New walking testing begins 8/13/20 from 9 am to 6 pm at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. It is offered Monday through Friday. Please enter at Gate 2. The testing is no cost. No appointment needed.
Food Share, Ventura County’s largest hunger-relief organization, has partnered with Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) to bring the “Fueling Our Communities” program to Ventura County with drive-thru meal distribution events in Santa Paula and El Rio community in Oxnard. The events, which were funded in part by the utility, provided more than 26,000 free meals to individuals and families struggling with food insecurity in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Mixteco/Indígena Community Organizing Project has an opening for a promotora position. The application deadline is Aug. 24. Click here or see below for the entire application.
Students for Eco-Education and Agriculture (SEEAG) and local growers are creating a series of short videos highlighting agriculture in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. In-person Farm Days tours that were to take place in September in Santa Barbara County and in November in Ventura County have been canceled due to the continuing pandemic. In their place will be “Farm Day Features,” 10-minute videos designed to give the public a behind-the-scenes look at agricultural issues facing farmers and the types of produce grown in the area.
New restaurant from Silverlake Ramen development team soon to open at The Annex Food Hall OXNARD — Burnin’ Mouth, a new restaurant from the development team behind local favorite Silverlake Ramen, has signed a lease to set up shop at The…
The Library presents its shortlist of books under consideration for UCSB Reads 2021 and invites the campus community to vote for their preference.
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While California battles the second wave of COVID-19 cases, local agriculture workers are putting themselves in harm’s way to produce product for consumers and businesses. Latinos represent the majority of California’s essential workforce and make up around 55% of the state’s confirmed COVID-19 cases to date. With their lives on the line to provide for others, these workers not only face the risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19, but many do not have health insurance should they need medical care to treat the virus.
The Economic Development Collaborative’s Small Business Development Center, the Solvang Chamber of Commerce, and the Downtown Santa Barbara Organization has proudly distributed one million units of personal protective equipment free of charge to businesses across Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.
Thanks to the hard work of our staff and partners, we have distributed 30-day supply packages of hand sanitizer, masks, and face shields for up to 10 employees for 1,500 businesses and 17,000 employees.
The Ventura Port District has installed five new SemaConnect charging stations for Ventura Harbor visitors. The new Series 6 charging stations replace a pair of charging stations previously installed at Island Packers and are open to all plug-in EV drivers that visit the harbor.
California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI) Associate Professor of Mathematics Selenne Bañuelos, Ph.D., remembers walking into her college math classes as an undergraduate and seeing no other women of color as tenure track faculty nor Latinx women born in the U.S.
“The STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) world can be very lonely for women, especially for a woman of color,” Bañuelos said. “You can feel like you don’t fit in. At that moment, I had not met a female in academia — especially a woman with children.”
But a love for the complexity and possibilities of mathematics compelled her to keep going, and in late July, the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) awarded Bañuelos one of the top awards in the nation for a university math professor.
The Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse (CADA) and Family Service Agency (FSA) announced that FSA’s Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program has closed and South County mentoring matches have joined the School Based Mentoring Program at CADA as of July 2020.
CADA and FSA share similar goals of making a positive difference in the lives of young people and have been collaborating since April to facilitate a smooth transition for the youth, their parents, and their mentors.
Last week I was talking with a constituent who was worried about the mask wearing habits of tourists while walking outside. I acknowledged it is important to promote people planning on wearing a mask even as part of an outdoor excursion (such as where there are bottlenecks and the inability to keep physical distance from others) even if there are times when it is not necessary (certain types of exercise do not require a mask, especially outdoors and if there are no other people around). Then I pointed out the vented mask she had been wearing around town for the past two months does not work to protect anyone around you and has been banned in some jurisdictions, such as our County, because it only filters air coming in and not the air you breathe out.
Few can forget the Italians perched on windowsills serenading one another while quarantined with the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is with that same spirit of resilience that the CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) Chorus is inviting the campus and the community to audition for its first ever virtual chorus.
