VENTURA — The United Way of Ventura County will present CSU President Richard R. Rush with a Lifetime Achievement Award during its 11th annual Spirit of Community Partnership Awards on Sept. 17.
CSU Channel Island
President
Richard R. Rush. Courtesy photo.
For the first time in the 70-year history of the organization, United Way of Ventura County will be giving a Lifetime Achievement Award, Eric Harrison, the organization’s president and CEO, stated in a media release.
“As you may have heard, Dr. Rush recently announced his retirement and this will be his final year as president of California State University Channel Islands,” Harrison said. “He is an extraordinary leader who led the effort to create a world-class public university right here in Ventura County. His vision to unite public and private partnerships is the very core of what we at United Way believe transforms communities. Ventura County is a better place because of his service and we are forever grateful for his remarkable legacy. Please join us on September 17th to honor this remarkable man.”
The event will be held 11 a.m. at California Lutheran University, 60 W. Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks. To RSVP, visit https://vcunitedway.org/spirit/
SANTA BARBARA / SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTIES — CenCal Health and Cottage Health have partnered to create a program to serve the area’s homeless and lower-income populations who are now covered by the Affordable Care Act, the organizations reported in a media release.
The Access to Care for the Expansion Population (ACE) program seeks to coordinate the many health care needs of about 16,000 individuals who were previously uninsured but now have health coverage under the federal Affordable Care Act. The program is designed to identify, address and coordinate the medical and social needs of these individuals to successfully transition them into seeking appropriate care in the appropriate setting — as opposed to using hospital emergency departments, the organizations reported.
“CenCal Health now provides health insurance for one in four residents of Santa Barbara County. Giving patients better access into our health care system is more important now than ever,” Bob Freeman, CEO of CenCal Health, stated in the release. “Cottage Health was well suited to provide patient education and connect these patients into primary care clinics.”
CenCal Health serves the Medi-Cal population in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.
“The ACE program reinforces the commitment of both organizations to maintain a healthy population,” Ron Werft, president and CEO of Cottage Health, stated in the release. “Our community care management program has been successful in ensuring that high risk patients served by CenCal Health were able to connect to resources that enabled them to thrive in their home environment.”
Cottage Health will help CenCal Health patients who are part of the ACE Program:
Arrange primary care provider follow up after hospital discharges
Improve and simplify medication management for patients after hospital stays
Help patients avoid readmission to the hospital for the same or similar health events
Connect patients to community resources that support health and well-being
Enhance care coordination across the health delivery system through partnerships with skilled nursing facilities, physician clinics, home care agencies and other post-acute care agencies
Improve patient health outcomes and reduce the risk of adverse events by arranging home visits, providing case management services and coordinating with primary care providers as needed
Visit http://www.cencalhealth.org or www.cottagehealth.org for more information.
VENTURA COUNTY — The Greater Los Angeles Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Training and Resource Center has recognized Ventura County Public Health (VCPH) for earning the distinction of being the first local public health department in the State of California to receive national accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board.
The agency is the only county public health department in California to have earned accreditation during the past year and is one of only 75 in the country.
“This achievement represents Ventura County Public Health’s commitment to a culture of continuous improvement of the services they provide and to their strong support for healthy communities so that all residents can achieve their full health potential,” the center reported in a media release. “Further, this distinction is testament to VCPH’s overall commitment to excellence, including nutrition education and chronic disease prevention services, particularly for low-income community members that are disproportionally affected by the health and economic toll of chronic diseases.”
SANTA BARBARA — UCSB has been listed in Washington Monthly’s 2015 College Guide as one of 10 “Access Improvers,” colleges and universities that have increased their enrollments of federally funded Pell Grant students while maintaining strong student outcomes.
“The University of California, Santa Barbara, for example, is in the top echelon of its state’s universities, serving students of variable income and ability,” wrote Mamie Voight, director of policy research at the Institute for Higher Education, and Colleen Campbell, a senior policy analyst at the Association of Community College Trustees. “Yet 38 percent of Santa Barbara students are low income, compared to only 15 percent at Penn State, and Santa Barbara charges low-income students about half as much.”
The university also moved up a notch to No. 14 in the magazine’s annual National Universities Rankings, which appears in the magazine’s September / October issue.
The campus came in at number 15 in last year’s rankings and number 22 in 2013. In addition, UCSB is listed at number 17 in the magazine’s “Best Bang for the Buck” rankings in the Western Schools category.
CAMARILLO — CSU Channel Islands has received a $1.1 million grant to help low-income, first-generation students or students with disabilities, the university reported in a media release.
Some of the 35 incoming fall semester students who attending Summer Transition for Academic Guidance and Educational Success (STAGES) program at CSU Channel Islands. Courtesy photo.
The university recently hosted a group of low-income, first-generation freshmen and transfer students in a program called STAGES (Summer Transition for Academic Guidance and Educational Success), a three-day program that gives those Fall semester students a chance to meet with advisers, faculty, financial aid counselors and others dedicated to helping them navigate their first year at the university.
The STAGES program is possible due in part to a $220,000 grant the university received this summer from the U.S. Department of Education for CI’s Student Support Services (SSS) program, which sponsors STAGES. The university will receive $220,000 annually for five years, totaling $1.1 million, said Leah Alarcon, director of the university’s Student Success Programs.
“This grant will help us maintain the level of service we’ve been able to provide these students and continue the one-on-one connection they need,” Alarcon said. “Over the years we get very close to the SSS students.”
The SSS program is one of eight federal TRIO programs, which are designed to provide practical and academic assistance for students who are not wholly prepared for college.
Their disadvantage could be owing to a low-income background, disabilities, homelessness, a background of foster care or because no one in the family has ever been to college and can’t prepare the student for the university experience, the university reported.
Alarcon. and Assistant Director of Student Success Programs Venus Tamayo know exactly what that’s like, the university reported. Both are first-generation college students.
“My parents came to this country and worked in the fields,” said Tamayo, who holds a master’s degree in counseling and guidance. “My dad didn’t learn English until he was older. After all of their hard work, the one thing they told me is, ‘You’ve got to get an education. That’s the way you’re going to succeed in this country.’ ”
Alarcon, who also earned a master’s degree in counseling and guidance, said she wasn’t even sure of the questions she should ask when she came to college, which is the same problem many first-generation students have. Alarcon said the program tries to provide the resources students didn’t even know they needed.
“The students don’t know how the process works,” Alarcon said. “We refer them to the tutoring or writing center if that’s what they need. We help them with everything from their financial aid paperwork to time management. We have students who have to work 30 to 40 hours a week while taking a class. We have a lot of single parents or couples with kids.”
To Alarcon and Tamayo, “student success” means graduating and going onto a career or post-graduate work, but also getting the full breadth of the university experience.
“We want them to get involved with clubs, do research, present at conferences, study abroad if they want,” Alarcon said. “We want them to take what they know into the community and share it, and then give back.”
The 35 incoming fall semester students who attended STAGES on campus from Aug. 21 through 23 will join the SSS undergraduates already attending CSU Channel Islands for a total of 160 students benefitting from the university’s SSS program.