About 40 residents at Azahar Place Apartments in Ventura enjoyed a paint night courtesy of two teens with an artist’s knack who donated their time to teach fellow residents ages 3-70 how to paint.

William Caceres. 14, and Jazmin Garcia, 12, both residents of Azahar Place apartments, stepped in when the professional instructor originally contacted to conduct the event canceled at the last minute, said Gabby Vignone, resident manager at Azahar Place Apartments.

“I was so proud of them for being fearless and taking on the challenge so the event could still happen. I reached out to the two teen-age residents who have expressed a love of art to see if they were willing to take on the challenge. They did, and in a few days put together what they would paint and how they would work together to instruct,” Vignone said.

Jazmin said she had a lot of fun working with fellow residents and helping them learn to paint. “I was a little shy at first, but the people were nice and made me feel comfortable,” she said. Jazmin her love of art has increased since she first started sketching some of her favorite characters, then evolved to other sketching subjects and painting.

William, who attributes his talent to his family, since his grandmother and great grandfather are both artists, said the biggest challenge in putting on the event was trying to find inspiration to know what to paint and speaking to a room full of people.

“It felt amazing to teach a room full of people how to paint because some of the people that were in the room may never get to have the chance to take an art class,” he said.

The paint night event is part of a series of community events that take place each month at Azahar Place Apartments. Inspiration for the events comes from resident requests. Vignone said resident Veronica Garcia, Jazmin’s mother, suggested doing a paint night during a previous Mother’s Day event where residents were creating birdhouse paintings.

“This was our first time organizing and putting on a paint night, and is something we will be doing yearly from now on,” Vignone said.

Vignone said resident Maria Sanchez, grateful for the teens’ instruction, asked if they could teach an art class once a month so everyone at Azahar could become as talented as William and Jazmin.

Vignone said that as a resident manager, it is her goal to connect residents with their local community and with each other, and this was one of the more productive community-building events.

“The teaching aspect alone created confidence in the young teens, gave them an item to put on their resume, and a way to say thank you to all of their community. Paint Night was an immensely beautiful and special event and provided an opportunity for families who cannot afford to purchase tickets to a paint night a chance to have the same experience with their entire family present,” Vignone said.

“The event allowed families to share the community center space and interact with one another. Residents were able to create connections with each other that turn into priceless friendships and support systems, which is exactly what we are aiming for,” she said,

Office Depot, Veronica Garcia and Cabrillo’s Resident Services Department, provided supplies for the event.

Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation is excited to announce that CIT Bank/One West Bank has awarded a $50,000 community service grant to help the organization provide comprehensive housing services and a ladder of opportunity to its low- to moderate-income residents and families, including farmworkers, seniors, veterans and individuals with special needs.

“Housing is a platform for moving out of poverty, obtaining an education, maintaining stable employment, sustaining healthy relationships with friends and family, being part of a community, and achieving all of the things that most families take for granted,” said Denise Bickerstaff, Director of Business Development and Administration at Cabrillo. “This grant will allow us to continue to provide valuable services to our residents who need it most.”

Cabrillo’s Resident & Community Services Department provides supportive programs and educational opportunities for both adults and children living at its 23 properties. Programs such as homework clubs and after-school programs; fitness and nutrition classes; food distributions and community gardens; and ESL, citizenship and financial literacy classes that provide needed educational support, physical activity, and opportunities for economic advancement.

Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation has received a $2,500 grant from The Limoneira Foundation to fund Homework Clubs at six of Cabrillo’s properties.

The Cabrillo Homework Clubs are an afterschool tutoring program that provides homework assistance and general academic help for farmworker and other low-income families. The clubs reinforce concepts and instruction from class, provide opportunities to learn and practice new skills, and support principles of youth development.

“Last year we were able to expand our Homework Clubs from four sites to six, resulting in 64 students attending the on a weekly basis and logging 3,375 hours of participation,” said Denise Bickerstaff, Director of Business Development and Administration at Cabrillo. “This grant from the Limoneira Foundation will allow us to continue providing after-school homework assistance and activities to the children of our residents. We are grateful for their support and dedication to our farmworker families.”

A partnership project between Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation and California State University, Channel Islands, has received the university’s Center For Community Engagement’s 2019 Best Community Engagement Award.

The project is a partnership between Kathleen Contreras, PhD., and an instructor for “The Chicano Child & Adolescent” course, her students and Cabrillo’s Villa Cesar Chavez Apartments.

The Salsa Garden Project sought to connect students to low-income and immigrant youth, their families, and community-based organizations; to increase awareness of the importance of a plant-based diet, especially vegetables grown in a sustainable community garden maintained by the residents; and to teach literacy-based, hands-on activities to children in the local community.

“It is ironic that in a rich, agricultural region in Ventura County, farmworkers often don’t benefit from the fresh fruits and vegetables they harvest,” according to the project’s presentation. “However, a local community and culturally relevant nutritional garden can reduce food insecurity and positive dietary intake, as well as strengthen community relationships.”

The three-week project began with 27 students meeting with farmworker residents at Villa Cesar Chavez Apartments and its resident manager, Cristina Heredia, a CSUCI alumna. Heredia said the original plan came from Contreas.

Heredia said CSUCI students surveyed residents about their preferences for plants with regard to cultural significance and personal tastes and based their vegetable choices on those outcomes. The college students then took that information out to local businesses to garner donations for the project – businesses like Agromin, which donated soil for the project.

The students created learning stations for resident children for the literacy-based educational portion. Stations included:

• Professor Contreras reading to children from her book,” Cosechando Amigos/Harvesting Friends”
• Creating garden bookmarks to encourage independent reading
• Creating colorful plant identification markers for the garden, vegetable-shaped science observational journals and a bulletin board with vegetable art
• Planting culturally relevant vegetables like corn, cilantro four types of tomatoes, three kinds of chiles, squash, and onions.
• Serving fresh vegetable snacks including homemade salsa and fruit-flavored water

“We are so proud of our CSUCI students who engaged children living at Villa Chavez in literacy-based activities related to healthy eating practices and gardening activities. They and the children worked hard in creating a culturally-relevant, community-based garden providing fresh vegetables on-site at Villa Cesar Chavez. Our goal is not only to feed the residents but grow friendship and strengthen community bonds.” said Contreras.

Contreras said the project implemented a variety of the service learning program’s best practices, including:
• Combining bilingual services, books, discussions, interactions and community organizing in a single project
• Aligning the professional goals of the CSUCI students with a community-based organization and its clients
• Uniting cross-generational participants in an activity
• Connecting with CSU alumni who are working in community-based professions
• Connecting to community-based partners for in-kind donations.

Service-learning offers an additional teaching tool to learn about the social, educational, health and financial realities of Latino youth and their families living in a farmworker community while enriching the academic and social experiences of CSUCI students, many of whom are aspiring to become bilingual teachers. Channel Islands students gain rich experiences in teaching literacy-based and hands-on activities for children, according to the project presentation materials.