City of Gonzales
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & STRATEGIC
PARTNERSHIPS
ACTIVITY REPORT
TO: Honorable Mayor Rios and City Council
DATE: February 22, 2022
FROM: Carmen Gil, Community Engagement & Strat. Partnership Dir.
THROUGH: René L. Mendez, City Manager
SUBJECT: Community Engagement & Strategic Partnerships Report Gonzales Youth Council
1. The Youth Council reconvened after the Holidays and began meeting virtually once again. They are beginning to plan for the year and focusing on the three areas they identified as areas they wanted to work on. 1). Pedestrian Safety, 2) Teen Innovation / Community Center 3). Mental Health. They will be dividing up into subgroups that can help take the lead on each of these projects while collectively they work to engage the rest of the youth in the community.
2. The Youth Council has also participated in various conversations with the Blue Zones Project to bring forth their issue areas and share some local knowledge of the issues that the Blue Zones Project wants to work on. The conversations were great and insightful, and the Youth Council impressed the Blue Zone representatives. The Youth Council and the Commissioners have now been invited to attend the Blue Zones School Submit in March.
3. They Youth Council is also going to be participating in virtual conversations with the Soledad Youth Council to see if there is some collective traction they can move on together.
Gonzales Cares Program
AGENDA
ITEM
8 1. Staff continues to stay busy with the rental and utility assistance program although there was a slight pause in January due to a system migration of information. United Way’s 211 has been working hard to get everyone on the same page so that data can be shared across the various organizations working on the program and the program was put on hold for a bit until the new systems’ issues were resolved.
COVID-19 and Community Health Workers (CHWs)
1. The Community Health Care Workers (CHWs) continue to provide testing services at St. Theodore’s Church on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays starting at 2:00pm, until supplies last. They are also testing at the school Technology portable on Tuesday’s starting at 2:00pm.
3. Demand for testing in January was extremely high and there were times when things became very hectic since testing sites across the county were closing and test kits were scarce. Towards the end of January things became a bit more manageable as the testing demand decreased. The CHWs are also now being supported by 3 students from Hartnell’s nursing program and an additional Workforce Development Intern, going through a Community Health Worker course, who will be helping the team for 5 weeks. The additional help has been great and has taken the load off of our small team.
Community Engagement
1. Staff is now working on the activities coming forth as part of the 75th Anniversary. First up is the Car Show and Food Truck Exhibition that will be held downtown along Forth St. on April 2nd. Staff is working with partners who can come and perform and is also planning to reach out to our local businesses to encourage their engagement in the event. Advertisement and recruitment for the participating cars and food trucks is forthcoming.