Findings will determine how to prepare foster youth for success in college and career

SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - United Way is gathering foster youth and community leaders working on foster care issues for its inaugural Foster Youth Summit on April 5 from 9 am-3 pm at the Sacramento State Ballroom, 6000 J Street.

The summit will identify opportunities to increase the number of foster youth who graduate from high school and go on to complete post-secondary education. Summit findings will be released as a report that will determine the direction of United Way’s foster youth programs. For more information and to sign up: YourLocalUnitedWay.org/FosterYouthSummit.

Stephanie Bray, president and CEO of United Way California Capital Region, announced the summit to 300 supporters at United Way’s 17th Annual Women United Luncheon on March 21. More than $78,000 was raised through the luncheon for United Way’s programs that are preparing foster youth for success in college and career. Since 2002, United Way’s Women United action group has raised more than $2 million for programs for local foster youth.

“It’s time to take our work to the next level,” Bray said at the luncheon. “For far too long, we have talked about the drop-out and homelessness rates for foster youth. We know that no one person or organization can do this alone. So we are convening a public forum to discuss how we move the needle on high school graduation and college or career attainment for foster youth so that fewer struggle as they transition into adulthood.”

Nonprofit service providers, state and county foster youth advocates, school districts, foster youth and other supporters will come together for a deep dive into community level data, a foster youth panel on real-world implications of the data, breakout sessions and a keynote speech by Jennifer Rodriguez, JD, executive director of Youth Law Center and a former foster youth.

At the luncheon, Bray cited a 2018 Annie E. Casey Foundation report that noted without any support, California foster youth drop out of high school at a rate of 24 percent, 30 percent do not have stable housing and 51 percent are unemployed.

 “That is so much lost potential,” Bray said. “We at United Way believe that every child, including each foster youth, has the opportunity to achieve. Imagine the impact if we don’t invest in our foster youth’s potential.”

Bray referred to luncheon keynote speaker September Hargrove as an example of how foster youth achieve success, not only for themselves but for communities across the country. Hargrove, a former Sacramento foster youth who volunteered with United Way a decade ago, is now VP of global philanthropy at JPMorgan Chase & Co., leading the company’s $150 million commitment to Detroit through neighborhood revitalization, small business, financial capability and workforce development.

For nearly 100 years, United Way California Capital Region has brought local people together to make community change happen. Today, the nonprofit is bringing people together across Amador, El Dorado, Sacramento, Placer and Yolo counties for its Square One Project, a 20-year promise to significantly increase the number of students in our region who graduate from high school ready for success in college and beyond.

United Way believes ending poverty starts in school and is working to ensure kids meet important milestones and their families receive support and resources. To learn more and make a donation: YourLocalUnitedWay.org.

CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - Kath Friedrich and husband Tim Blaine established a goat farm so their disabled son would have a meaningful occupation. Their Rio Linda operation hosts visits from other disabled adults and produces milk and cheese as a sideline.

Descended from Swiss goat farmers, Kath – a retired attorney and law professor – took to dairying like goats to green grass. Even with a commercial interest in the herd, leaping little goat babies still enchant the mom of three.

A recent kid explosion brought her own family an early spring. In barns at Rio Linda farm and at home in Carmichael, all Friedrich’s pregnant does delivered within a week.

“The moms were on course to deliver in March, explains Kath. “Then the big rains came in February. One first-time mom birthed three kids at Rio Linda. Two did not make it; her surviving baby was too weak to feed. I brought mom and baby back to Carmichael and we nursed the little one. Goats are terrific moms but this one seemed to know she’d delivered too early; she accepted human intervention. I milked her; my son and I bottle-fed the baby five times a day. In a week, the pair were fit to return to the farm.”

With the next big onslaught of February rain, Kath anticipated flooding in Rio Linda. She also knew the farm barn would be over-crowded if the remaining babies all came at once. The goatherd decided to evacuate some of the moms.

Their 20-mile drive to Carmichael caused more excitement than anticipated; a flock of healthy babies was birthed overnight. “I could hardly believe my eyes when I discovered them all in the barn in the morning,” she says. “One mom had three little ones. They deliver quietly. Their kids are cleaned, on their feet and feeding within 30 minutes”

Son Nick is overjoyed with the prancing new additions. “Having goats to care for has made our son more confident,” reports his mom. “The babies give him something extra to love. Our goats all take that love willingly.”

CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - A fifth high school project funded by San Juan School District’s Bond Program made a ceremonial start last week. Staff, students and District representatives shoveled mud as construction machinery arrived on a soggy Mira Loma High School campus.  At a cost of $27 million, the school’s new science wing will open in fall of 2020.

Mira Loma already hosts one of the top science programs in Sacramento but with 1800 pupils (all of whom take science) its Edison Avenue campus is overcrowded. Eight science teachers currently wheel equipment on carts between classes. Their new facility will allow large, dedicated rooms and increase education space by 30,000 square feet. State-of-the-art chemistry, physics and earth science rooms will be augmented by an outdoor learning area. “This project validates our programs and belief in being the premier science school in our area,” said Principal Lynne Tracy.

The wing will be built by DPR Construction. A bond measure passed by area voters in 2012 funds its cost; the tax has enabled signature facilities in four other San Juan high schools. These include performing arts centers for Rio Americano and El Camino; a student union facility at Casa Roble and a science wing for Bella Vista.

San Juan District’s “Signature” program will also fund future facilities for Mesa Verde, San Juan, Encina and Del Campo High Schools.

CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - Effie Yeaw Nature Center recently honored top volunteers with an awards luncheon.

Located in Ancil Hoffman park, the non-profit facility lost County funding nine years ago. Its educational mission is now spearheaded by the American River Natural History Association. Center doors stay open with the assistance of supporter donations and 250 nature-loving volunteers.

One of two helpers surpassing 1000-hours of selfless service was 17-year-old Max McGregor from Sacramento. The home-schooled teenager has assisted in animal care for three years and is the youngest of many volunteers to reach the 1000-hour mark. ARNHA board member Dick Laursen (90) also passed the grand milestone. 
 

Located in Ancil Hoffman Park, the Effie Yeaw Nature Center and its 100-acre preserve see many thousands of visitors in all seasons of the year. For information, call (916) 489-4918.

Playmakers Brings Rival Players Together to Serve Underprivileged Kids

SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) – Last October, during the last game of their season, the football teams from local high schools Rio Americano and El Camino forfeited the game due to bad conduct — a bench-clearing brawl that ended the season with a lot of bad blood on both sides.

After hearing about the brawl, Greg Roeszler was inspired to find a way to turn the situation into a positive for both the players and the game itself. Roeszler — or Coach Roz, as he is affectionately called — has a long history with football: he played at Encina High School and at San Diego State University, went on to play for the NFL, and then eventually returned to Encina to coach the varsity football team. Coach Roz now runs a local non-profit, The Playmakers Organization, that coaches character through leadership and provides free programs to underprivileged and at-risk youth. 

Coach Roz saw an opportunity to heal the rift between Rio and El Camino through shared service to the community. He invited El Camino Head Coach JP Dolliver, Rio Head Coach Sam Stroughter, and San Juan Unified School District Athletics Director Ron Barney to join him and Playmaker Director Phil Dubois at a meeting to discuss a unique idea. Coach Roz suggested that the coaches and selected members from each team work together to serve at the upcoming Tim Brown Playmaker 9-1-1 Camp for Kids on April 12.

The Playmakers Organization is bringing retired Oakland Raider and NFL Hall of Fame player Tim Brown to West Sacramento for a free one-day football camp for at-risk and special needs kids. Coach Roz suggested that serving together at the camp could create a sense of camaraderie between rival players. He said, “There are so many good things that will come out of this. … Players being led by the most powerful guys in the community in serving at-risk underprivileged kids — using the greatest game that God put on the face of the earth as the magnet.”

Barney said the District fully supports the teams “doing something positive for the community and at the same time developing positive relationships between the two schools.” Barney explained that a good rivalry motivates the players to perform at their best and is based on mutual respect. He said teams all over the country deal with this type of problem all the time, and he hopes this could be an example of positive change. “This is big. … It takes people to step up to make a difference. … I think we’re on the ground floor of something good here,” said Barney.

