City of Gonzales
CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT
ACTIVITY REPORT
TO: Honorable Mayor Rios and City Council
DATE: August 15, 2022
FROM: Carmen Gil, Community Engagement & Strat. Partnership Dir.
THROUGH: Carmen Gil, Interim City Manager
SUBJECT: Community Engagement & Strategic Partnerships Activity Report Gonzales Youth Council
1. Five Gonzales Youth Council members went through a summer intensive program this summer. They spent three weeks learning and refining their professional skills, connecting with the various city departments and taking on small projects. This strategy was deployed to help identify and prepare the next Youth Commissioners and to further develop a shared leadership model for our Youth Council.
2. Each of the participating youth will receive a small stipend for their hard work and dedication and will now be tasked with helping to recruit the rest of their GYC members for the coming year and continue moving forward their identified projects, which this year include mental health, the Teen Innovation Center/Community Center and pedestrian safety.
3. This year’s summer program differed from others in the sense that it was a bit more intense, hands on and it was also led by Cindy Aguilar and supported by Magaly Santos, both former Youth Commissioners currently attending UC Berkely. This peer-leader approach is something we have been wanting to implement for a few years and this summer it worked out perfectly as Magaly Santos was a City Intern and Cindy was Working for our Consultant at C4 Consulting. This strategy allowed us to deploy a more formal connection between the current Youth Council members and Commissioners and former ones so that they can learn from the former commissioners, and the former commissioners can continue to enhance their leadership and management skills by helping to lead the program. The city also benefits greatly from this by bringing back some of our human capital whom we have invested in and helped develop by supporting their growth through the Youth Council.
4. The two Youth Commissioners for year 22/23 have also now been identified and will be introduced for formal appointment at the council meeting set for August 15, 2022.
AGENDA
ITEM
10 GYCers Meeting with Interim City Manager Gil GYCers Meeting with CSUMB Partners and Dr. Lovell GYCers Learning About Public Works Department Gonzales Cares Rental Assistance
1. The Gonzales Cares rental assistance program has a bit of funding left. On July 20th the city was visited for an audit by our partners at United Way. They wanted to ensure that everything for the program was on file and that we are meeting all grant requirements. All went well and the audit was a success.
2. We are now working off of a list to get the rest of the limited funds out to those who have been waiting.
Community Health Workers (CHWs)
1. In July the Community Health Workers stayed busy. They participated in different aspects of the July 4 th celebration. Some supported the parade and created a VIDA float that was the talk of the county VIDA program. Others helped support the actual event at the park where they handed out 100 information packets and COVID-19 tests.
2. They have also been helping to complete Medi-Cal applications and have been recognized by the County program managers as the team with the most completed applications. They are now offering this service as part of their testing days, which continue to be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at the Technology portable near the joint-use gym.
3. They also helped test a group of 40 kids who were going to camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains with the Salvation Army. Luckily no one tested positive, and the kids were able to enjoy their time at camp.
4. COVID-19 testing continued to increase during the month of July. They conducted 235 tests during the month and unfortunately did see quite a few positives. They also continue to support the pharmacy with vaccines. In July they helped to get 29 people vaccinated.
5. On July 26th some of the CHWs also supported the Blue Zones Cooking Class that took place at La Gloria Elementary School. There were about 20 parents that participated, and students were eager to get involved. Brighter Bites also distributed food boxes to the participants that day. It was an excellent collaboration.
6. The CHWs are now working to advertise the Blood Drive that will be held on August 13th at the fire house. Some of them will be there to support the Fire Department and continue to provide resources and information regarding COVID-19 and other services.