Join us online on National Women’s Equality Day,
Wednesday, August 26, 2020 from 4—6 PM
as we commemorate the centennial of the 19th Amendment, and honor the sacrifices of the courageous Suffragists, with a family-friendly free virtual event that will feature performances, and presentations about voting, advocacy, and equality. The Museum of Ventura County will be providing a virtual tour of its newly curated exhibit “Amendment 19: Votes for Women.”
Local author Peter Martin is releasing his first book, Dragons on the Purple Moon in honor of his son’s successful recovery from brain cancer. He will be donating 100% of the proceeds to Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation (TBCF) for National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
Oxnard College has received a $1,265,160 grant over five years from the U.S. Department of Education to support its TRIO Student Support Services program. TRIO programs are especially important to Oxnard College because they support the large number of first-generation and low-income college students who require additional services to help them stay in school, graduate and transfer to four-year universities. Through the federal grant, the college will serve 140 students annually over five years.
Congressperson Julia Brownley’s office notified Oxnard College in early August that it had earned a perfect score on its application, beating out strong competition for the grant.
The Community Environmental Council (CEC) and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation on Aug. 19, with support from 165 additional partners, announced the launch of Born This Way Foundation’s third annual #BeKind21 Campaign. As communities across the world face the trauma of a pandemic, the ongoing racial inequalities, and a host of global challenges, this year’s campaign has been uniquely designed to be responsive to today’s movements, showcasing that kindness is not an empty gesture; rather, kindness is a verb. To be kind is to speak up. To be kind is to prioritize your mental wellness. To be kind is to advocate for a world that values, validates, and respects all people.
If sustainably managed, wild fisheries and mariculture could help meet the rising demand for food in the long term.
The RISE Up Awards recognize excellence in community service supporting RISE’s sexual abuse, sexual assault, and intimate partner violence programs; the 2020 RISE Up Award winners are Megan Baliterra, Amber Hollarman, the Portola Inn, Cal Poly’s Safer, and Heidi Spencer.
RISE will present the awards at the 6th Wine Women & Shoes on September 13th at 1pm, online. Wine Women & Shoes is a wine and food tasting, boutique shopping experience complete with raffles, silent and live auctions, a fashion show, and the presentation of the 2020 RISE Up Awards.
Housing Trust Fund Ventura County announced this week that it applied for California Proposition 1 matching funds from the CA Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), the agency responsible for fund disbursement. Housing Trust Fund VC has raised $5 million locally with the goal of bringing $10 million to the county for affordable housing developments through the Prop 1 matching grant program.
In the second project of the Pahl Initiative on the Study of Critical Social Issues, researchers will examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the underserved.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Conejo Valley (BGCGCV) recently received a $5,000 grant from Farmers Insurance® to help fund COVID-19 relief efforts.
The grant will help provide healthy meals, high-speed internet access and academic support, vital enrichment programming to bridge gaps in virtual learning, social & emotional learning and more for vulnerable families and youth.
14 de agosto del 2020- El Distrito Escolar Unificado de Ventura (VUSD) comenzará las clases el martes 18 de agosto del 2020 utilizando un modelo de aprendizaje a distancia. Todos los estudiantes formarán parte del modelo WEAVE el cual permite una mezcla de herramientas y técnicas de aprendizaje para permitir una mayor interacción con los maestros, un mayor apoyo y una educación mejorada fuera del plantel escolar. Todos los distritos escolares del Condado de Ventura comenzarán con el aprendizaje a distancia durante el comienzo del semestre de otoño del 2020, sin embargo, la Mesa Directiva de Educación de VUSD decidió en julio que permanecerían en el aprendizaje a distancia hasta enero del 2021 para proporcionar estabilidad a los padres de familia. El Distrito también ha adoptado un entorno tecnológico 1:1 asegurando que cada estudiante reciba un dispositivo del distrito.
School starts August 17 in a non-traditional way at SMJUHSD, as COVID-19 forces the continuance of distance learning at least until December when a re-valuation of returning to school safely occurs.
“I want to wish everyone the best year considering the circumstances,’’ said school board president Amy Lopez. “It will be different, but staff are working hard to make learning engaging for our students. We all want our students to return, but it must be safe for them to do so.’’
Curiosity and imagination transcended the COVID-19 pandemic throughout CSU Channel Islands’ (CSUCI) 2020 Summer Student Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF) program, which ran from June 8 to July 31.