The respect between Dolliver and Stroughter was evident. Both coaches agreed that the fight was the result of a few bad apples, and most of the players were out on the field trying to break it up. Stroughter said, “I had kids in the locker room afterward crying because they were seniors and that was their last game, and a handful of people did the wrong thing and ruined their last game.”

Both coaches also expressed frustration with social media, which they believe escalated the rivalry to the point that some of their players were throwing punches on the field. Dolliver said the kids typed things to each other with a screen between them that they never would have said face to face. “These kids are missing out by not treating this rivalry as a positive. … Without Rio, that last game of the season is just another game,” said Dolliver.

Stroughter and Dolliver are both committed to coaching their players on character as well as football. As Coach Roz said, “This is about loving the game more than loving the fight. … We can take this thing and turn it into something that’s good for the game. … We’ve all been in football a long time. Has anyone ever heard of reconciliation like this? ... What if Sacramento has figured out and is implementing how you take a bad rivalry and make it a good rivalry, how you take a bad situation and turn it into a good situation? This could be the model. … We very well could be on to something here beyond just our community.”

If you are interested in learning more about The Playmakers Organization or signing up a youth for the Tim Brown Playmaker 9-1-1 Camp for Kids, visit www.theplaymakers.org.

SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - The Western monarch butterfly population has declined, according to Xerces Society, by 99.4% in fewer than four decades. Angela Laws, Monarch and Pollinator Ecologist at Xerces Society, said that although this species’ numbers have been declining since the 1980s, the “sharp drop in numbers this year is alarming.”

Extinction is a possibility for this iconic brown and orange species. Environment California, Xerces Society, lawmakers, ecologists, and citizens throughout the state are working to preserve the Western monarch.

California Assemblyman Mark Stone (29th District) authored AB-2421, Wildlife Conservation Board: Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Rescue Program, which was approved by Governor Jerry Brown on September 26, 2018.

Stone said that in addition to the butterfly’s iconic status, it is also “an indicator species that is helping us begin to understand the impact we are having on the habitats that monarchs, as well as native bees, beetles, and birds, depend on to survive.”

The Wildlife Conservation Board met in Sacramento on March 7 and approved guidelines for the Monarch and Pollinator Rescue Program. Grant project applications will be announced on the board’s website. Applications will be accepted year round for one of the four annual review periods. Funds may be used for restoration or enhancement of breeding habitat on private or public lands and may be used for seasonal or temporary habitats.

At a presentation at Pietro Talini’s Nursery in January, Laws said that the Thanksgiving count of the

Western monarch showed an 86% drop since the 2017 count. “Several factors come into play,” she said, “and one is the loss of habitat and loss of food.” She is currently working with City of Sacramento District 3 councilmember, Jeff Harris, to plant a butterfly garden at Niños Parkway in South Natomas and encourages others to do the same.

Since the majority of the overwintering land is located on private property, residents and land owners may be the best hope for the species, whose numbers are down to an estimated 200,000 from its high of 10 million in the 1980s.

Native milkweed is necessary for the butterfly’s survival and is being lost due to land development and herbicide use. It can, however, be planted, as Laws and Harris are doing, in gardens and other locations. The milkweed is critical since it is where the butterfly lays its eggs and the caterpillar feeds on the plant so that it can grow and become a monarch.

Native nectar plants are also necessary since they provide the food for the adult monarch. Both plants need to be available in order for the monarch to thrive through its complete lifecycle and during overwintering.

According to Xerces Society, “the Sacramento Valley, Sierra Nevada Foothills, and Coast Range are vital to the survival of the first generation of monarchs produced each spring,” and the group is urging the state to work to protect the butterfly by protecting its habitats from pesticide use, better manage overwintering sites and restore breeding and overwintering habitats.

Other ways that individuals can help are to contribute to citizen science by making and logging observations of the monarch, stop using insecticides and herbicides which not only harm the butterfly, but these can also kill milkweed. Xerces Society and Environment California also encourage people to encourage others to do the same.

 According to Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, increased habitat has helped the Eastern monarch butterfly numbers to rebound, but she said that a single good year is not an indicator of future years and calls for continued protection.

In June, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will make a determination whether to add the monarch to the list of threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. USFWS has been reviewing data since the request was submitted in 2014.

For additional information, visit https://xerces.org/.