At the last Steering Committee meeting, we discussed the following issue that may be affecting our members.

Currently each school in the district has $94,000 of remaining 21^st Century Fund monies.  The district is trying to spend it all, and is turning the money over to many of our members. If it isn’t spent, the money reverts back to district, state, or feds.  The district will be audited next year on core funds.  That means many of the district’s main contractors will also be audited.
This raises questions about what to do with the monies:

1.      If it’s accounted for as a deferred expense, auditors could demand that it be given back.

2.      If monies are spent this year that can’t be continued next year, it may lead to unrealistic expectations at the school site.

3.      One idea is to spend these monies now in place of unrestricted funds which can be spent later.

Dear Friends of Oakland Public Schools . . .

Please attend the April 30th Rally to oppose the Governor’s $5 Billion cut to California’s public schools.

The impact to Oakland Unified School District is $23 million – - equivalent to 300+ teachers.

Hear parents, teachers, and students explain how these cuts will directly affect our schools!!!

Learn about concrete steps you and I can take to get our voice heard in Sacramento!!!

Oakland Public Schools

An investment we can’t afford to cut.

RALLY TO OPPOSE

GOVERNOR’S $5

BILLION

CUT TO EDUCATION

April 30, 2008 at 4PM

1025 2^nd Avenue, Hunter Hall

More information: www.ousd.k12.ca.us

Hosted by the Oakland Board of Education and co-sponsored by the Honorable Barbara Lee, the Honorable Don Perata, the Honorable Sandre Swanson, the Honorable Loni Hancock, Sheila Jordan, Superintendent, Alameda County of Education, and the Oakland Education Association.

To all of those that have submitted grant applications to the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth, the funding recommendations were posted to the OFCY website last night.  You can access them at http://www.ofcy. <http://www.ofcy.org/download/2008-2009%20RFP/2008-2009%20Prelim%20Package/Funding%20Package%20POC%204.23.08%20All%20Strategies%20(2).pdf> org/download/2008-2009%20RFP/2008-2009%20Prelim%20Package/Funding%20Package%20POC%204.23.08%20All%20Strategies%20(2).pdf

These preliminary recommendations will be the main agenda item at Wednesday’s POC meeting at 6PM at City Hall in the Council Chambers. 

If we at OCASA can be of any help to you in understanding OFCY and it granting process, I am available to answer your questions.

Edward

Edward Hannemann

Chair – OCASA Steering Committee

510-482-0606

East Bay and other Bay Area children and teens ages 6-17 who have experienced the loss of a parent, friend, or loved one are invited to apply for Camp Erin Oakland/Bay Area, which is offered free of charge. Hosted by Hospice By The Bay in partnership with The Moyer Foundation, this fun, high-energy, healing weekend will be held Friday, August 8th through Sunday, August 10th at the CYO Retreat Center in Sonoma County. Camp Erin focuses on helping children express their grief, build trust and self-esteem, and learn to cope with their loss through age-appropriate therapeutic activities, recreation, and relaxation. Hospice By The Bay grief counselors and trained volunteers will create a caring environment and lead expressive art projects, supportive discussions, and healing rituals. Recreational activities include swimming, campfires, hiking, sports, games, and crafts.

Transportation from the Hospice By The Bay office in Marin County to the camp site in Occidental will be available. Applications for the free camp are available through the Hospice By The Bay Bereavement Department, (415) 526-5558. The registration deadline is Friday, May 23rd.

Hospice By The Bay has long recognized that grieving children need support that is different from adults. The organization began hosting its annual Youth Bereavement Camp seven years ago. This is the first year that Hospice is partnering with The Moyer Foundation to create Camp Erin Oakland/Bay Area.

Hospice’s expertise made it a perfect partner to support the Foundation’s ambition to create children’s bereavement camps in every U.S. city with a Major League Baseball team. Oakland Athletics President Michael Crowley says of the A’s involvement: “The Oakland A’s organization is honored to be a part of The Moyer Foundation and its efforts to support grieving children through Camp Erin in the Bay Area. We would like to thank Jamie and Karen Moyer on their vision and dedication to such a worthy cause.” Oakland Athletics’ Third Baseman Eric Chavez and his wife Alex are local advocates of Camp Erin Oakland/Bay Area.

