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To post an
announcement, contact: peterl@piedmonthousing.org
Local photographer Peggy Harrison is exhibiting compelling images about the lives of Salvadoran women and their families at UVA’s Newcomb Hall Art Gallery from June 2 through September 10. An opening reception is scheduled for Thursday, June 5, 4:30 – 6:30 pm. An Open House Reunion is scheduled for Saturday, June 7, 1 to 3 pm. For more information, contact Peggy Harrison at (434) 963-7852 or p@peggyharrison.com
The Girl Scouts would like to expand its membership to include Latina girls. While all Latina girls are invited, Girl Scouts is especially interested in Latina girls in grades 2 nd – 4 th and is planning meetings for them from July 14 – 17, at the Church of the Incarnation, from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. For more information, please c ontact Leontyne Peck at lpeck@gsvsc.org or 296-5156 ext 6
A volunteer is needed to help with a Girl Scout Program that is being planned at the Church of the Incarnation. The person must be bilingual and able to participate attend a Latina Girl Scout meeting scheduled for July 14-17 from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Contact: Leontyne Peck at lpeck@gsvsc.org or 296-5156 ext 6 Coordinator of Hispanic Outreach at Abundant Life - This position entails working closely with our Spanish-speaking families: keeping them updated on their children's progress in our tutoring programs, setting them up with personal English tutors, and connecting them with needed resources in Charlottesville. The current VISTA will be leaving the year-long position at the end of August and Abundant Life needs to find a new VISTA to build on all of the progress that has been made! General duties include home visits, event planning, volunteer recruitment and document translation. The VISTA would need to speak Spanish and be available to work full time. Start date is flexible. This is a great opportunity for a recent college grad looking to get good work experience at a non-profit. Charlottesville Abundant Life Ministries is a community based non-profit that works with the residents of Prospect Avenue, an area that has a rapidly growing Spanish-speaking population. There are currently two specific opportunities to work with these families. For more information about this position, please contact Sam Ley at Samantha@charlottesvilleabundantlife.org or at 970-2016. More information about the AmeriCorps VISTA program can be found online at: http://www.americorps.gov/for_individuals/choose/vista.asp This summer, Abundant Life will hold group English classes on Thursday nights from 7-8. They will take place at our church building on 5th St. Extd., behind Blue Ridge Commons. We can start as soon as we know we have tutors, so please let me know if you would like to attend and help an adult improve their English skills! Charlottesville Abundant Life Ministries is a community based non-profit that works with the residents of Prospect Avenue, an area that has a rapidly growing Spanish-speaking population. There are currently two specific opportunities to work with these families For more information about this position, please contact Sam Ley at Samantha@charlottesvilleabundantlife.org or at 970-2016.
Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce ( http://www.vahcc.com ) , in partnership with Comcast, presents a Feria de la Oportunidad (Job Fair) on Saturday, July 12, 2008, from 10:00am - 3:00 pm, at the Arthur Ashe Center, 3001 North Blvd Richmond, VA 23220. Agencies interested in operating an information table should visit http://feriajobfair.com Latinos interested in learning more about the event can contact (804) 378-4099.
The Hispanic Youth Symposium is a four day, three night college campus experience where promising rising sophomore and junior-level high school students attend workshops stressing academic achievement, career choices, community service and civic responsibility. Key workshops include: Hispanic Heroes, Issues to Action, Realizing the College Dream, Foundations for Personal Success, and Team Building. Volunteers are needed to assist with the Symposium at the University of Richmond, VA, between July 16-19, 2008. Volunteers are required in the areas of transportation chaperons and assistants, registration, workshop assistants, command center assistants, Hispanic heroes, and facilitators. For more information about volunteer opportunities during the Symposium, contact:
The Blue Ridge Medicaid Center, through its Latino Outreach Program, will be using its mobile clinic to provide low cost sports physicals to Latinos living in Charlottesville and Albemarle. The physicals, costing $10, will be offered on Sunday, July 20. For more information (in Spanish), contact Ivonne López at: 434/962-1041.
Two cooling assistance programs begin in June, one through Social Services, the other through JABA. Both require applicants to be permanent residents. Undocumented parents can apply for their citizen children under 6. The JABA Cool-Aid program offers window air-conditioners. Fans and assistance for utility bills are also available to approved applicants. Households must meet low income criteria and applicants must be a resident of the City of Charlottesville, or the counties of Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa or Nelson; must be 60 years old or older, or disabled or severely ill of any age (if applicant can provide a doctor's prescription stating air conditioning would beneficial to their health); cannot currently have any working household air conditioning. Applications in English and Spanish are available from JABA, (434) 817-5222. JABA has a bilingual worker who can help a Spanish applicant. English application and eligibility requirements are online at: http://www.jabacares.org/files/docs/Web%20application.pdf Click here for the Spanish application. Click here for a fact sheet in Spanish about the program. Cooling Assistance through Social Services offers payment of an electric utility security deposit or of the electric bill to operate the cooling equipment (fan, air-conditioner); purchase or replace and install an air conditioner; or repair a central air conditioning unit or heat pump. Households must meet low income criteria and must contain at least one elderly or disabled individual or a child under six. Applications are available in English and Spanish and must be submitted to the Social Services office in the locality where the applicant resides ( Albemarle County, 970-4010, or Charlottesville city, 970-3400). If applying for help with payment of an electricity bill or deposit, the application must be accompanied by an unpaid bill. The English application is online at: http://www.dss.virginia.gov/benefit/ea/cooling/forms.cgi Click here for a Spanish application.
