***3/13/2023***
Parent focus groups continue. Participants are thankful for the opportunity to share their perspectives.
***3/10/2023***
Today, Hoover hosted a parent meeting for Clark's 8th-grade parents. A total of 21 parents attended. Special thanks to Jennifer Calderon-Mendenhall (Intervention Counselor) and Jackie Rodriguez (Avenues for Success) for supporting this meeting. Principal Makings fielded MANY questions from the attendees. We also reviewed various supports for students, the academy structure, and partner resources.
***03-09-2023***
I want to thank Ms. Eyer for her invitation to participate in the Cal Coast Bite of Reality Youth Literacy Session for her ELD students. Students receive a profile with a career, salary, and other details. Students then had to shop for necessities such as food, housing, transportation, clothing, child care, and other essentials. Students quickly learn the importance of budgeting and distinguishing between a need and a necessity. I was able to help with transportation needs. Options included luxury sports cars, SUVs, trucks, vans, used vehicles, and bus passes. Students were quick to buy themselves luxury vehicles and give their “spouses” bus passes (to save money, of course). I want to thank two parent volunteers, Yolanda Chilapa and Ana Vargas, for their assistance.Mr. Rong Zhang, AFS Coordinator, shared a DELICIOUS recipe using the potatoes we received in this week’s food pantry delivery.
Focus groups continue on campus with various stakeholder groups. We had the opportunity to meet with 12 food services staff after lunch and six parents participated in our virtual focus group.
***03-07-2023***
Pantry distribution #3 is now in the books! 264 families were served, and 1216 individuals were impacted. Thank you to our parent/student volunteers, Ms. Lonnecker, Ms. Hohenstein, and the teachers who brought their students during 4th period.
The Community Garden is thriving. Students have been harvesting various types of lettuce, carrots, and tomatoes for our school cafeteria. Parents have played a crucial part in ensuring the harvest gets weighed and documented for purchase through the Garden to Cafe Program. As of now, we have grown 54 pounds of produce for the school cafeteria. New sprouts for celery, tomatoes, green beans, and cucumber have begun, and hoping to have these ready for our school cafeteria in the next couple of months. Mr. Delon, Hoover Garden Coordinator.
The Native Biodiversity Corps (led by Maddy Sanchez) have been meeting 2-3 times a week to learn about native species of plants, plan murals, build birdhouses identify a location to create native landscapes. Students in the NBC program will begin once the district and admin have approved a site.
None of this wouldn't be possible without the support of Jose Escobedo from IMIN, Heather Holland from the Master Gardner's Association, Janelle Manzano from the Garden to Cafe program, and the Community Schools Initiative.
Thank you for the support,
Hoover Garden Team - (Tina McGlathery, Chef Luu, Lacey Dodd, Arieas Toney, Sierra Donaldson, Kristiana Riego, Maddy Sanchez, and Justin Delon)
***03-02-2023***
The Community Schools subcommittee met on Wednesday, March 1st, to review multiple funding requests. We approved several proposals and will need to schedule additional time to complete the review process. We met again on March 2nd to continue the work on the assets and needs assessment for teachers and students. We are close to launching. More details are coming soon.
Today, Hoover hosted a parent meeting for Wilson's 8th-grade parents. We dubbed this meeting as “Cardinal for a Day - Parent Edition.” A total of 35 parents attended. Special thanks to Jennifer Calderon-Mendenhall (Intervention Counselor) and our partners from Avenues for Success, Rocio Zamora, and Claudia Martinez, for supporting this meeting. We reviewed various supports for students, academy structure, partner resources, a virtual tour, and had a Q & A session.
***02-22-2023***
The 2nd Community Schools Food Pantry distribution day was February 21.We added a second line that exclusively served students. We received 4234 lbs of food. We served 248 families, impacting 1121 individuals!
***02-14-2023***
Community Schools partnered with Avenues for Success to host a parent focus group with the AFS Parent Ambassadors. Parent Ambassadors partner with AFS staff to share resources with the wider City Heights Community.
Community Schools met with a representative from the United Women of East Africa. As part of our outreach efforts, we’ll look at local organizations that have the trust and buy-in of the community. By leveraging these relationships, we’ll engage families that have historically been disconnected from decision-making bodies.
***02-08-20***
Our first Community Schools Food Pantry was launched February 7th! (Click here for dates and flyer in English Spanish) Feeding San Diego delivered roughly 3000 lbs. of food. We served 162 families, impacting a total of 598 individuals. This wouldn't be possible without the support of Ms. Lonnecker and partners at Feeding San Diego.
Community Schools Update Provided by:
Site Coordinator: Richard Gijon
Ext. 3106 [email protected] Office C | Back of Library Cell: 619.431.0320
M-Th: 7:45 AM to 4:15 PM | 7:45 to 11:00 AM, 3:00 to 4:15 PM