“Our voices must sing and the song must endure and no pandemic can stop that,” said Dean Butler, CSUCI alumnus, choir member and Channel Islands Choral Association (CICA) president. “Music throughout history has been the universal expression of healing, love, hope and peace.”
Researchers collaborate on a strategy for sustainable aquaculture, the world’s fastest growing food sector.
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There are 76 new cases today (46 (60.5%) of which have a lab collection from July 29th or earlier), 872 additional people tested, and 2 additional deaths (68 year old female and 96 year old male, both with comorbidities).
Current doubling time is 52.3 days.
The California Department of Public Health is experiencing delays in laboratory reporting. The information for August 5 is preliminary until the data system issue is resolved. Learn more by clicking here.
Port Lands $1.68M Grant for State-of-the-Art Technology
FEMA announced that the Port of Hueneme has been awarded $1.68 million in the Port Security Grant Program. Aimed to achieve the goal of a secure and resilient nation, the funding will aid the Port in modernizing their security, including improvements to the main gate entrance, and upgrading the Port’s CCTV surveillance system with cutting-edge technology.
As Santa Barbara City College prepares for the Fall 2020 semester, two well-respected employees will be assuming new roles as deans.
Paloma Arnold has been selected as the next Dean of Student Affairs. …
Elizabeth M. Imhof, Ph.D., has been chosen as the new Dean of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
On Wednesday, August 5, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., the County of Ventura will host a virtual Community Forum open to all members of the public online via Zoom to discuss the intersection of race and law enforcement in our community. The Community Forum will consist of a panel of County leaders and community representatives who will participate in a roundtable discussion, followed by questions from the public.
Click here for more information about the forum.
Nicole Lamartine is ready to do the heavy lifting as the campus’ new choir director.
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Here’s your COVID-19 update from the County of Ventura from Friday-Sunday. There are 533 new cases today (231 (43.3%) of which have a lab collection from July 27th or earlier), 4,217 additional people tested, and 0 additional deaths; this includes reports from Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Current doubling time is 43.8 days.
Residents across the country have been receiving unsolicited and mysterious seeds shipped from China. The seeds are arriving in small mailer envelopes labeled with descriptions such as “stud earrings”, “jewelry”, “handmade flowers”, and “wire connectors”. Since it is illegal to ship seeds unless they meet the import requirements of the United States – including proper labeling with the name of the shipper, the type of seed, and certification where required – the small packets are sent mislabeled in order to pass through Customs undetected.
Summary
New Cases 106
Total Cases 7,103
Recovered Cases 3,797
Current Hospitalizations 76
Current ICU 21
Active Cases Under Quarantine 3,232
Deaths 74
Total People Tested 110,221
The CWC Docs virtual dialogue with filmmakers Grace Lee and Marjan Safinia centers on the women of color who are transforming politics.
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Vanessa’s story really embodies the spirit of the Carnegie Art Cornerstones mission. We aim to empower emerging artists to grow, create, and share their art. Our ability to do this in a traditional sense has been challenged, but artists like Vanessa, and the art she creates, are still incredibly important to our communities.
Cornerstones lifts emerging artists by providing them with resources, mentorship, and exposure that helps artists pursue dedicated careers – we believe this kind of work is vital to keeping art as the cornerstone of our local communities.
Good Evening, Here’s your COVID-19 update form the County of Ventura. There are 104 new cases today (53 (51.0%) of which have a lab collection from July 22nd or earlier), 636 additional people tested, and 2 additional deaths (86 year old female and 90 year old male, both with comorbidities). Current doubling time is 41.2 days. Currently, the County of Ventura is on the state monitoring list for case rate per 100,000 population over 14 days and % of ICU beds available; in order for us to get off the monitoring list, we need to have less than 850 reported cases in a 14 day period which is an average of 60 cases a day. Total, there have been 73 deaths (age range 29-107 years; 45 males and 28 females; 35 Non-Hispanic White, 31 Hispanic, 4 Non-Hispanic Asian, 1 Non-Hispanic Black, 1 Non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaskan Native and 1 Non-Hispanic Other). Current hospitalizations are 75 and current ICU is 25.
SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan application deadline is August 8,2020. PPP is designed to help small business, nonprofits, veteran organizations, Tribal concerns, self-employed individuals, independent contractors, and other eligible borrowers keep their workers employed during the COVID-19 crisis.
For the first time, CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) is accepting first-time freshmen and both lower division and upper division transfer student applications for its Spring 2021 semester.
Applications for spring 2021 will be accepted beginning August 1 and continuing through August 31.
CSUCI typically opens spring enrollment only for upper division transfer students, but the COVID-19 pandemic has changed circumstances for many students and CSUCI is seeking how to best meet those needs.
The Community Environmental Council (CEC) announced the launch of this year’s Solarize Santa Barbara – a community-led, group purchasing program for solar and battery storage systems open to residents of Southern Santa Barbara County from July 28 – October 31. CEC’s 2020 program is offered in partnership with the cities of Santa Barbara, Goleta and Carpinteria, and the County of Santa Barbara.
The Ventura County Public Works Agency, Roads & Transportation (VCPWA-RT), which is responsible for maintaining roadways and safety within the county road right-of-way, needs feedback from the El Rio community to secure Active Transportation Program?funding from the State of California.
These funds support projects that encourage active transportation which includes biking, walking, and safe access to public transportation (buses and trains), sidewalks for safer walking and biking as well as to build facilities that reduce greenhouse gases.
All businesses in the County of Ventura are required to register at www.vcreopens.com. Even if your business never had to close during the pandemic you must register. There is no cost to register.
America, and even our community, is very divided on how to respond to the strange times we are in. However, we must be united in concern about the futures of our children and grandchildren, preserving lives, and saving as many jobs and people from poverty.
How can we do all that?
The Oxnard Performing Arts Center Corporation (OPAC) is teaming up with Oxnard photographer and filmmaker Christian Ramirez of Mezz Studio to offer a day of free professional headshots for those on the jobseeking trail. The event is scheduled for Thursday, August 6 from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm.
A professional headshot plays an important role in creating a positive first impression and can be used in many ways: email accounts, email signatures, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, personal websites, portfolios, guest blogs, resumes, and more. Sixty percent of employers research job candidates via social media and OPAC wants to ensure that community members who have lost work due to COVID-19 are supported and equipped in their career search.
Last week we rummaged through Oxnard’s past and found some interesting and unsettling history regarding the former Colonial House restaurant and motel complex in the city’s downtown. The ambiance had been designed to invoke the feeling of the “Old South,” as if people were visiting a Southern plantation, with all that that implied.
The Little House By The Park and the Guadalupe Community Changers will lead a 2020 Census Car Caravan on Saturday, July 25, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. to rally residents to complete the census. More than one dozen vehicles will participate in the caravan, including cars from the Guadalupe Fire Department, Catholic Charities, Dignity Health, Mechanics Bank, and City Council member Liliana Cardenas. Residents are invited come out and cheer on the caravan, and then attend a Census Clinic at the Little House By The Park, at 4681 11th Street, from 2 to 5 p.m., where they can complete the 2020 Census questionnaire.
Amidst COVID-19, PSHH’s educators have been working tirelessly to support students and families with the transition to distance learning. Educators have helped families obtain free internet access, secured chromebooks and laptops, taught internet navigation skills, facilitated meetings with school districts, delivered hundreds of free school meals, provided school supplies, and so much more!
During these months, we added 96 new students to our learning centers, raising our enrollment from 274 to 370 students – a 35% increase!
VENTURA — On Tuesday, July 21, the Board of Supervisors received a report from the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force and approved the creation of a full-time executive position for a Diversity and Inclusion Officer. The position, which will operate…
Here’s your County of Ventura COVID – 19 update:
94 new cases
6,049 total cases
1,524 new people tested
3,100 recovered cases
90 hospitalized
22 current ICU
2,886 active cases under quarantine
63 deaths (1 additional death – 84 year old female with comorbidity)
98,648 total people tested
