They lay by wheelchairs on the sidewalk, on benches, along storefronts and in the park where CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) Professor of Art History Irina D. Costache, Ph.D., likes to play tennis with her husband, Cristian Costache.
The Costaches would leave their Los Angeles home to head for the tennis courts and pass one homeless person after another on their way.
COVID-19 Testing Available – No cost. No appointment needed.
Weekday Drive-Through Sites – Monday through Friday 10 am to 7 pm
Moopark College, 7075 Campus Road, Moorpark
Ford Dealership, 128 S. Hallock Drive, Santa Paula
Weekend: Oxnard College, 4000 S. Rose Ave., Oxnard. The site is open Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
Walk-In Site – Monday Through Friday 9 am to 6 pm
Ventura County Fairgrounds,10 W. Harbor Blvd in Ventura, Enter Gate 2.
This decennial Census has significant impact on our business community. The Census not only determines local funding for schools, hospitals, and infrastructure, but it also allocates money for direct business resources. As a business owner, you can consult the Census data to understand where cities are expanding and strategize investing in your current business or opening a new location. We encourage you to check in with your employees, friends, and community to ensure everyone is counted.
Good Morning, Here are the most recent updates from the County of Ventura.
Nail Salons: Can be open for indoor service following the expanded personal care services guidance.
Camping: Campgrounds can be open at 100% capacity following campgrounds, RV parks and recreation guidance.
Biology and Global Studies major Patricio Ruano was raised in a large Latino family in the Silverlake region of Los Angeles. As the youngest in the family, he always got a variety of viewpoints under one roof.
“One aunt would tell me one thing, a sibling would tell me another,” Ruano, 21, said. “I learned it takes a village to raise a child and the same is true for education. It takes a campus village to raise a successful student.”
COVID-19 Testing Available – No cost. No appointment needed.
Weekday Drive-Through Sites – Monday through Friday 10 am to 7 pm
Moopark College, 7075 Campus Road, Moorpark
Ford Dealership, 128 S. Hallock Drive, Santa Paula
Weekend: Oxnard College, 4000 S. Rose Ave., Oxnard. The site is open Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
Walk-In Site – Monday Through Friday 9 am to 6 pm
Ventura County Fairgrounds,10 W. Harbor Blvd in Ventura, Enter Gate 2.
While efforts continue to count residents across the state and nation in the 2020 Census, Ventura County has achieved a significant milestone. To date, all cities across the County have surpassed the self-response rate recorded in 2010, with many cities recording a 5-point increase or higher in the response rate recorded a decade ago.
“This is an exciting achievement for our County especially in the midst of the COVID-19 response efforts, said Mike Powers, County Executive Officer. “Prior to COVID-19, it was reported that our County would be difficult to count, so it’s incredible that we not only overcame but exceeded expectations. Now is the final stretch to make it count! Now more than ever, it’s especially important as our community is responding to, and recovering from, the health and economic impacts of COVID-19. We hope that as the Census enters into the last week of the response period that we continue to see these numbers grow.”
The wine grape harvest is underway at Pioneer Valley High School.
With no Ag students on campus, about a dozen staff members recently rolled up their sleeves and hit the small vineyard behind the softball field. The yield for the varietals included 200 pounds of chardonnay and 120 pounds of pinot noir. Syrah will be harvested in October.
n online tool allows users to detect whales and ships in the Santa Barbara Channel in near real-time.
According to co-founder of Sun Microsystems Vinod Khosla, “In the next 10 years, data science and software will do more for medicine than all of the biological sciences together.” Whether that bold prediction will prove true is yet to be seen, however the there is no denying that in all fields there is a growing demand for people who can interpret and analyze the massive amount of data being collected every day. Santa Barbara City College stands ready to play its part in preparing students to meet that demand.
