City of Gonzales
CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT
STAFF REPORT
TO: Honorable Mayor Rios and City Council
DATE: May 5, 2025
FROM: Carmen Gil, City Manager
THROUGH: Carmen Gil, City Manager
SUBJECT: Community Engagement & Recreation Departments Activity Report Current Activities
Kid Power
• For the month of March, Kid Power had a total of 30 kids. We continue to help them with homework as they prepare for testing and because we have noticed some students need extra help with math. Despite this we are also proud to highlight that we have noticed some of our kids have been moving up in reading levels and completing their homework with flying colors. • In March, we experimented with a couple of our projects. For the first project we tried to make window stickers. We were unsuccessful, but the kids had a blast. For the second project, we went to the garden to pick flowers and smashed them so we would be able to use them as paint. The kids absolutely loved realizing that you could make a painting by smashing flowers and adding water, such a fun science project!
AGENDA
ITEM
9 • We had a couple of rainy days in March, but that didn’t stop us from getting creative and having fun! We did a little bit of meditation and continued to keep the kids very entertained.
Recreation/ Community Engagement
• In the month of March, we hosted several FREE Senior Classes including Chair Yoga, Art, and Cooking Class. We continue to encourage community members to take advantage of these free opportunities as they are only scheduled to be available through the end of June 2025. • In March, we closed our vendor registrations for the City of Gonzales Car Show and submitted our Special Events Application to the Monterey County Health Department. In total, we had 17 vendors registered to participate in the Car Show, 11 which were food vendors. All vendors were required to pay a $75 fee.
• On March 26th, we participated in a zoom meeting regarding the Community Foundation’s new initiative for Monterey County Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD). The purpose of COAD is to bring together organizations active throughout the disaster cycle to foster more effective disaster resilience and readiness in the community. • On March 26th
, we also met with a Blue Zones representative to discuss the process of becoming a Blue Zones approved worksite. The process involved identifying practices the city may already be implemented such as providing a place for employees to take a break, and the City’s volunteer policy/form.
• On Saturday March 29th, we hosted a Community Gardening Day. We had a total of 23 volunteers join us. Some of the activities included de-weeding the walking path and area around the planter boxes, cleaning up the planter boxes and planting additional seeds, as well as rock painting stations for kids. We were very pleased with the turnout and would like to highlight that there are some community members that have taken the initiative to start going weekly and planting their own plants, establishing a routine.
Gonzales Youth Council
• In the month of March, the GYC had two regular scheduled meetings, and one meeting at the Community Center site. The Community Center site visit marked the dry wall milestone, and students were given a tour of future Library and Teen Innovation Center. • The GYC continue to work on their Actions Projects, specifically the Tenant Rights Workshops and Adulting 101. For the Tenants’ Rights Workshops the group will be participating in the Dia del Niño event at Central Park and providing informational brochures to community members.
For the Adulting 101 group, they will be hosting a short presentation during their April GYC meeting in which they will share information videos regarding budgeting, car maintenance, and credit cards/ credit scores.
• The GYC also continue to collaborate with the City of Soledad and Greenfield Youth Councils as they plan for their South County Youth Summit. In the month of march, they had a total of two planning meetings. One was hosted by the City of Greenfield and the second one was via Zoom.