Business, Cultural, Education, Family, Government, Health, Local, News

Santa Barbara First District Supervisor Das Williams — Good news, expanded testing begins next week

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Good news, expanded testing begins next week, see below for details. Yesterday, Governor Gavin Newsom outlined the State’s plan to reopen the economy in four stages:

Stage 1: Improving testing and tracing, procuring personal protective equipment and ensuring hospital surge capacity.

Stage 2: Opening, with adaptations, school and child care facilities and lower-risk workplaces like retail stores, manufacturers and offices. Park and trail restrictions will also be loosened.

Stage 3: Opening higher-risk workplaces, like gyms, nail and hair salons, movie theaters, sports without live audiences and churches.

Stage 4: End of the stay-at-home order; reopen highest-risk workplaces, like concerts, convention centers and live-audience sports. 

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Education, Government, Health, Local, News, Youth

VCOE Statement on Potential Early Reopening of School Campuses

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The California Department of Education on April 29 announced it is studying options for reopening school campuses after Governor Newsom suggested they could open as early as July or August. Many questions remain about the safety, fiscal and labor implications of reopening campuses before the traditional start of the next school year. For now, there has been no alteration to existing school calendars.

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Business, Government, Local, News

Sen Jackson Urges Governor to Safeguard Californians’ Privacy Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

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As California takes action to combat the coronavirus, in some cases through unprecedented partnerships between government and technology companies and with new and untested technologies, State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson’s (D-Santa Barbara), Chair of the California State Senate Judiciary Committee, urged Governor Newsom to do so without undermining Californians’ fundamental right to privacy.

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Business, Education, Local, News, Youth

Ventura College Foundation Launches ‘Stronger Foundation, Stronger Future’

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The economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis is impacting local nonprofit community organizations in unforeseen ways. One of those affected is the Ventura College Foundation. The foundation’s operating expenses are funded almost entirely from proceeds generated by its Ventura College Weekend Marketplace on the Ventura College campus. With the Marketplace closed until large gathering restrictions are lifted, funds to keep the foundation running are drying up.

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Cultural, Education, Family, Food, Government, Health, Local, News, Seniors, Women, Youth

Santa Barbara County Nonprofits Collaborate to Meet Critical Needs of Isolated Seniors During COVID-19

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Many of our older community members, particularly those living alone, are not receiving the support they need during the coronavirus pandemic. To address this gap, several nonprofits in Santa Barbara County have collaborated to identify isolated seniors and connect them to essential services or critical needs, such as food and supplies.

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Business, Education, Government, Health, Local, News, Seniors, Women, Youth

County of Ventura COVID-19 update for April 28

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Good Evening Ventura County, Here’s your daily update on COVID-19 in the County of Ventura:

5 new cases
135 current cases
508 total cases
356 recovered cases
26 hospitalized (5 patients are long term care facility patients not in need of hospital care but being cared for at the hospital to protect others at long term care facilities)
11 in the ICU
17 deaths: age range 37-99 years; 9 males and 8 females.

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Business, Health, Home, Local, News

Housing Trust Fund Ventura County awarded $50,000 from Weingart Foundation in support of affordable workforce housing

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Housing Trust Fund Ventura County (Housing Trust Fund VC) has been named as one of 29 grantees receiving funding support from Weingart Foundation through their Unrestricted Operating Support (U.O.S.) program. Housing Trust Fund VC will receive $50,000 over two years to help with capacity building in support of the Fund’s overall mission to increase affordable housing options throughout Ventura County by leveraging public-private partnerships to provide low-cost, flexible loans early in the housing development cycle.

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Business, Education, Health, Local, News

Registered nurse on the front lines against COVID-19 got her start at SBCC

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Kaitlin Shipley always knew she wanted to work in the healthcare field. After working as a medical assistant for several years after high school, she enrolled in the nursing program at Santa Barbara City College, graduating in 2019 with an associate degree in nursing. Fast forward less than one year, Kaitlin finds herself donning protective gear to enter the isolation room at Lompoc Valley Medical Center as one of the local heroes in the battle against COVID-19.

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Cultural, Education, Local, News

Ventura College Foundation Announces Distribution Of Over $683,000 In Scholarships

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The Ventura College Foundation is awarding scholarships to 248 students totaling $683,748, the largest annual scholarship distribution in the foundation’s history.

Students were notified this month of their scholarship awards ranging from $1,000 for continuing students to $4,000 for students who are transferring to four-year universities in the fall. Many students received multiple scholarships.

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Business, Education, Family, Health, Local, News, Youth

Emergency Child Care Initiative serving additional essential workforce categories

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The Emergency Child Care Initiative (ECCI) was established to provide members of the essential workforce with affordable child care options to allow them to continue working in roles that are critical to our local COVID-19 response. Since ECCI was launched in early April, child care programs have been established serving most major health care providers throughout the county, including Cottage Health, Sansum Clinic, Lompoc Valley Medical, and the Community Health Centers of the Central Coast. With those programs firmly established, the Initiative is now shifting attention to other members of the essential workforce. This includes employees in food service, grocery industry, farm workers and agricultural production, nursing homes, sanitation, and other essential workforce professions. Children ages 6 months to 12 years will be prioritized.