For thousands of families in our community, the new school year has been top of mind. The stress of finding child care and an appropriate learning environment for their children has been overwhelming. In an effort to support local schools and students with their recent remote launch in August, United Way of Santa Barbara County (UWSBC) and its community partners have created the Learning & Enrichment Centers Collaborative, a broad child care and learning/enrichment model. This collaborative involves dozens of partner schools and youth-serving agencies, and local leaders in philanthropy. The Learning & Enrichment Centers Collaborative provides support for Santa Barbara County children and families during this time of distance learning.
Participating in the 2020 Census helps our community! The Census helps determine how billions in federal funding is distributed to our community over the next 10 years.
There are three easy ways to complete the Census survey:
By phone at 1-844-330-2020
Online at www.my2020census.gov
By mail – you can send in the paper form that you should have received in the mail if you still have not completed the Census.
An introduction to Righetti High School agriculture came with a free plant this week.
More than 200 freshman picked up a variety of succulents, rose plants, small house plants and lavender. Ag teachers and FFA officers handed out the plants.
The Greenhand Plant Distribution is the first step for the Ag students Supervised Ag Experience project (SAE). The students are tasked with doing research on their plant in order to successfully care for it. All Ag students are required to have an SAE project as part of the Ag education curriculum.
CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) is listed among the top 20 “Best Bang for Your Buck” Colleges in the West in Washington Monthly’s annual college guide.
CSUCI was ranked the 19th “Best Bang for Your Buck” college in 2020, up from last year’s ranking of No. 22. CSUCI has been rising steadily for years, up from its No. 26 ranking in 2018 and 2017.
From children performing from the Inlakech Cultural Arts Center and email messages from El Concilio Family Resources, both in Oxnard, to a commentary by the co-founder of the Acuna Art Gallery and Community Collective, the Latino community is coming out to support the twin goals of completing U.S. Census forms by Sept. 30, 2020 and doing everything possible to make sure your vote counts in during the Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020 general election.
“… So we must all vote, and get every one that is of voting age to vote. We must be guardians of the poll booths to assure that no intimidation of our people is taking place. Must by any means necessary be present at the poll booths to assure that any one that has the right to vote, can exercise that privilege! If you vote by mail it is, of course, imperative that you mail your completed ballot as quickly as possible so that every vote can be counted,” wrote Armando Vazquez, of the former Café on A Street / Acuna Art Gallery, in a column this week on Amigos805.
Oxnard College has received a $3 million federal Title V grant to provide support for equitable student outcomes among Latinx and low-income students as they pursue their career and transfer goals. Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) throughout the country applied for this competitive grant, which will begin Oct. 1 and be distributed over a five-year period. The grant is directed by the U.S. Department of Education’s Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (DHSI).
“It is both a privilege and a tremendous opportunity for Oxnard College to receive and invest these funds in our students,” said Oscar Cobian, the college’s vice president of student development. “For decades, Oxnard College has proudly served the hardworking Latinx families of Ventura County. Step into any of our classrooms and you will find that our students facing the greatest adversity often show the most dedication and demonstrate tremendous potential. With this grant, we will tap into that potential and help our students build better lives through the transformative power of higher education.”
The Museum of Ventura County is pleased to present the first installment in its series of conversations with Changemakers: Dolores Huerta, Founder & President of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, civil rights activist and community organizer, will join longtime activist and civic leader Jorge Corralejo, documentary film producer and farmworker activist David Damian Figueroa, and Chief Curator Anna Bermudez for a Zoom Conversation onMonday, September 21, 2020 @ 6:30—7:30PM.
Admission to Changemaker Series: A Zoom Conversation with Dolores Huerta, Jorge Corralejo, David Damian Figueroa, and Anna Bermudez is free with registration.
RSVPs must be received before Monday, September 21, 2020 8AM.
As promised last week, here are some highlights of the biographies for the racial-minority professors of mathematics at our local university, California State University, Channel Islands, right here in Camarillo. These biographies are available online at the university website. Their role in the community is outsized because of the example they set for the second largest population sector in Ventura County, which is Hispanic/Latino.
