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San Pedro’s Grand Vision Foundation Kicks Off Celebratory Year

While award season kicks off this time of year with the Golden Globes, Academy Awards and red-carpet glamour, it’s only fitting the city of San Pedro will soon celebrate several of its own milestone moments in entertainment history.

The Grand Vision Foundation (GVF), a nonprofit committed to bringing the arts, film and theatre to the Los Angeles Harbor and South Bay communities, is hosting a special 85th birthday event for the Warner Grand Theatre on Jan. 20, and will enjoy its own 20th anniversary festivities in April.

GVF was founded in 1996 to save the Warner Grand Theatre, a 1500-seat movie palace, and has since contributed over $4 million to support the Theatre. Owned by the City of Los Angeles, the Warner Grand hosts numerous cultural events annually that are promoted by GVF.

“Grand Vision started its quest 20 years ago to rebuild and restore the Warner Grand Theatre so it could return to the center of community life,” said Liz Johnson, executive director of GVF. “That first decade of focus was to make the Theatre work, but we’ve since been able to create a venue where quality presenters can put on shows, the community can enjoy the arts, and our youth can learn and be inspired by local musicians, actors and artists.

“We’ve made downtown San Pedro a place where people can go for the performing arts,” says Johnson. “And we recognize the power local arts can have to bridge cultural boundaries and unite our community.”

To commemorate the 85th birthday of the Theatre, the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce and GVF will show “The Brothers Warner,” a film delving into the story of the four Warner Bros. who rose from nothing to create one of the top studios in America. The public is welcome to attend and purchase tickets online.

Later, in April, GVF will again pay tribute to the Theatre, as well as celebrate its vibrant volunteers and the community who have shaped the past 20 years of GVF’s existence at its annual gala. Guests are invited to come dressed as their favorite movie stars from the 1920s to the 1980s and walk the red carpet.

“It’s a special year for us,” said Johnson. “But we are always looking toward the future, and over the past few years, we’ve been very committed to education, ensuring our youth are introduced to music and the arts.”

In addition to the many shows GVF supports at both the Warner Grand Theatre and its smaller venue, the Grand Annex, it has taught more than 9,000 local children through the help of standards-based instruction and participatory live music experiences.

In 2009, GVF created its Meet the Music (MTM) education program for upper-elementary school youth. Today, local San Pedro and Wilmington fourth-grade students enjoy the semester-long Roots of Music Program (RoMP), attending instructional field trips, learning music fundamentals, how to play the recorder and how to perform together in an ensemble.

“We are looking forward to our annual LA Opera performance on Jan. 27,” said Joselyn Wilkinson, director of education for Grand Vision. “The Warner Grand fills with an electric energy as 1,500 students and teachers enjoy the spectacular artistry and humor of LA Opera performers, many of them for the first time.”

This year’s performance will be “The Prospector,” based on Puccini’s “The Girl of the Golden West.”

“One of the best parts is the Q &A, when students interact directly with performers who describe being inspired to begin their own musical journeys by programs and events very similar to the ones we present,” said Wilkinson.

To learn more about GVF, upcoming events at the Theatre and more, visit http://www.grandvision.org/.

El Camino College’s Career Pathways program builds bridge between training and jobs

Three years ago, Jessica Smith found herself in a state of career transition. She’d always had a mechanical inclination, but knew she didn’t want to work forever as a motorcycle mechanic. So she moved home, enrolled in some classes at El Camino College (ECC) and eventually found her calling, thanks to the college’s Career Advancement Academy (CAA), also known as Career Pathways.

In conversations with a teacher, Smith discovered she could earn college credits and gain technical skills in a short-term job-training program in welding.

Today, she has a part-time job in the field, and works part time at El Camino College teaching and mentoring welding students to prepare them for high-demand job opportunities in Los Angeles County.

“I can’t say enough great things about this program,” said Smith. “It’s not just the welding training I received, but all of the additional support – from gaining skills in resume writing to interviewing – CAA is really committed to helping students learn and find careers.”

CAA programs can be found at community colleges throughout the state – El Camino College specializes in welding and HVAC (air conditioning and refrigeration). All CAA students take classes in groups, work with mentors, receive books and supplies at no cost, and participate in industry tours with access to top-notch speakers and training opportunities.

CAA programs can be completed in eight weeks, with students able to earn four course credits during that time. Beyond the training, applicable math, reading and writing courses are attached to the program, focused on material directly connected to their fields, such as reading manuals or applying math skills on the job. 

“It’s really about creating a pipeline of job-ready applicants,” said Tiffany Miller, ECC’s interim director of Career Pathways. “We see many of our students go on to complete additional community college coursework, but others transition out to find jobs immediately.”

Each cohort accepts 20 to 25 students per semester, with age ranges stretching from 18 to 40-plus. Students are admitted into the program on a first-come, first-serve basis, at a cost of $46 per unit. Fee waivers and financial aid are available to qualifying students.

“We encourage individuals to attend an information session, and from there we guide them through the application process,” said Miller. “Sometimes people think school is not for them, but this program helps them realize this is exactly what they need to get job-ready and gain access to employers seeking qualified workers.”

