City of Gonzales
CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT
STAFF REPORT
TO: Honorable Mayor Rios and City Council
DATE: October 21, 2024
FROM: Carmen Gil, City Manager
THROUGH: Carmen Gil, City Manager
SUBJECT: Community Engagement & Recreation Departments Activity Report Current Activities
Kid Power
• In September, we had a total of 29 kids signed up for Kid Power. We continue to work hard to provide students with homework time and give extra help to the ones who need it. We have also been implementing a lot of learning games with the kids to make it fun. • Thanks to the warm weather we had all of September and our pool staff, Kid Power was able to swim every Thursday this month, which the kids loved!
• The students had the opportunity to visit our Community Garden Site on one of our Fun Friday’s and the students had the opportunity to harvest some of the veggies that are growing in the garden AGENDA
ITEM
9 bed. We used this time to explain to the kids that they are welcome to come with their families to this space and that it is open to everyone.
• For October, we are getting ready for our Halloween Door Decorating Contest that we have done the past few years. We hope that we will get most of Gonzales’ staff to participate in the voting.
The voting will take place on October 28th – 31, 2024 from 3:30PM–5:30PM. • Kid Power got a visit from three baby goats. It was so much fun watching the kids pet them and ask lots of questions about how they could have a goat as a pet.
Gonzales Youth Council
• The GYC conducted interviews during the week of September 11th through September 13th and moved forward with all 12 students that applied, 2 of them being returning GYC members. • Our 2 Youth Commissioners, Valeria and Emily, are currently participating in a Youth-led Participatory Action Research Project in collaboration with other local Youth Councils including:
City of Soledad, City of Greenfield, & CHISPA. The students attended a mandatory orientation on Saturday, September 14th and will conclude their findings by the first week of November.
Hartnell Foundation was able to sub-grant $10,000 to each organization to further support regional collaboration.
• On Saturday, October 5th the GYC hosted their orientation where they began to outline their 2024-25 platform which includes: Education / Classes, Housing / Tenant Rights, Adulting 101 and Community Engagement / School Spirit.
• They have been actively speaking to Harris & Associates and Otto Construction to map out dates that the full GYC can visit the Community Center Site and finalize a date for them to participate in the furniture testing.
Recreation/ Community Engagement
• We continue to host senior art and cooking classes, in partnership with Alliance on Aging, the Gonzales Adult School and Taylor Farms Family Health & Wellness Center. • On September 11th, we met with Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) and organization that supports small farmers, local aggregators, and local community by funding the purchase and distribution of produce boxes. CAFF is currently working with Savor the Local (a locally owned business) and Salinas Valley Health, to discuss the opportunity to bring an additional food distribution to Gonzales. The food distribution will run as a pilot program once a week for 12 weeks starting Wednesday, October 16th at Central Park at 10AM. It will be part of the ongoing efforts of the Salvation Army.
• The Recreation and Community Engagement Department attended the monthly lunch-in hosted by the Adventure Seeking Seniors at the St. Theodore Church. We use this time to be able to inform the participants about the free events the city is hosting. • On September 20th the Recreation and Community Engagement Department welcomed a new intern, Ivan Caballero who is currently attending CSUMB and studying Collaborative Health and Human Services. This is our 3rd intern we add to the team through our partnership with CSUMB, we look forward to hosting more interns at the city.
Aquatics
• September was the last month the Gonzales Community Pool remained open. We hosted movie nights every Saturday of the month and concluded with a showing of the movie “Toy Story” on Saturday, September 28th.
Activity in the Planning Phase
• The Recreation and Community Engagement
Department is currently planning for our all our October festivities. October 19th we will host our Annual
Halloween Movie Night at Centennial Park with a free
showing of Monsters Inc. There will also be a Costume
Contest, and kids will have the opportunity to win
prizes.
• We are also planning for our Fall Festival which will include a Trunk or Treat Contest, Costume Contest,
Vendors and small pumpkin patch thanks to a donation
from Braga Farms. We are currently still accepting
registrations for our Trunk or Treat and hope we have the same turnout we did last year!