City of Gonzales
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & STRATEGIC
PARTNERSHIPS
ACTIVITY REPORT
TO: Honorable Mayor Rios and City Council
DATE: February 21, 2023
FROM: Carmen Gil, Community Engagement & Strat. Partnerships Dir.
THROUGH: Trevin Barber, City Manager
SUBJECT: Community Engagement and Strategic Partnerships Report Gonzales Youth Council
• The Gonzales Youth Council reconvened in January and are scheduled to continue with their biweekly meetings. On Saturday, January 14th they held a leadership training session from 9:00am11:30am. Nine GYCers attended and worked on action items for their priority projects of 1).
City/School Beautification 2). Mental Health 3). Pedestrian Safety. They are continuing to move the work forward and are excited about some opportunities presenting themselves around pedestrian safety.
• They are also planning for meetings with the school Superintendent and partners from TAMC and Ecology Action.
AGENDA
ITEM
7 Community Engagement
• Staff continues to work on closing out the rental assistance program. Reports are due and we are working to compile all that information for our donors and the state. • The Gonzales Community Health Workers (CHWs) provided tremendous support during the recent floods. They connected with local community members including those living in Camp Corda and Alpine Camp to inform them of important information and resources. They also worked to establish relationships with individuals needing additional support. • The CHWs also provided support to the County and worked out of the FEMA resource center in Spreckels for a week and a half. There they helped guide people through the available resources and learned how to go about completing forms so that they could come back and help individuals in Gonzales that had questions on the process. The team continues to be highlighted for their work and appreciated by local and state officials.
• CHWs also continue to provide support at food distributions and are still available to test individuals for COVID-19.
Gonzales in the Spotlight
Staff is working with Armanasco Public Relations to submit a comprehensive application to the AllAmerican City Award. We were encouraged to apply given our intentional community engagement and the inclusive nature of our work with the Gonzales Youth Council, the Community Health Worker Program, and the work on our Gonzales Community Center Project.
Staff also presented to Rotary on the Community Center Project. Rotary members had a lot of questions which led to a good discussion. Rotary president invited staff to come back as the project continues to advance.
Staff also worked hand-in-hand with the Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce to showcase Gonzales in a super issue.