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Cultural, Education, Entertainment, Family, Local, News, Youth

Santa Paula Art Museum — Art Experiments, Art To-Go, ArtSPARK, and Art…Yoga?!

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We’re feeling so inspired after our Earth Day virtual art class with Dr. Meg Handler from The Human Nature Center! Dr. Handler uses the arts as a way to teach ecology. That got us wondering how else we can explore science through art. Marbled milk art provides a fun lesson on chemistry and polarity while you create a colorful artwork on paper.

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Business, Cultural, Government, Health, Local, News, Seniors, Women, Youth

County of Ventura COVID-19 update for April 26

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Good Afternoon, Here’s your daily update from the County of Ventura. 

1 new case

209 current cases

497 total cases

271 recovered cases

29 currently at the hospital (7 are long term care facility patients that are not acute for hospital care but staying at the hospitals throughout the county to protect others) 

7 ICU patients

17 deaths (9 males and 8 females ages 37-99, 11 passed in the hospital and 6 at home, all had comorbidities)

9,161 tested 

Special thanks to our community members for following the soft closure guidelines at local beaches. Coastal law enforcement reported that beach visitors followed the rules and kept moving. 

Stay informed at www.vcemergency.com. 

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Business, Cultural, Education, Local, News

Uninsured Working Latinos and COVID-19: Essential Businesses at Risk

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“Seek treatment by calling your doctor” if you have a fever, dry cough, or breathing difficulties, says the State of California Department of Public Health. But how will you pay for the doctor’s examination, a coronavirus test, and, if you test positive, any subsequent costs for treatment for COVID-19? While much of the state’s population has been able to practice “social distancing” and stay home to avoid exposure to the coronavirus, Latino workers fill a large percentage of the essential jobs that make staying home possible for others. The nature of these jobs—from checkout clerk to nursing home attendant—exposes them to many potential coronavirus carriers and a consequent high risk of catching the coronavirus. Yet the Latinos working these essential jobs are twice as likely as non-Latinos to be uninsured: 

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Cultural, Education, Family, Health, Local, News, Youth

CASA of SLO County A local non-profit gets creative with fundraising events

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As you may know, Court Appointed Special Advocates—CASA of San Luis Obispo County had to cancel a major fundraiser, Hope for the Future. CASA relies on this event for a significant amount of their budget. They have moved all their auction items to an online format. The funds raised during this auction are vital to help them continue serving the children under the jurisdiction of the child protection court in San Luis Obispo County.

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Business, Family, Government, Health, Local, News, Seniors, Women, Youth

County of Ventura COVID-19 update for April 23

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14 new cases
465 total cases
245 recovered cases
26 in the hospital *5 of which are not in need of hospitalization but are long-term care facility patients being cared for at hospitals to protect the other long-term care facility members.
7 in the ICU
8, 256 people tested
16 deaths
Age range of deaths 37-99: 8 males and 8 females. All individuals had comorbidities.
Unfortunately, a 37-year-old male died as the result of a drug overdose with COVID-19 infection as a significant comorbidity and contributing condition. Questions can be directed to the Medical Examiner’s Office at MeoAdmin@ventura.org.

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Commentary, Local, Opinion, Technology

Bilingual commentary: Are We Being Forced Online?

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For my two older grandsons, living and playing online is nothing novel, even in the face of this “novel” coronavirus.  Several years ago, I saw them playing high-stakes games (in their minds, at least) in cyberspace using their headphones, microphones and X-boxes.  Sometimes they would play with their cousins on the other side of town, and sometimes with strangers—somewhere in the world. They are not living in the world in which I grew up, where tournaments of paramount importance for us at the time consisted primarily of physical board games such as checkers, chess, Parcheesi, Scrabble and Monopoly.

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Cultural, Family, Food, Health, Home, Local, News, Seniors, Youth

Vulnerable Individuals and Families in Santa Barbara County Assisted through COVID-19 Joint Response Effort; also Supports Nonprofits Assisting Those Impacted by Virus

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United Way of Santa Barbara County, The Santa Barbara Foundation and the Hutton Parker Foundation are leading a countywide funders’ collaborative, the COVID-19 Joint Response Effort for Santa Barbara County.  The Effort will provide assistance to individuals and families as well as organizations actively assisting members of the community affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Over $2 million has been secured and fundraising continues to help those most in need.

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Commentary, Government, Health, Local, News, Opinion, Politics, Religion

Commentary: A quiet resistance to light our way

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Resistance. Quiet, persistent resistance.

Every once in a while, that resistance comes to everyone and everything.

As we note Earth Day this week, we are reminded of that resistance. In our stay-safe-at-home times, we are now seeing a world where the air is cleaner, the sound of nature is clearer and the Earth is actually healing itself a little at a time. There is a chilling, yet quiet beauty seeing the streets of Paris, London, Rome and New York virtually empty and nature going on quite well without us.

It’s as if Earth finally said, “ENOUGH.”

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