Published at Tue, 05 Sep 2017 19:14:07 +0000
HUD, the federal agency for urban Promise Zones, provides staff to the country’s 14 Promise Zones. “We’re engaged with aligning and targeting federal resources available across the federal government,” Yost said.
Ramirez and the TA team will continue to facilitate and encourage CAG’s ongoing cooperation and application of best practices.
Dr. Carolyn Nelson, dean of the College of Education at Cal State, East Bay and principal investigator for Hayward Promise Neighborhood (HPN), said that Cal State, East Bay wanted to sponsor the in-person assembly “because our university is shifting its role to being part of the community.” We have a responsibility — being the most diverse campus on the mainland of the United States — that our students look like the students in the community.”
Melinda Hall, executive director of HPN, spoke about her organization’s aim to “provide equitable opportunities for all the community members that we serve in the areas of safety, education and health.” Building on HPN’s job, Hayward was designated as a 2016 Promise Zone finalist.
The participants found the peer exchange valuable. “Getting ideas from different parts of the state is really helpful,” said Hall. “There are some things that we could very easily implement here.”
The peer exchange included visits to two community programs that receive HPN funding. “They were highlighted for the site visits to emphasize the need to keep middle-school students engaged over the summer in career-exploration,” said Hall.
Jaime Ramirez, a part of this technical assistance (TA) team assigned to the CAG, provided planning and facilitation support. After watching the group’s interactions, ” Ramirez said, “There’s something about getting together in person to get to know each other better. This is going to go a long way to share knowledge, wisdom, and best practices.”
Joe Barison is a public affairs specialist in the Office of Communications and Outreach.
Continue the dialogue on Facebook or Twitter.
The second visit was to the Chabot Community College Summer Youth Sports Program, a free program giving youth a chance to take part in sports that are coached.
On July 18 and 19, CAG held its first in-person peer market, on California State University, East Bay’s Hayward campus. This was their first assembly while the band’s members had spoken via conference call.
When I wanted to know what an affinity group is, I turned to my affinity to the dictionary. Webster’s definition is “people having a common goal or acting together for a specific purpose.” By this definition, the California Affinity Group (CAG) is perfectly named. CAG’s members operate in Promise Neighborhoods, Promise Zones, a Performance Partnership Pilot area, city governments, school districts, community organizations, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and U.S. Department of Education (ED) with the common goal of improving opportunities for people living in some of California’s most distressed communities.
The first visit was to the Eden Area Regional Occupational Program, which offers career and technical education courses in culinary science, criminal justice, medical professions, and construction.
ED supports both Promise Neighborhood and Promise Zone work. As HUD’s Yost noted, “The U.S. Department of Education’s place-based initiatives team has been an invaluable resource for the Promise Zone initiative.” HPN’s Hall said, “I think U.S. Department of Education funding is important because it speaks to where the department’s priorities are.”
Source: TPd Paying for College Feed
Leave a Reply