Communities in Schools

More Latino students are passing English tests, results show. Education official stresses need to close gap in achievement.

Latino students in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District improved across the board in English-language arts on their most recent standardized tests, reports released Thursday show.

The results for this year's California Standardized Testing and Reporting, better known as STAR, reveal that more Latino students met or exceeded state standards for language arts than a year ago in Newport-Mesa.

The California Department of Education has emphasized the need to close the "gap of achievement" between white students and African-American and Latino students.

"It is a moral and economic imperative that we close the achievement gap", Jack O'Connell, state superintendent of public instruction, said in a release. "California cannot afford to allow our Latino students and our African-American students to continue to lag behind their peers."

The gap is clear in Newport-Mesa. Latino students are the largest majority represented in the school district. Out of the 16,225 students tested in the district, 6,732 were listed as Latino.

"The achievement gap has been talked about for the high school exit exam and STAR for years, and we continue to address it," said Peggy Anatol, director of kindergarten through 12th-grade assessment.

Anatol said that while schools and districts look at needs of students in a group--such as economically disadvantaged or Latino populations--the first way the school tackles problems is on the individual student basis.

Last Friday, August 1 marked the kickoff date for our Summer FAST program at the new Triangle Square facility. Thirteen families, from both Whittier and Pomona Elementary Schools will be participating. FAST Team Members and families alike are optimistic and in response to the first night's turnout, Team Leader, Eunice Pimentel said, " The first night went excellent! The families seemed to be enjoying themselves throughout the night".

We look forward to following the success and accomplishments of these thirteen families as they continue through the next seven weeks of the program.

C&SC would like to extend a special thank you to Shannon Har and Bert Weinheimer of Fountain Valley Music for their generous donation of microphone and speaker equipment for our Summer FAST program. The equipment will not only be used this summer, but also for our school site FAST programs scheduled each Fall and Spring.

As the Newport-Mesa Unified School District begins its reconfiguration of elementary schools this summer, FAST will continue on! Mika Community Development Corporation has generously donated the space of their community center located in Triangle Square to host our Summer FAST. Recruitment for the program is well on its way and 12-15 families are expected to participate. The program will run on Friday nights from 5:30-8:30pm, ending the eight-week session with a fun and celebratory graduation that is sure mark the beginning of a successful new school year for our students and families.

C&SC is pleased is announce its new partnership with Mika Community Development Corporation. A Costa Mesa based nonprofit, Mika exists to identify and equip leaders in low-income neighborhoods to build communities with a vision. Currently Mika serves the Costa Mesa neighborhoods of Center Street, Maple Avenue and Shalimar Drive. In April, C&SC will participate in a Mike Neighborhood Information Faire. In the coming months FAST will begin recruiting efforts for its summer program at Mika community centers. At a recent meeting with Mika Executive Director, Crissy Brooks stated that, "the FAST program is a perfect program for our families who are working to make a difference in their communities".

To learn more about Mika Community Development Corporation, please visit www.mikacdc.com

For nearly 12 weeks, a team of MBA students at the UC Irvine Paul Merage School of Business has focused on a project that would identify a constant stream of funding to ensure stability and program expansion while exploring

collaborations and partnerships in our community. The team has interfaced with C&SC staff and Board to address critical organizational issues to help lead the organization forward. C&SC is looking forward to working with members of the team as they continue helping the agency beyond the scope of the class project.

Pictured (L to R): Kaiwen Cheng, Mike Goldsby, Jay Tanjuan, Amit Shivpuja, Boon Koo

As a recent recipient of a Pacific Life Foundation grant, C&SC was honored, along with other nonprofits in the community, at the Pacific Life Foundation's 16th Annual Grants Reception held on Monday, January 28th at their headquarters in Newport Beach. Board Members Martin Hubbard and Megan Matt attended the event. In summary of the reception, Megan said, "It was inspiring to see so many people and organizations that are active in supporting those in need in Orange County, including generous donors such as the Pacific Life Foundation. I think we at Community & School Collaboration are very lucky to be in the midst of such passionate supporters of children's needs".

The Pacific Life Foundation was established in 1984. Together with Pacific Life, the Foundation has contributed donations totaling over $46.3 million to hundreds of nonprofits over the past 24 years.

Community & School Collaboration is happy to welcome, Lisa Enochs to our Board of Directors. Lisa worked in finance in Dallas and New York for a total of 10 years as an equity trader for a highly regarded hedge fund. She brings with her extensive experience and involvement in various non-profit organizations including Big Brothers Big Sisters and Student Sponsor Partners. She was also the Membership and Social VP fore the Junior Chamber of Commerce in Dallas, Texas as well as a board member of MCHF (Members Children's Handicapped Fund) for two years. We look forward to Lisa's service on our Board as C&SC continues to grow throughout our local community.

