10 Years
Improving the well-being of children, families, and communities for
Issue no. 5
Together Rising
Who we are …………………………………………………………………………..…… 3 *Welcome letter from Samuel Nunez, Executive Director *Our Mission, Vision, and Approach *Board Members 2013
What we do……………………………………………………………………………..… 6 *Elder Program *Family Strengthening Program *Youth Empowerment Program *Year in Review
How we do it……………………………………………………………………………. 18 *Support from Donors and Volunteers
A message from the Executive Director Dear Community Partners, We did it! Another year has passed. As we reflect on the past year and in anticipation of the year to come it is with great pleasure and a profound honor that I write a few words to express our deepest appreciation for the opportunity to serve in the collective work and the impact that FFSJ has had on critical issues affecting our communities. This past year was groundbreaking and FFSJ saw steady growth in support of our mission and our efforts focused on: 1) Creating proactive community voice by training youth organizers & community leaders; 2) shifting paradigms and building personal and social growth through various initiatives; 3) Cultivating cultural identity and multi-racial and intergenerational leadership. All this while working on the frontlines with “at risk� youth and their families and demonstrating exemplary grassroots and community leadership. We accomplished this through the various activities that manifest our mission in the community such as but not limited to the Youth Development Programs with a strong cultural competency in working with Latino, African American and Southeast Asian/Pacific Islander gang involved youth. Our approach to youth includes providing evidence-based cognitive behavioral interventions, parenting classes, and recovery groups. We also have the Family Strengthening Department that provides community based case management and intervention services for adults at risk of continued justice involvement. Our experience this year included partnering with various groups and systems including but not limited to the SJC Probation Department on providing community based reentry case management for probationers served through the Day Reporting Center and the Public Safety Realignment. Additionally the Elders Program is offered daily to seniors in the community as a social and emotional support to our most vulnerable elderly population. Lastly the Building Community Component was realized through events that fostered and strengthened relationships via events such as the Dia De Los Muertos focused on healing from violence, the Father Of the Year Award Ceremony that celebrated Family values and the Giving Thanks, Welcome Home Resource Fair that provided a free tattoo removal clinic to former offenders looking for a clean slate and a new job. These community events proved vital to building community trust and acted as a forum for generating community driven solutions to the issues affecting families, youth and elders. Whew, What a Year!
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All this could not be accomplished without our amazing team of staff, volunteers and partners like you. Our team worked with inspiration, creativity, persistence, and a desire to promote peace, harmony and health each and every day in order to make genuine progress toward well-being while realistically empowering people of oppressed communities across all racial strata. My only hope is that we can continue have the opportunity in 2014 to make meaningful contributions locally, statewide, and nationally to address issues important to all of us and to help provide a platform that will eventually lead to a cessation of the magnitude of the internecine problems impacting our communities. With that we look forward to Rising Together yet again in 2014! Samuel Nunez
Mission To involve and engage fathers to improve the wellbeing of children, families, and communities.
Vision Promote strong and healthy families and communities where children and youth are nurtured and fathers are engaged.
Strategy Addresses critical problems through socially relevant and culturally sensitive services. Fathers & Families develop local leadership while unifying the efforts of existing groups.
Fathers & Families of San Joaquin Leadership Board Members 2013 Samuel Nunez President Heather Pereyda Senior Financial Sales Advisor BBVA Compass Bank Arsenio Mataka Attorney Environmental Protection Agency Jim Walsh Peace & Justice Network of San Joaquin Malinda Nunez MUSD Nutrition Services
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Elder Staff Leticia De Santiago
Elder Coordinator Juan Gutierrez
Program Assistant Patricia Aguilar
Program Assistant
“Aging is not ‘lost youth’ but a new stage of opportunity and strength.” Betty Friedan
2 34 5 7
For only $2, elders in the community are able to receive a free breakfast and lunch. Monthly, an elder can save $40, putting that money into other necessities like medicine, transportation, utilities, and housing. On average, there are 34 elders who drop by the center every day.
At a minimum, there are at least five daily activities elders can participate in at the center. Elders can shoot pool, sing on the karaoke, play dominoes, dance, or socialize with their friends and meet new people.
Hours of Operation 8am - 12 pm Location 336 E. Market St
Strengthening Families Division Staff Vonda Turner Sokha Kaz Andrew Lucero Shannon Lambert
AB 109 Advisory Council Keith B. Lewis Ray Taylor Pete Castro
FFSJ Strengthening Families Division identifies and addresses the barriers preventing individuals in the reentry population from enjoying self-sufficiency, family unity and full integration into the community. To meet those objectives, Strengthening Families has implemented two programs: 1) Mending Families and 2) Project M.E.N.D. (AB109 Realignment) Mending Families program provided supportive services to heal the shattered family relationships resulting from long term incarceration and high recidivism. Mending Families assist in removing obstacles to successful family re-unification by connecting families to community resources and developmental classes provided by FFSJ.