From the moment last March when SBCC made the decision to move all instruction online for the remainder of the Spring semester, the Music Department knew it had better prepare for the situation to extend into the Summer and Fall terms as well.
Our recent, adorable visit from Lucky the dog got us thinking about how artists celebrate pets and animals in art, so with the help of Santa Paula Animal Rescue Center, the Museum’s August Art To-Go Bag is all about animals (see below). We also took a moment to appreciate the animal art in the Museum’s permanent collection. You’re probably quite familiar with Jessie Botke’s birds, but do you know about John Nichols and his beloved cat, Sespe Red? Hear the story behind the artwork. It’s part of our collection of local artist self-portraits. And be sure to check out this week’s outdoor art classes at the Museum below.
We are in a revolution!! These last 6 months have been nothing short of that. This is not true for just a couple of isolated area or topics, but in general across all walks of life. Some aspects of the revolution have been like technology, where we knew we were going to change over the next decade, but now we are changing over in a matter of months, not years. Other aspects of the revolution were more surprising. Could any of us have predicted the rapid and comprehensive changes in social order and public policy that are being proposed for policing and justice reform?
Since about 2000 until this year, 2020, a total of twenty years, the city of Oxnard has had a top level executive dysfunctional, wasteful, costly and head-spinning management turnover rate. This hair on fire musical chairs approach to local governance, of course, contributes to horrific and untimely fiscal, planning and programmatic waste, malfeasance and mismanagement.
Luis Ismael Gómez, of Ventura, formerly of Santa Barbara, passed away peacefully due to heart failure, surrounded by family on August 4, 2020. Luis was born the 8th out of 11 children in Pacayas de Alvarado, Cartago, Costa Rica during the Calderón Administration, to the late Rafael Angel Gómez and Etelvina Ramírez de Gómez.
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.
YO CUENTO (I TELL) continues..
with James Donlon
Tuesdays:
August 18, 25,
September 8, 15
7-8PM
Learn basic storytelling, acting, directing, and staging to produce an original Teatro work using your own personal stories.
James Donlon: actor, director, and playwright presenting his original performance work internationally for 5 decades.
Film coach to Oscar winners.
Pre-registration required, no fees
info@teatrodelasamericas.org
Oxnard Housing Authority Resident Services Department from La Colonia is proud to announce the completion of the fifth mural installment of the Youth Summer Mural Program. This year’s mural is aptly named “2020”. The mural is located in the back parking lot of the Oxnard Housing Authority Resident Services Offices, located at 1500 Camino Del Sol, Oxnard.
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.
We hope this finds you well and you have a moment to read about the inspiring work of our team and partners. As a result of the generosity of community members like you, we’ve been able to temporarily house and provide daily meals for 44 veterans and 17 family members in local motels since April. We’ve also transitioned six of these veteran households to permanent housing and a total of 30 households have been permanently housed since our Landlord Engagement Program launched nine months ago.
Since mid-May, Food Share of Ventura County has provided a staggering 4.1 million pounds of fresh produce to people experiencing hunger in the county.
The scale of food insecurity in Ventura County has nearly doubled since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Current projections from Feeding America show that 115,000 people, including 42,000 children in our County, are now facing a daily struggle to access enough nutritious food.
The fresh produce is a result of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “Farmers to Families Food Box Program.” Oxnard-based wholesale produce distributor, The Berry Man, was approved to deliver the first 3.6 million dollars of a 14.7 million dollar contract to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to nonprofits throughout the Tri-Counties Area. The majority of the produce is locally-grown.
2020 Census The Census helps determine how our community gets the funds we need to support education, healthcare, and critical infrastructure. By participating, you make an impact on our community for the next 10 years.
If your haven’t filled out the 2020 Census, you can complete it today by visiting www.my2020census.gov or calling 1-844-330-2020.
A total of 539 students were able to stay on track with their studies, thanks to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Summer Grant program at CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI).
Transfer Student Success Activity Director Veronica Montoya, who headed the grant program, was thrilled to see so many lives impacted by the$586,350 worth of funding that went toward the students’ education. Montoya said the value was not only in the class and what that student will eventually contribute to society, but also the psychological boost of staying on track, even after the global crisis had disrupted their lives.
The masked and physically distanced PVHS “Link Crew” projected school spirit to create a temporary break from COVID-19, helping freshman receive their schedules, ID cards, tablets and textbooks Thursday and Friday.
