City of Gonzales
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & STRATEGIC
PARTNERSHIPS
ACTIVITY REPORT
TO: Honorable Mayor Rios and City Council
DATE: April 18, 2022
FROM: Carmen Gil, Community Engagement & Strat. Partnership Dir.
THROUGH: René L. Mendez, City Manager
SUBJECT: Community Engagement & Strategic Partnerships Activity Report Gonzales Youth Council
1. The Gonzales Youth Council continues to work on planning the rest of their school year together.
They have broken up into two groups one which will focus on continuing with the mental health project and the other will focus on pedestrian safety.
2. A group of the GYC joined the Blue Zones Monterey County project on a walking tour around the schools to identify areas that are hazardous to students. They shared their experience with the national experts and discussed aspects of their pedestrian safety project.
GYC and Blue Zones Personnel discussing issue areas around the school sites AGENDA
ITEM
5 3. Two GYC members attended the Blue Zones schools submit. During the submit they shared their knowledge of healthy and unhealthy food choices currently available in the school system. They also discussed potential improvement opportunities.
Gonzales Cares Program
Staff continues to work on the rental assistance program, and to date has processed over 200 applications under the current program {Emergency and Rental Assistance Program (ERAP)}. The program is almost over, and the application period has closed for most organizations in the county. At this point organizations are being advised to work off the waitlist that already exist and not take any new applications.
COVID-19 and Community Health Workers (CHWs)
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. They are also testing at the school Technology portable on Tuesday’s starting at 2:00pm. They are also now supporting local food distributions and are receiving additional training for upcoming areas of work in which they will focus more on COVID recovery.
Community Engagement
1. The Community Engagement Director and the City Manager met with a group of 12 business owners.
We discussed potential opportunities and how together we can partner more directly on projects that benefit the downtown such as beatification and facade programs. The business owners were very thankful that the city hosted the meeting with them and had a lot to contribute to the conversation.
They stated they looked forward to more conversations and that that was the first time they all gathered with the city to discuss issues and potential solutions.
2. Staff is working hard to plan the first round of activities for the City’s 75th Year Anniversary. On March 21st a small ceremony was held as part of the City Council meeting and on April 2nd we will be hosting a car show. The car show will include food vendors, live performers, and a children's zone.
The community is excited to participate and there seems to be a lot of anticipation around the event.
Gonzales City Council at March 21st Meeting