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Program Highlights Assisted 16 families to received assistance through Human Services Agency’s programs (CalWork, Calf FRESH, General Relief Enrolled six children in FFSJ HYPE summer school program Held a Diaper Drive and School Readiness/Back Pack Drive Provided meals to five families during Love Week luncheon
Project M.E.N.D (AB 109 Realignment) is a partnership between Father’s and Families of San Joaquin and San Joaquin County Probation Department. Project M.E.N.D. assist formerly incarcerated probationers to successfully transition from imprisonment into society, to reduce rates of recidivism and to increase public safety. Through a grant from San Joaquin County Probation Department, Project M.E.N.D. Resource Specialists are able to assist probationers with basic needs, job readiness/ job seekingskills, peer group support, financial literacy, parenting skills and mentoring.
Project M.E.N.D 6 Month Snapshot*
Project MEND Classes & Support Services Financial Literacy: In partnership with BBVA of Stockton, CA, Project M.E.N.D. offered the Money Smart Curriculum, teaching individuals in the re-entry population how to open a bank account, build credit, and maintain a personal budget. Participants who completed the Money Smart curriculum were offered $50 to open a BBVA checking account and/or a CD account for the financial well-being of their children. During the past six months, Project MEND staff facilitated 76 Financial Literacy classes. Fatherhood Development: During the past 6 months, Resource Specialist facilitated 31 Fatherhood Development classes. On October 23, 2013 Rose Castellanos, RN, from St. Joseph’s Medical Dignity Health facilitated a class on diabetes at the Fatherhood Development class. On December 11, Child Protective Services hosted a class - providing questions and answers sessions to AB109 mentees, as well as to participants receiving services from Mending Families. Healing Circle: Resource specialist facilitated 31 Healing Circle peer groups, reaching the hearts of those traumatized by childhood abuses and healing the devastating effects of incarceration. Healing Circles allowed mentees to open up and share about the struggles of social reintegration. Mentorship and Peer Group Support: Mentor relationships shift participants away from negative lifestyles through exposure to positive activities and influences. More than a third of Project MEND participants have been matched with a mentor within the past 6 months. Mentors engaged participants in various pro-social activities including Boys & Men of Color meetings and conferences, UC Davis Equity Summit, Rise for Justice Breakfast, campus tours at UC Berkley and UC San Francisco. Participants recovering from alcohol and drug addiction develop bonding relationships with mentors at church or at Alcoholics/Narcotics Anonymous fellowships.
5 Completed Project MEND 15 Making significant progress
7 Graduated the Financial Literacy class
7 Opened up checking accounts
8 Are employed 2 Obtained birth certificates 4 Obtained affordable housing
1 Enrolled at San Joaquin Delta College
4 Have reunited with families
11 *Highlights represent 30 new members from July to December 2013
A Father’s Love Award Ceremony was held on June 15th and was dedicated to honoring family values, while specifically paying tribute to the role of fathers and men our community. Fathers & Families of San Joaquin made a difference in our community by making a difference in children’s lives.
Father of the Year: Mr. Arquimedes Aparicio, Mr. Chad Kou Xiong Mr. James Jones
Stepfather of the Year: Mr. Michael Marino
Single Father of the Year: Mr. Andrew Wagner Jr. Mr. David Ramirez
Grandfather of the Year: Mr. Jesse De La Cruz Mr. Bounhong Phomsopha
It is not flesh and blood, but rather the heart which makes us fathers and sons. – Johann Schiller
New Partnerships Michael G. Santos Foundation: In October, FFSJ established an MOU with Michael G. Santos Foundation to implement Straight A-Guide job training curriculum into Project MEND existing job readiness program. Straight A-Guide curriculum places strong emphasis on character development, shifting the mindset of previously incarcerated individuals away from criminal thinking towards valuing self, family and society. Currently, six mentees have completed four weeks of training and are demonstrating traits of consistency, reliability and accountability. Upon completion of 12 weeks of Straight A Guide training, Michael G. Foundation Straight A-Guide Staffing Co. will hire participants and place them in entry level job positions at Golden State Lumber Company. Inkoff.me Tattoo Removal Services: Almost all of the people served by FFSJ Project MEND sport visible tattoos that stand in the way of obtaining substantial and gainful employment. In many cases, tattoos are gang and hate related and regrettably are visible on the face, neck and arms. As previously incarcerated individuals strive to improve their lives, they become eager to have these permanent reminders of a negative past removed. On November 27, 2013, FFSJ hosted a Welcome Home Resource Fair with a free tattoo removal clinic offered by inkoff.me tattoo removal services. Inkoff.me administered the procedure to 62 people, providing a first step treatment to a total 123 visible tattoos.