DRIVE-UP FLU VACCINE EVENT
Ventura County Public Health Immunization Program and the Emergency Medical Services Agency are offering Influenza Vaccine at no charge.
WHERE: Oxnard College – North Parking lot
4000 S. Rose Ave, Oxnard CA 93033
WHEN: Wednesday, September 30, 2020
12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Report no. 9 of UCLA’s Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture (CESLAC).
Farm workers provide a good example of how age, citizenship, essential jobs, and COVID-19 intersect to deadly effect. We provide a demographic profile to give context showing that the largest number of Latino non-citizens in California are concentrated in the age groups 35-49 and 50-64. They are more likely to be employed as essential workers, and therefore are more likely to be exposed to COVID-19.
This week, three AmeriCorps VIP Fellows will be sworn in to serve United Way and our partner sites. Partner sites for the upcoming year include the Ventura County Area Agency on Aging and Westminster Free Clinic, a brand new site. These VIP Fellows are part of a cohort serving sites across 17 California counties. United Way of Ventura County has served as the Supervising Organization for the AmeriCorps Volunteer Infrastructure Project (VIP) in our county since 2016.
Moorpark College is pleased to announce that it has received a five-year, $2.9 million Department of Education Title V grant for Project STEM Impacto. This grant, which creates and fosters student cohorts in biology, biotechnology and computer network systems engineering, will benefit Moorpark College students through September 2025.
The grant begins in October and will enhance STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Career Education (CE) programs. Moorpark College is on the cutting edge of CE for new students directly out of high school or professionals looking for advanced skills in a new industry. The CE programs offer a sequence of courses directly related to employment in high-demand, current and/or emerging occupations. Many of the programs in the CE arena at Moorpark College offer certificates that can be completed in as few as 12 months.
State of the County at 1 p.m. Sept. 17. Register at http://stateofthecounty.ventura.org/
At (the Sept. 15) Board of Supervisors hearing, we received an update on COVID-19. Santa Barbara County remains in the purple tier according to the California Blueprint for a Safer Economy metrics. However, according to the graph below, we are getting closer to meeting the metrics of the red tier after recovering from the spike we endured in July.
As fall approaches families start to plan for the upcoming holiday season beginning with Halloween. Since some of the traditional ways in which this holiday is celebrated does not allow you to minimize contact with non-household members, it is important to plan early and identify safer alternatives. The Ventura County Department of Public Health would like to share information on how to take part in this holiday in a manner that reduces the risk of spreading COVID-19. Since some of the traditional ways in which this holiday is celebrated are not permitted this year, consider some safer alternatives that are listed below.
The Census helps determine how billions in federal funding is distributed to our community over the next 10 years.
There are three easy ways to complete the Census survey:
By phone at 1-844-330-2020
Online at www.my2020census.gov
By mail – you can send in the paper form that you should have received in the mail if you still have not completed the Census.
September is National Literacy Month and we’ve got books on the brain here at the Santa Paula Art Museum. You’re definitely going to want to book it to our next Art To-Go Bag giveaway featuring lots of fun art and bookmaking activities for the kids (see below). And be sure to read on for information about our upcoming, outdoor art classes. Speaking of reading, a few years ago we came across an article in the old Santa Paula Chronicle about the making of a very special painting, and we’d love to tell you the whole story.
Just imagine having a child with cancer during this COVID-19 crisis–a pandemic that is leading to job loss or insecurity, financial hardship, mounting health concerns, and an overworked and exhausted health care community.
Today, you can have a direct and meaningful impact on local families who have a child with cancer and need your help..
Meet Axel! We are honored to share his uplifting story, as told with the help of his mom, as a way of spreading some positive light during these frequently dark periods of COVID-19.
