Author: Amigos805.com

Frank X. Moraga is publisher / editor of Amigos805, providing information for and about the vibrant Latino community in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties — "Bringing cultures together by sharing information."

Bilingual report: Inaugural ‘Oxnard Show ‘N Shine Car Show’ to be held on Aug. 26

Alfarero Christian Community presents the inaugural “Oxnard Show ‘N Shine Car Show,” from 10 am. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26 in the Alfarero Christian Community parking area, 375 So. “K” St., Oxnard. The event is a benefit fundraiser for…

Final performance for ‘Divorciadas, Evangélicas, y Vegetarianas’ set for Aug. 26 in Carpinteria

The final performance for Teatro de las Américas’ “Divorciadas, Evangélicas, y Vegetarianas” (“Divorcees, Evangelicas , and Vegetarians”) will be held at 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26 at the Plaza Playhouse Teatre, 4916 Carpinteria Ave., Carpinteria. Written by Gustavo Ott, the play is performed in…

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ventura County receives Darden Restaurant Community Grant

Big Brother Big Sister has received a $3,000 grant as part of the inaugural Restaurant Community Grant Program from the Darden Foundation, the charitable arm of Darden Restaurants Inc., the organization reported recently in a media release. The Restaurant Community…

United Way of Santa Barbara County receives Summer Learning Award

The United Way of Santa Barbara County has received a prestigious 2012 National Excellence in Summer Learning Award for its Fun in the Sun program, the organization reported this week in a media release. The National Summer Learning Association (NSLA)…

805 region students participate in Just Communities’ ‘Community Leadership Institute’

Students from Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Santa Ynez Valley, Carpinteria, and Fillmore/Piru schools recently participated in Community Leadership Institute, an eight-day residential summer program in Ojai that trains youth from the Central Coast to be leaders in issues of diversity…

Cuarta generación de graduados en la Plaza Bicentenario del Centro Comunitario del Colegio de Santa Barbara

El Consulado de México informa a la comunidad en general que el pasado 10 de agosto se llevó a cabo la cuarta ceremonia de graduación y entrega de Reconocimientos a 51 estudiantes de la “Plaza Comunitaria Bicentenario” del Centro Comunitario…

Pre-K photographers focus on portraits in SBMA’s ‘Art in Motion’ program

This summer, 25 pre-school students from Storyteller Children’s Center worked with Tina Villadolid, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art teaching artist, creating photographic portraits inspired by the current exhibition, Portrayal/Betrayal, through the Museum’s Art in Motion (AIM) program, the museum reported this…

Ventura County together tackle hunger, homelessness with ‘Potluck and Sleepover’ on Aug. 18

CAMARILLO — Ventura County residents can get a feel for the obstacles faced by families struck by job loss or underemployment at the Ventura County Together’s first Potluck and Sleepover at 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 18, at FOOD Share in Oxnard,…

Bilingual commentary: Digital Natives and Immigrants

By David Magallanes / Guest contributor I am an immigrant. This world in which I find myself seems so strange sometimes. It’s nothing like the land from which I hail, where I grew up, and where I used to feel so…

Ros, Reagan join Lamia Financial Group LLC in Thousand Oaks

THOUSAND OAKS — Lamia Financial Group LLC, a full-service financial planning and wealth management company in Thousand Oaks, has expanded its financial planning advisory staff with the addition of Juan C. Ros, CFP®, and Jill Reagan, CPA, the company reported this…

Cabrillo’s ASPIRA Program to hold fundraiser on Aug. 14 in Oxnard

A fundraiser to support Cabrillo Economic Development Corp.’s ASPIRA Program will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 14 at Sugarbeets Restaurant and Bar, 455 So. A St., Oxnard. Ticket sales benefit CEDC’s ASPIRA Program, which encourages local youth to develop personal finance…

Commentary: Oxnard College deserves equal representation

By Frank P. Barajas / Guest contributor For my study of the Chicano Movement in Ventura County, I learned that before Oxnard College’s opening in 1975, Vietnam veterans and newly minted high school graduates from the Oxnard Plain rode buses…

More than 800 Santa Barbara fiesta attendees trained in hands-only CPR

SANTA BARBARA — As fiesta crowds recently celebrated Santa Barbara’s rich culture and heritage, dance performances and food during “Old Spanish Days,” more than 800 took the time to stop by the Hands Helping Hearts booth to learn Hands-Only CPR. A total…

Andrea Vargas-Mendoza is the featured artist during August at Gallery 28 in Oxnard

Andrea Vargas-Mendoza is the featured artist during August at Gallery 28, 1901 So. Victoria Ave., Suite 109, beside Channel Islands Harbor. This show titled, “Along the Water,” features her most recent California landscape paintings done a la “plein air” which means done in…