The “Link Crew”, junior and senior leaders, greeted the majority of the more than 800 incoming freshmen offering an early welcome in an environment designed to alleviate the stress of starting a new school. The student’s leaders also gave each freshman a goodie bag with tablet trouble-shooting tips, zoom information, distance learning guidance, a pencil, other school information and a lollipop.
The apparently never-ending coronavirus pandemic has punched a hole in the panorama that was our American diet up to now. Suddenly, beginning earlier this year, meat became scarce. Delicately balanced supply chains were knocked off-balance, partly due to meat production workers “dropping like flies” as the virus surged through factories and warehouses. Meat counters in grocery stores became sparse and the cost of the meat that was available started to rise due to demand for the limited supply. Major grocery outlets started rationing quantities of meat to its customers to avoid the toilet-paper-hoarding fiasco that occurred at the beginning of the pandemic.
Now that the people have defeated the unconstitutional Oxnard Civil “Gang” Injunction (OCGI) what is the next move for the OPD? You, Scott, and all your current staff of Assistant Police Chiefs were with you back in 2003, all as aspiring “by the book” future police chiefs, you guys then were just following orders; when Greg Totten, the Ventura County District Attorney, your boss at the time Police Chief Art Lopez and the Oxnard City Council secretly conspired to create the Oxnard Civil “Gang” Injunction (OCGI) that the people of Oxnard just slayed after 17 years of community and court room fights.
The Museum partnered with Ventura College photography professors Brian Paumier and Jessie Groves for a new take on the exquisite corpse concept. Students were asked to use the Museum’s online photograph archive to find inspiration for a final project.
Presented are the original photograph screenshots the students selected and the images they created based on those selections.
Researchers collaborate on a strategy for sustainable aquaculture, the world’s fastest growing food sector.
Read More ?
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.
Due to the current coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis, many people in the Spanish-speaking Latino community are not getting the important information they may need for themselves and their families. For years, the Spanish-speaking community has struggled to receive timely, culturally-appropriate information related to emerging needs. In April, Mi Vida, Mi Voz (MVMV), a collaboration of local Latino-serving organizations, pivoted to address this critical need. With the pandemic’s disproportionate health and economic impact in the Latino community, this critical information is more relevant than ever.
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.
The third annual Old Boney Mountain Hot Summer Night festival had an added mission this year—to encourage the community to support the almost 20 participating local businesses including restaurants and breweries that continue to operate while following social distancing rules. In addition, the July 11 virtual festival raised money for Rotary charities, first responders and the Grossman Burn Foundation for its care of burn survivors. Presented by Old Boney Mountain Hot Sauce Corp. and the Rotary Club of Newbury Park, the premiere sponsor was Farmers Insurance.
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.
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.
The August 5th Community Forum will be moderated by Monique Nowlin, County of Ventura Diversity and Inclusion Task Force representative and Deputy Director of the Ventura County Area Agency on Aging. Panelists will include:
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.
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.
A newly detected cancer metabolic pathway could be a valuable target for therapy.
Read More ?
Thanks to the generosity of over 50 funding partners and service delivery partners, United Way of Santa Barbara County’s (UWSBC) Fun in the Sun program has the capacity to support up to 350 children and families this year through a virtual format in light of COVID-19. Seven virtual sites are serving students from Carpinteria Unified School District, Santa Barbara Unified School District (4 school sites instead of its usual 2 school sites), Goleta Union School District, and school districts throughout the Santa Ynez Valley.
Doctors Without Walls – Santa Barbara Street Medicine (DWW–SBSM) has been nationally recognized for its healthcare efforts to benefit the homeless in the Santa Barbara community. Nominated by local Medi-Cal managed care plan CenCal Health, DWW–SBSM received an honorable mention from The Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP) at its fifteenth annual Supporting the Safety Net Award program held last month. The earned recognition honors community organizations and individuals nationwide that exceed expectations for care by implementing health programs to benefit underserved populations.
James Donlon: actor, director, and playwright presenting his original performance work internationally for 5 decades. Film coach to Oscar winners.
.
Pre-registration required, no fees
Sign up now, send email to info@teatrodelasamericas.org
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.
In a new release by the VC Star is was reported on Tuesday, July 21, 2021 that the, “Oxnard Police Department Will Work With District Attorney’s Office to Vacate Civil Gang Injunctions”