As part of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America ALL STARS annual grant program, sponsored by Buffalo Wild Wings, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Conejo Valley (BGCGCV) has received 200 sport balls to help local Club kids participate in a healthy activity at home.
Both the WHO and CDC recommends a minimum of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous-intensity physical activity everyday for youth. With kids being at home and parks and playgrounds being closed, being active for 60 minutes becomes that much harder for some youth, especially those who are disadvantaged.
For the month of September, Avalan is going gold for Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation (TBCF). TBCF is a non-profit organization serving families who have a child with cancer in the Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo Counties. Their mission is to provide financial, emotional, and educational support to families battling pediatric cancer.
Each September, in recognition of National Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month, Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation hosts their Gold Ribbon Campaign, and Avalan Wealth is a proud sponsor.
U.S. News & World Report ranks UC Santa Barbara No. 6 among the country’s top public universities.
Wednesday, September 23rd @ 9:00 am
This live interactive webinar is focused on answering your questions as they relate to the financial picture of your business. EDC SBDC advisor Juliana Ramirez can assist you in working with QuickBooks® or your other financial resources to understand, monitor, and improve the financial health of your company. This small group discussion provides personalized attention to develop “hands-on” bookkeeping scenarios.
Six CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) Mathematics alumni are doing exceptional work with so-called “big data” out at Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) in Port Hueneme.
So much so, that Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD) Acquisition Support Manager Robert Howard would welcome any other CSUCI students interested in a career with the U.S. Navy.
“I love working with CSUCI,” Howard said. “Most of the students have roots here and are looking for a long-term career with the Navy. I love the fact that most of them are local.”
The Third California State-wide People’s Summit on Civil “Gang” Injunctions will be a virtual event, streaming live on the both, our Zoom link and Face Book from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020.
The People’s Summit will be a focused first-hand account and reflections on the historic 16 year fight and ultimate victory of CORE and the people in Oxnard in defeating the Civil “Gang” Injunctions. The unconstutional Oxnard Civil “Gang” Injunction is Dead!
If you or someone you care about is in crisis there is help. The Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available at 1-800-273-8255. September is suicide prevention awareness month. The Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress and prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones.
Learn more about resources by clicking here.
The Connected Commerce Council (3C) this week released a report detailing the existence and importance of the small business “Digital Safety Net” to businesses in all 50 states. The report confirms that small businesses using more digital tools, technologies, and online marketplaces are doing better during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who embrace digital tools early and integrate them more are doing even better. 3C defines the Digital Safety Net as the free and low-cost small business services that include communications and workflow tools, digital marketing and advertising, websites and social media, back-office tools, and e-commerce and online payment tools.
When he was a child growing up in New York, actor/comedian Nicholas Santa Maria loved to listen to his parents laugh about the antics of Charlie Chaplin or the Marx Brothers.
“I realized they seem to enjoy themselves most of all when their friends and contemporaries would come over and they would talk about old movies,” Santa Maria said. “I always felt more comfortable in that old movie world.”
A history graduate student’s research and skill set lead to the discovery of Black nurse Biddy Mason in Depression-era murals in San Francisco.
The Community Environmental Council (CEC) announced the launch of this year’s Solarize Ventura County – a community-led, group purchasing program for solar and battery systems open to residents of Ventura County through December 9. CEC’s 2020 program is offered in partnership with Ventura County Regional Energy Alliance, the County of Ventura, and the cities of Ventura, Thousand Oaks, and Camarillo.
To take part in the program, homeowners can visit SolarizeVentura.org to submit an application. On the website, those looking for more information can also register for CEC’s free webinars:
Ventura County Community College District Board of Trustees fully supports and is committed to serving its approximately 31,000 students by making the District the accessibility leader for the State of California and the California Community Colleges System.
Recognizing that succeeding in college is an important step in mobility, independence and career success for students with disabilities, the Board approved a resolution on Access and Accessibility at its August meeting. The resolution coincides with the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