Big Brothers Big Sisters receives $20,000 Monsanto Fund grant

CAMARILLO – Studies have shown youth in Big Brothers Big Sisters programs show improvements in academic, behavioral and socio-emotional outcomes. 83 percent of children involved in the program agree that having a Big Brother or Big Sister mentor instilled in…

Free, low cost Tdap vaccine clinics offered through Aug. 28

Ventura County Health Care Agency Las Islas Mobile Medical Clinic and the Ventura County Public Health Immunization Program have partnered to offer low cost or no cost Tdap vaccine for students entering 7th through 12th grade this year. Clinics will…

Concert on Aug. 10 in Hollywood to celebrate contributions of Fermin Herrera, others

NORTHRIGE — Hundreds of people are expected to gather at Los Angeles’ Ford Theatres on Aug. 10 to celebrate the contributions of Mexican-American and Chicano performing artists to California’s richly diverse culture. Among those being singled out for his tireless…

Bilingual commentary: A powerful weapon in our hands

By David Magallanes / Guest contributor If we were to commit the idiocy of handing a gun to a child, we shouldn’t be surprised if said child, in all innocence, were to hurt (or something worse, which we don’t even want…

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ventura County receives $80,000

Gifts from Martin V. & Martha K. Smith Foundation, Meadowlark Service League, and the United Women’s Leadership Council support the foster youth mentoring program CAMARILLO – The Martin V. & Martha K. Smith Foundation, Meadowlark Service League, and the United Women’s Leadership…

Future Leaders of America holding Youth Leadership Conference

VENTURA — High school students from Ventura and Santa Barbara County will be attending Future Leaders of America’s week long annual “Youth Leadership Conferenc starting Monday, Aug. 6 at the University of California Santa Barbara, the organization reported in a media…

Bilingual report: CSU Channel Islands celebrates 10th anniversary

By Frank X. Moraga / Amigos805 Students returning to classes this month will find a number of changes awaiting them at California State University, Channel Islands. Instead of the long leisurely drive through farmland from Lewis Road, the students will…

Bilingual commentary: Keeping calm … But how?

By David Magallanes / Guest contributor During my time in London last month, I came across one of those useful phrases to which one can go whenever necessary — a phrase that has the power to make our life enormously easier and…

Bilingual travel story: Off the Beaten Path – Discovering Tubac

By Stacey Wittig / Vagabonding Chica – Travel Writer Tubac, Arizona was established by the King of Spain as a presidio in 1752, thirty years before the Santa Barbara Royal Presidio. Tubac, the first European settlement in Arizona, is known for outfitting…

Arts program set for July 31 at Café on A in Oxnard

The public is invited to a meet and greet program featuring William Strickland, founder and director of the Manchester Craftsman’s Guild and the Bidwell Training Center, from  4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 31 at Café on A, 438 So. A…

Clinicas del Camino Real to celebrate National Health Center Week

VENTURA COUNTY — Clinicas del Camino Real Inc. will host events in honor of National Health Center Week (NHCW), the Ventura-based organization reported in a media release. Clinicas invites the Ventura Community to join them for a health fair from…

Bilingual letter to the editor: The importance of the Latino vote

Our community understands the need for jobs. We need a representative from Ventura County that understands our economic challenges. Farms contribute over $2 billion dollars to our local economy sustaining over 31,000 jobs in our community. Under this current administration Latinos…

Guest column: Business leverage and the networking nomad

By Shawn McCarthy / Guest Contributor Leverage is the essence of why leading sales professionals and small business owners invest their valuable time in business networking activities. J. Paul Getty once said, “I’d rather have one percent of the effort of…

Bilingual report: Community organizations call for Friday, Saturday protests to demand support for CA Trust Act from Das Williams

Open letter addressed issued to Das Williams following support for notorious  DHS-ICE “Secure Communities” program OXNARD — Oxnard-based Todo Poder al Pueblo Collective has called for a protest to be held in front of Assemblyman Das Williams’ office at the…

Das Williams responds to controversy over California Trust Act: AB 1081

SACRAMENTO — When the Assemblymember last had the first version of AB1081 bill before him for a vote, which was May 2011, there were a number of questions concerning the legislation that could not be answered. Due to that fact, Assemblymember Williams abstained, the…

Tickets still available for MICOP’S Aug. 3 ‘Night in Oaxaca’ fundraiser

Tickets are still available for “Night in Oaxaca,” said Donna Foster, operations manager for the Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project in Oxnard.  “If you haven’t bought tickets and you’d still like to, we still have some tickets left so please contact us if you’d…