C&SC is proud to announce that it has been named an Outstanding Contributions to Education Award recipient by the Orange County Department of Education.

The Orange County Department of Education and Superintendent of Schools, William M. Habermehl will present the award at a special ceremony at the Orange County Department of Education on

The Outstanding Contributions to Education Awards Program recognizes the contributions of individuals, groups and organizations whose unique efforts have impacted the education of Orange County students. C&SC has earned the award in recognition of its continued effort to help the under-served, at risk, preschool through sixth grade students of Orange County to succeed in their education as well as contribute to their communities.

Wednesday, January 16- C&SC Executive Director, Charlene Ashendorf, met with the Board and Members of the Newport-Mesa Assistance League to present the goals and outcomes of the FAST program and to thank them for their support of C&SC. Their recent gift will help purchase art supplies for the children, lottery prizes for the families, family meal time expenses and family recruiting materials such as fliers and handouts.

For over 60 years, the Assistance League of Newport-Mesa has been have been serving the needs of children throughout our community.

The Fall 2007 FAST Program was held from October 19-December 17 at Pomona and Whittier Elementary Schools. 32 families participated, graduating 138 mothers, fathers, at-risk school age children and siblings. This eight-week, 2 1/2 hour program facilitated by a core of trained FAST team members included participation by approximately 50 volunteers from the UCI Jumpstart program, as well as volunteers from Newport Harbor, Estancia and Costa Mesa High School who provided more than 80 volunteer hours of community Service.

Recruitment began in September when school was in session by a FAST team leader. More than 40 family names were submitted for the program. Selection process was in place in early October and families secured their spot in the program.

This fall, FAST continued its partnership with the Costa Mesa Police Department. Sergeants Beckman and Gomez facilitated a workshop for FAST parents on gang prevention on both campuses. The workshops were very well received and C&SC looks forward to having the officers return to the winter/spring sessions! Additionally, FAST benefited from the support of Hoag Memorial Hospital's Mental Health program where two USC interns volunteered as the social service component of the program.

Recruitment will begin in January 2008 for the winter/spring sessions to be held at Whittier and Pomona Elementary Schools.

Lynn McDonald (Creator and founder of the FAST program) recently completed a survey of parenting and family skills training program for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC). The UNODC is seeking to identify evidence-based family programs or strategies that are being implemented worldwide for prevention of substance abuse that targets the whole family. After submitting the information on FAST for review, Lynn received an invitation to attend a “Technical Consultation on Family Skills Training: Developing a Global Implementation Protocol" along with 12 other experts from around the world. Their end report suggested programs which connected families to community structures such as schools were strongest, and identified three main best practices, including focusing directly on the parent child bond, having good strategies for recruitment and retention, and providing training and supporting staff; all areas in which the FAST program is strong!

Included in the end report was the U.N.'s Conventions on the Rights of the Child which can be viewed at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm

(Click on link to play video. Requires Windows Media Player, to download Windows Media player click here)

C&SC celebrates another successful graduation with our Whittier families and students

After seven years of dedicated service and commitment to C&SC's FAST Program at Pomona Elementary School, Luciana Puyo will be leaving with plans to further her career in Arlington, Texas. As the first FAST team leader for C&SC, Luciana has been a wonderful asset in the development of our program. She did an outstanding job in connecting with the families and community resources. Her work these past years is greatly appreciated and we will miss her very much. On behalf of C&SC and the FAST Program, we would like to wish Luciana the best of luck!

Eunice Pimentel, FAST team leader at Whittier Elementary, will assume the role of Team Leader at Pomona Elementary. Eunice has already demonstrated strong leadership abilities and we look forward to how her contributions will strengthen our FAST program.

"As a solely educational and charitable organization, the JLOCC’s trained volunteers actively support the community through collaboration with organizations that promote and support the health, safety and education of women and children..." http://www.jlocc.org/

The FAST Program is featured on the cover of the American School Board Journal in the June 2007 issue. The article talks about how the FAST program helps schools and families work together to improve children's lives.

