnus of the Year – James Joyce III, Cohort XVII, Founder, Chief Visionary Officer at Coffee with a Black Guy
Starting February 16, 2021, you can check out a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Home Energy Savings Toolkit at participating Ventura County libraries.Ventura County Library is partnering with Ventura County Regional Energy Alliance (VCREA), and 3C-REN (Tri-County Regional Energy Network) to launch the DIY Energy Savings Toolkits. The DIY toolkits include instruction guidebooks in both English and Spanish and will help provide the knowledge, tools, and equipment needed to improve your home’s energy and water usage with easy upgrades. These simple DIY home improvements can help increase the energy efficiency of your home, making it more comfortable, affordable, resilient, and better for the planet.
Sociopolitical comedian W. Kamau Bell joins Belinda Robnett, vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion, for Arts & Lectures events centered on racial justice.