ECC is now looking to fill its cohorts for welding and HVAC for spring 2016. Information sessions are scheduled throughout November and December. Details can be found online.

“Jobs are available throughout the County, and Career Pathways is a program that really makes the connection from training to hiring,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe. “These trades are extremely important to businesses in our communities, and the skills that students develop will help them long-term. “

No such thing

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Labor dispute at Ports has far-reaching consequences

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It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

Keep the L.A. Air Force Base In L.A.

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

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Long Beach’s Operation Jump Start reveals benefits of long-term mentoring

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L.A. County gets synced

At this week’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Los Angeles County joined other regional municipalities, non-profits and organizations in an initiative to unify local efforts when applying for philanthropic, state and federal grants. LA n Sync coordinates Los Angeles County and other LA n Sync partners to collectively and effectively work together when applying for grants.

Every year, Los Angeles County misses out on millions of dollars from large-scale grants from the state, federal government, philanthropic organizations or all three due to our inability to coordinate our efforts properly. We need to bring everyone together, public and private, for the benefit of our economy. Los Angeles County deserves its fair share.

According to the Annenberg Foundation, in 2010, New York City received $1.3 billion in philanthropic grants, San Francisco received $669 million, and the Los Angeles area as a region received only $372 million. California ranked 43rd nationally in terms of paying out more to the country in taxes than it takes in, receiving $0.73 back for each dollar paid.

We always say we need to ‘be at the table’ to position ourselves for large grants, but oftentimes there is either no table or there are 50 different tables from 50 different zip codes, all competing for the same grants. LA n Sync will give us the opportunity to bring everyone in the region to one table so that we do not miss out on big ticket initiatives in such areas as transportation, healthcare and social services.  We can do better than $372 million!

The Chief Executive Officer will report back to the Board of Supervisors on the benefits of funding opportunities, the need and feasibility for creating a County liaison to the philanthropic community, departmental funding priorities that LA n Sync could support, and how the County can work hand-in-hand with organizations with the same priorities.

L.A. County Launches New Baby Safe Surrender Outreach Campaign

Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe celebrated the success of the County’s Baby Safe Surrender program yesterday with an event highlighting the launch of a new awareness campaign and a birthday celebration for Nicholas, a former Safe Surrender baby. The new Baby Safe Surrender campaign will expand the program’s outreach to communities across Los Angeles County by launching in multiple languages, collaborating with community-based organizations and relying on a mix of traditional and grassroots awareness efforts. The campaign includes billboards, posters, bumper stickers, brochures and a redesigned website.

“A unique aspect of this Safe Surrender outreach campaign will be our partnerships with community-based organizations throughout the County,” said Supervisor Knabe. “We are really reaching out to influential members of the community—promotoras, church leaders, and local health providers—to help us spread the word that there is a better choice: No shame. No blame. No names.”

For more information about the Baby Safe Surrender program, visit BabySafeLA.org

Newborn Baby Girl Safely Surrendered at Huntington Park Hospital

Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe is pleased to announce the County’s Safe Surrender Program celebrated success for the third time this year with the report of a safely surrendered newborn baby boy. This most recent safe surrender occurred on June 18, 2013 at a hospital in Huntington Park.

As is standard practice, the newborn is in protective custody and will be placed with families approved for adoption by the Department of Children and Family Services.

“I’m thankful that this mother decided to surrender her baby, rather than put him in a harmful situation,” said Supervisor Knabe. “As word spreads about the Program, mothers in desperate situations can make the right choice for their babies and themselves, because of Safe Surrender.”

This is the third Safe Surrender in Los Angeles County in 2013, and the 106th since the program began over twelve years ago. The program was initiated by Supervisor Knabe and approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors in 2001. It allows someone to surrender an infant that is no more than three days old, as long as the infant shows no signs of abuse.

New commission not the answer for department drowning in recommendations

Over the last several years, we have had countless commissions, groups, panels and advisory boards provide us with recommendations for improving child protection services in Los Angeles County. By my approximate count, at least 859 suggestions have been provided, most of which say the same thing: we must ensure that our social workers have manageable and realistic caseloads, we must give our employees the training and resources they need to be effective, and we must end our relationships with service providers who abuse our funds. We are drowning in recommendations. Adding yet another commission to the galaxy of commissions we have to tell us what we already know will be a waste of time and money and will only distract us further from what needs to be fixed.

We have a department where 99% of the employees are outstanding public servants working in some really tough situations. However, innocent children have paid the ultimate price when we didn’t get it right, and I am sick about it. There should be a zero-tolerance policy for any staff or any service providers who do not do their jobs and expose children to harm.

I am not suggesting that we do nothing. But we should not rashly dismiss our current efforts. Late last year, this Board was presented with a strategic plan developed by DCFS to put in place a set of action items that address a number of the systemic problems that compromise child safety and hamper our workers’ ability to get the job done. This Board approved that plan, and it is moving forward.

We have no more important job than protecting the most vulnerable children in this county. Another Commission will not address the problems we face or set us on a path to the future. In fact, it will be a distraction to the very important work at hand. We know what must be done and we must remain committed to the course we set.