For more information, click here: Flier

###

SAVE THE DATE: Thursday, May 29, 2008 5-7 PM at Oakland Tech PASS (Peers Advising Students to Succeed) Mentors : Reflections from the First Year

In 2007, Oakland Kids First partnered with Oakland Technical High School to implement the pilot PASS (Peers Advising Students to Succeed)  Mentors program – an innovative student-initiated solution that creates new leadership roles and training for PASS Mentors to provide Graduation and College literacy workshops, community-building events and one-on-one academic mentoring for all 9th graders.

Please join us on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 5:00 PM at Oakland Technical High School to celebrate the students who took on this challenging project, explore PASS expansion to other interested schools, and hear from a panel of PASS Mentors, Tech’s Assistant Principal, counselors, and Leadership Class teacher reflecting on the successes and lessons learned in this first pilot year.

Who’s Invited? Students, Parents, Administrators, Teachers, Counselors, District Personnel and Elected Leaders, College Readiness Network members, and interested community members.

This event is co-sponsored by Oakland Kids First and Oakland Technical High School and is open to the community.  Appetizers provided.

- For more information or to RSVP for the event please email julie@kidsfirstoakland.org or call 510-452-2043 x301.

Greetings from CalSAC!

The California School-Age Consortium is now accepting applications from qualified candidates to attend the Trainer Network’s 2008 Training of the Trainer (ToT) Institute. We will be offering two ToT’s this fall in Southern and Northern California to a total of 120 candidates. We highly encourage people of color and professionals from the North State, Central Valley and Central Coast to apply. Please consider applying and forward this message to your colleagues and any other individuals you think could benefit from this opportunity!

The Trainer Network provides the opportunity for leaders in the afterschool field to join a community of practitioners, hone their training skills, receive the new, updated CalSAC training curriculum, become an endorsed CalSAC Trainer, and earn $50/hour training California’s afterschool workforce.

For more information and to complete the application, click here <http://lerpos.com/fs/d:l/distribution_jix54wtavjglu1/x124spkzyeooxp/4>  or visit our website at www.calsac.org <http://lerpos.com/fs/d:l/distribution_jix54wtavjglu1/x124spkzyeooxp/5>  and click on Become a CalSAC Trainer under the green Training & Consulting tab. The deadline for submitting the application is July 15th, 2008. Applicants will be notified of our decisions by September 1st.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. We look forward to receiving your application.

Best,

Ruth Obel-Jorgensen, MSW

Project Coordinator

California School-Age Consortium

657 Mission Street, Suite 601

San Francisco, CA 94105

Phone: 415-957-9775, x695

Fax: 415-957-9776

www.CalSAC.org

© CalSAC.org | Contact Us <http://lerpos.com/fs/d:l/distribution_jix54wtavjglu1/x124spkzyeooxp/6> 

Great News! CalSAC is pleased to announce that we are now providing FREE training to California’s school age and afterschool programs through a contract with the California Department of Education’s Child Development Division.

What is FREE CalSAC Training?

Free CalSAC Training is made possible through the CalSAC Trainer Network. The goal of the CalSAC Trainer Network is to build the training and facilitation skills of leaders in the field who, in turn, provide training to afterschool program staff, volunteers and administrators working in a variety of programs across the state. The CalSAC Trainer Network includes 120 Trainers; a new and improved training curriculum, with over 60 modules to choose from in over a dozen topic areas; regional mentor and outreach project leaders who support our trainers in conducting high quality training events and reach out to underserved communities; and an annual Training of the Trainer Institute, where new leaders in the field can join the Network. The Network also includes a new and improved, state of the art Online Training Request System.

Topics and Modules

Please see our full list of available topics and modules that CalSAC Trainers can provide.

What is the Online Training Request System?

The CalSAC Trainer Network’s Online Training Request System (OTRS) connects California’s aftershool programs to CalSAC Trainers in their region who deliver free CalSAC Training. On the OTRS you can read about CalSAC Training topics and CalSAC Trainers, submit training requests, and view training requests that are pending, in progress, and complete.

Request a FREE CalSAC Training Today!

All agencies who have received CalSAC Training in the past have already been set up with a username and password on our new Online Training Request System. If you have received CalSAC Training in the past, but did not get an email with your agency’s username and password, please call 415-957-9775 to receive your username and password.

To arrange your free on-site CalSAC Training:

• Set up your agency’s account by visiting www.calsac.org, and clicking on Agency Login under the green Training & Consulting tab. Click on Sign-up Today!

• From here you can search to see if your agency already has an account and if not you can create one today!