"The FAST graduation at Pomona was a great success! We had fourteen graduated families who participated and enjoyed all of the activities during eight whole weeks of the FAST program! The FAST graduation at Pomona was a night of celebration and enjoyment between the families, their children and the FAST team! Congratulations to all of them!" ~Luciana Puyo, Pomona FAST program leader

"On June 18, 2007, Whittier Elementary graduated 13 FAST families. It was an exciting time especially because the parents planned the evening; they all participated and did a wonderful job! It was exciting to see social capital at its best- just to see how they organized themselves to bring food, music and gifts for the first FAST newborn baby was very rewarding. Words and pictures cannot express the joy and gratitude of these Whittier Families for the FAST program. " ~ Eunice Pimentel, Whittier FAST program leader

Joe Rosener, 83, is being awarded for nonprofit work that benefits at-risk children and their families.

At-risk children in Orange County have found a champion in an 83-year-old Newport Beach resident. Joe Rosener is being awarded Thursday for his work with Community and School Collaboration, a group which helps at-risk children and their families through education and family support.

Rosener will receive the Community Leaders Award, which is being given by the Orange County Human Relations Commission at a gala in Anaheim.

A:I founded a nonprofit organization called Community and School Collaboration to help the at-risk children in Orange County.

It turned out the people who needed the most help were their parents – first, understanding how they could help their children; second, understanding the adults' role in the school; and thirdly, to expand the parents' contacts in the community so they don't feel as isolated as they do.

A: The body of work is the founding and running of Community and School Collaboration over eight and a half years. I was nominated by the executive director of the organization. That's how I found myself being selected as one of the 12 awardees.

A:Certainly doing the work and seeing the positive results and the tremendous, more than 2,000 families that we've been able to help over the years is in itself very rewarding.

But it's also nice to be recognized and the human relations council's recognition is also something to be appreciated.

A:I am continuing on the board of directors and am very delighted to have the operational responsibilities handled by Martin Hubbard, who took over as chairman of the board. His plans to expand the organization to Irvine and Santa Ana will be very satisfying.

A:The best way for them to donate either time or money is to contact the organization directly.

We have part-time employees that run the sessions with the parents. A typical session runs for about two hours in the late afternoon.

There are teams of collaborators, one to run the team, one who has a background in mental health, and someone who may have a knowledge of gangs or substance abuse, and along with them, we have volunteers.

A key part of the program is that the whole family must attend. The parents can talk about problems they're having with their children. This is an eight-week program that we do about three times a year.

Joe Rosener of Costa Mesa has been recognized by the county for his work with local youth.

The Orange County Human Relations Commission has announced that Costa Mesa resident Joe Rosener will receive a community leaders award for his work helping disadvantaged children in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

The award recognizes people or groups that have made an outstanding contribution to the community in the area of human or civil rights.

Ken Inouye, chair of the Orange County Human Relations Commission, described recipients of the award as "Orange County's true unsung heroes."

Eight years ago, at the age of 76, Rosener, a former engineer, started Community and School Collaboration, a nonprofit organization providing support to families whose children are having behavioral and emotional problems in school.

One of the organization's programs, Families and Schools Together, encourages communication between families, teachers and school administrators. Its goal is to help students complete their education, and prepare them for the workplace so they can contribute and be a part of their communities.

Since its inception in 1999, teams of part-time employees from the group have met in multipurpose rooms at various elementary schools in the district in the evening, assisting parents from low-income families who spoke limited English to better understand the school system and expand their social contacts so they would be better equipped to help their children.

Rosener retired as chairman of the board in January, and says the work he did with children from preschool age up to sixth-graders in Community and School Collaboration was a "very satisfying way to have spent the last 8 1/2 years."

Rosener will receive his award at a ceremony to be held at the Grove of Anaheim on May 3.

In December 2006 Killybrooke Elementary and Pomona Elementary Schools participated in FAST graduation ceremonies. As you can see in the picture, a FAST graduating family, FAST team members, and Principal Kathy Sanchez are all smiles for the occasion. Charlene Ashendorf, executive director, writes “The holiday season was filled many special surprises for Community and School Collaboration. We were fortunate to have Santa Claus make an unexpected visit at Pomona Elementary School. What a treat for our many children who participated in the FAST program. FAST sessions will also run in spring 2007 at Killybrooke Elementary and Pomona Elementary Schools.” Thanks to Charlene for this update! Fast News March 2007: 5.

Families & Schools Together (FAST) announces its spring 2007 session at two locations

The Multi-purpose Room of Pomona Elementary School
2051 Pomona Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92627

June 1, 8, 15 Graduation

The Multi-purpose Room of Whittier Elementary
1800 Whittier Ave
Costa Mesa, CA 92627

Community & School Collaboration featured in "OC Partnership" as Agency of the Month

OC Partnership works with several service agencies providing leadership, advocacy and viable solutions to hunger, homelessness, affordable housing and healthcare in Orange County.