“Children are not ‘citizens’ in the making, but instead, social agents who already participate in building strong and democratic communities.” -Silvia Blitzer Golombek, PhD, Vice President of Programs, Youth Service America
During the past year, Fathers & Families worked toward engaging our community to participate in various effots to impact the city of Stockton through violence prevention and increase people’s health and well-being. Our youths, 13-20 years old engage in various activities focused on leadership development. Youths received weekly trainings on leadership skills through particpating in various youth justice coalitions, interacting with local and statewide community leaders and policymakers, participating in participatory action research, and engagng in cultural, healing approach activities. In the 2013, youths particpated in the following local, regional, and statewide coalitions: Boys and Men of Color (BMoC), Stockton Educational Equity Coalition (SEEC), Positive Youth Justice Initiative (PYJI), Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED), Young Adult Civic Engagement (YACE), CA Alliance for Youth and Community Justice (CAYCJ), and Capital Public Radio.
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During our ten-week Youth Empowerment Summer Academy, 16 youth surveyed people in the Stockton Downtown area focused on violence and crime in Stockton. They analyzed the surveys and used their findings to write an article on violence prevention. This article was published in the Joaquin Magazine in the August 2013 by FFSJ Youth Organizers.
When we reflect on the word violence with youth in Stockton, the most common issue they relate to is the prevalence of gangs and the violence they represent. However, there are many variations of violence that many do not recognize or simply don’t address, like domestic violence, child abuse, rape, racism, and bullying. But who ever hears about them? Father’s & Families of San Joaquin, local organization committed to family re-unification, sent four youths into the community, to collect testimonials, and the results seem to point to a repeating pattern showing that most people feel unsafe living in Stockton. Most parents are reluctant to let their children visit friends, go on dates, or walk around the block in fear that they may become involved in negative behavior or become victims/perpetrators or violence. Concerned that our citizens are afraid to become active in their communities, working towards a safe Stockton has become a challenge for social justice workers, community outreach centers, and their affiliates. That challenge is to encourage a community to speak out when its residents can’t feel comfortable outside of their homes. The violent crime rate of Stockton as of 2010 was higher that the state of California as a whole by an enormous 21,344%. In January and February of .
2013, Stockton’s violent crime counted 608 cases; 13 rapes, 404aggravated assaults and 3 homicides. With the lack of community events, outreach centers and entertainment, becoming involved with crime seems inevitable to our youth. Many organizations are fully committed to help the healing of those directly impacted by all types of violence. Still, the existence of these agencies needs to become more prevalent in the community. For example, the Women’s shelter of San Joaquin visits schools across the San Joaquin with lectures and open discussions about abusive relationships, how to identify one, and the support groups they provide for those affected. This gives our youth an idea of how to keep a healthy relationship as well as offer information and support for those who aren’t in one. Other organizations and agencies in the Stockton-San Joaquin area include the San Joaquin Pride Center, Human Services Agency (HSA) of San Joaquin, Podesto Teen Impact Center, Brave Society (AntiBullying), Child Abuse Prevention Council, California Advocates for Nursing Home, LRS, Victim Assistance Center, Protective Services (Adult and Child), Safe At Home (confidential address program), Atlanta Teens (support groups for teens with alcoholic family, friends, etc.), and many more. All of these organizations continue to impact and bring change to those in our community who are affected by violence. Some of us haven’t really given much thought to how deeply rooted violence is in society today; or we have, and as a result we begin to lose hope and accept violence as prevalent part of our lives. We need to raise our community out of the shadows; those ominous clouds that suffocate the light we create when we fight against injustice. Let’s focus on our youth, the elders, and the community in order to create inter-generational healing.
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Community Events RISE/Foster Youth Our Youth Program began to build a positive relationship with local foster youth. On September 11, 2013, we held our Rising from Individual Struggles through Empowerment (RISE) with 80 foster youth of San Joaquin County. This event was to empower, motivate, and inspire the youth. Sacramento Area Youth Speaks (SAYS) gave an interactive workshop that sparked the young people’s thinking on their community and resulted in a spoken word portion where they had the opportunity to share words about their community and lived experiences. Haunted House The haunted house was spooky! FFSJ youth and staff invested several hours in one month to create the haunted house. On Halloween Day, our youth created gift bags of small toys for the children who came. There were a lot of volunteers that came through to help out. We had 120 people attend our haunted house. We were able to raise a total of $141 for our Youth Programs. Dia de los Muertos Fathers and Families of San Joaquin has celebrated Dia de los Muertos for the past three years and we are happy to say every year has been a success. Our Youth Program, Family Strengthening Department and Elder’s Group joined in and planned this beautiful, cultural event. Families came together and shared their stories to the community about their loved ones who have passed away. The event started with a blessing at San Joaquin Catholic Cemetery then a silent candlelight vigil to Oak Park where we created a community altar. We had a fire pit for dedications, and circled with those who joined our celebration as several people shared the names and memories of their loved ones. We also provided free food. A total of 120 people came for the celebration and we at Fathers & families of San Joaquin are thankful that we were able to provide our community with a healthy way of healing and remembering loved ones while also promoting an end to violence. Women’s Event The Women’s Empowerment Event was hosted and organized by two of the young ladies that were in our core youth team. This event gave gender specific knowledge and education, and held vendors for women’s products. The event also had a time of teachings and piñata therapy for women to reflect on past trauma and incidents from violence and was a way to overcome these challenges and moving on from that trauma.