The Boys and Girls Club strive to “enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.” Club programs and services promote and enhance the development of boys and girls by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and influence. Big Brothers Big Sisters is known as the oldest, largest and most effective youth mentoring organization in the United States, helping children reach their potential through professionally supported, one-to-one relationships with mentors. The Girl Scouts help girls build character and skills for success in the real world. In partnership with committed adult volunteers, girls develop qualities that will serve them all their lives, like leadership, strong values, social conscience, and conviction about their own potential and self-worth. What do these organizations have in common? Among other things, all are present in the greater Charlottesville community and have an interest in expanding their services to the Latino community. During this plenary, leaders of each organization will describe their local work and their interest in both recruiting more Latina children and Latino adult volunteers and partnering with service providers already working with the Latino community. They will also identify resources they need (contacts, bilingual volunteers, outreach opportunities, etc.) and welcome feedback from service providers and individuals attending the plenary. This will be a great opportunity to learn from, contribute to, and network with these three organizations. The no cost plenary is free and open to the public. Time: 10 am – 11:30 am, Place: Albemarle County Office Building (COB), 1600 5th Street Extended, Meeting Room A, Interstate 64, Exit 120, or from the downtown COB, take McIntyre for 4 miles (the street changes names several times), the 5th Street Office is ½ mile from Interstate 64, on the left. From UVA, the 5 th street COB is 5 minutes from the stadium via JPA and Old Lynchburg Road. For more information about this plenary, contact Linda Hemby at lhemby@albemarle.org
Central America celebrates Independence Day on September 15; Mexico celebrates on September 16. Each year, from September 15 to October 15, the U.S. celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month to recognize the economic, cultural, and social contributions of the more than 41.3 million Latinos residing in the U.S. During this month, colleges, libraries, community groups, and the media typically feature films, documentaries, reports and other activities for and about Latinos. Contact Creciendo Juntos (peterl@piedmonthousing.org) if you’d like ideas or contacts for your agency’s celebration.
There are increasing media reports about new immigration raids in Virginia and elsewhere. They occur at places of work, study, play and at private homes. Recent surveillance tactics include watching children and their parents outside of Head Start centers and schools during pick up and drop off times and following school buses. These actions by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") agents traumatize Latino children and have been tied to increased absenteeism, lower grades, and emotional problems. Many children have witnessed agents forcefully entering their homes, handcuffing their parents and taking them away. Raids don’t only affect the undocumented. In New Jersey, after agents forced into the home of two lawful Latino permanent residents and their U.S.-citizen son, age 9, the agents terrified the son by pointing a gun at him and threatening to take him from his family. When undocumented adults are tracked down and deported their children are stranded at day-care centers and schools, taken in custody by social services agencies lacking cultural sensitivity, and handed over to ill-equipped relatives or non-Latino foster care parents. Siblings are suddenly separated or the older ones take charge of younger brothers and sisters. Other U.S. born Latino children, many who speak little Spanish, accompany their deported parents to Mexico or elsewhere. This plenary will address the impact of immigration raids on Latino children. Sociologist Linda Hemby will provide an overview on the problem and show 15 minutes of a March 2008 documentary by journalist Linda Ellerbee, featuring Latino children who describe their lives after immigration raids deported their parents. Immigration attorney Eddie Summers will answer related legal questions and encourage schools, social services, and other agencies to prepare for raids. A good reference about this issue is the report, Paying the Price: The Impact of Immigration Raids on America’s Children, by the National Council of La Raza and the Urban Institute. It details the consequences of immigration enforcement operations on children’s psychological, educational, economic, and social well-being. Among its recommendations, it suggests schools should develop systems to ensure that children have a safe place to go in the event of a school-hours raid, and that social services and other public agencies should prepare plans to respond to immigration raids and develop outreach strategies to assure parents and other caregivers that it is safe to seek emergency assistance and support for children under such circumstances. The report is located at: http://www.nclr.org/content/publications/detail/49166 This no cost presentation is free and open to the public. Time: 10 am – 11:30 am, Place: Albemarle County Office Building (COB), 1600 5th Street Extended, Meeting Room A (Interstate 64, Exit 120, or from the downtown COB, take McIntyre for 4 miles - the street changes names several times -, the 5th Street Office is ½ mile from Interstate 64, on the left. From UVA, the 5 th Street COB is 5 minutes from the stadium via JPA and Old Lynchburg Road. For more information about this plenary, contact Linda Hemby at lhemby@albemarle.org or Eddy Summers at es@ocho.com
Rates of HIV and sexually transmitted infections especially, have been rising steadily in Charlottesville and the surrounding counties. The AIDS/HIV Services Group in Charlottesville is trying to do its part to help the Latino community be as informed as possible concerning these issues. Towards that end, the ASG will provide this workshop for service providers that do work in the Latino community. At the end of the training participants will receive a certificate of completion and will be better able to help their clients understand HIV treatment and prevention. The no cost workshop is free and open to the public Time: 10 am – 11:30 am, Place: Albemarle County Office Building (COB), 1600 5th Street Extended, Meeting Room A (Interstate 64, Exit 120, or from the downtown COB, take McIntyre for 4 miles - the street changes names several times -, the 5th Street Office is ½ mile from Interstate 64, on the left. From UVA, the 5 th Street COB is 5 minutes from the stadium via JPA and Old Lynchburg Road. For more information on this plenary, contact Peter Loach at peterl@piedmonthousing.org or Tamika Allen at Tamika.Allen@aidsservices.org For more information on ASG visit http://www.aidsservices.org |
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