Boys and Men of Color Summit
In April 2013, Fathers & Families of San Joaquin hosted the Third Annual Boys and Men of Color (BMOC) summit. On the first day of the summit, our center hosted around 100 local and statewide policy makers and system leaders for conversations around the statistics of boys and men of color and the areas in their lives where we as a community must support them. The second day, the summit took place at the University of the Pacific. This summit was an all day event for young people in Stockton. The Stockton Unified School District invited and brought 250 youth from all the different schools in Stockton including Stagg High School, Cesar E. Chavez High School, Franklin High School, Edison High School, and the Juvenile Hall Camp Peterson. Participants that attended the summit engaged in ceremonial enriching activities and cultural teachings and then transitioned the conversation to panelists that have dealt with community violence pertaining to boys and men of color and their own experiences. The panel was followed by the youth’s questions to the panelists to receive more in-depth conversations. Afterwards, the youth were able to speak about their own experiences. The day ended with African drummers telling stories that have teachings entrenched in all of their tales.
Thank You Fathers & Families is deeply grateful for our generous supporters. The following supported gave to Fathers & Families between January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2013.
ACLU Adrianna Mendoza Adult School Ahmed Salim Anacani Rocha Angelina's Spaghetti House ARC Freedom Program Assemblymember Susan Eggman Balloongay BBVA Brandie Spencer Building Futures Academy/YouthBuild California Rural legal Assistance, Inc Cancun Mexican Restaurant Capital Public Radio, Inc Caryn Romero CDCR Vacaville State Prison Medical Center Center for Collaborative Research for an Equitable California Child Abuse Prevention Council Children and Youth Mental Health Services Chris Bridges Coalition of Mexican American Organizations
Community Partnerships for Families Computer Link Costco (Hammer Lane) Councilmember Michael Tubbs Cuff Dorothy L Jones Center Cynthia Pabustan Diede Construction, Inc Dupree Nemie El Concilio Family Resources and Referral Center of San Joaquin Fresno Barrios Unidos Friends Outside Galesplay Gospel Rescue Mission Haylee Hayes Head Start Health Net of CA Health Plan of San Joaquin Hector Lara Human Service Agency Humphreys College Inkoff.me
Inner City Action Church Jesse Garcia John Solis Johnny Orlando Kings of Cuts and Apparel La Perla La Tapatia La Victoria Lao Family Community Empowerment, Inc Latino Community foundation Leslie Reece Lillian Chen Linda Mora Manuel Nunez Masonic Lodge Mayor Anthony Silva Mens Warehouse Merced Organizing Project MILPA Nena's Mexican Restaurant Paul Takkar People and Congregations Together, San Joaquin County Tepa Taqueria The Bilingual Front of indigenous Organizations The California Wellness Foundation The Mexican Heritage Center Tides Foundations
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PHS/CHDP Robert Galindo Robert Johnson Roxana Asencio Ruben Orosco San Joaquin Co. BHS – Prevention Services San Joaquin County Office of Education San Joaquin County Superior Court Family Law Division San Joaquin County WorkNet San Joaquin Data Council San Joaquin Probation Department San Joaquin Probation Department Senator Cathleen Galgiani Sierra Health Foundation Silvino Avila Sow a Seed Community Foundation St. Mary's Interfaith Dining Hall Starbucks Steve Lopez Steve Moore Stockton Unified School District Teen Impact Center UC Davis Center for Regional Change United Way University of the Pacific Valley Sober Living Victor Community Services
With Our Words Yi-Po Anthony Wu YMCA of San Joaquin Please celebrate Fathers & Families of San Joaquin by making a financial contribution. Our goal is to raise $25,000 by June 30, 2014. Please consider one of the following levels of sponsorship:
$1-$49 Community Leader $50-$99 Justice Seeker $100-$249+ Equity Advocate Other amount _____________
Please make check out to: Fathers & Families of San Joaquin Our mailing address is: Fathers & Families of San Joaquin P.O. Box 30674 Stockton, CA 95213