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First United Methodist Church Garden Project
With an unemployment rate of 21 percent, food insecurity is very high in California’s Imperial Valley. In fact, one in three of the county’s 150,000 residents don’t know where their next meal will come from and half of the region’s children suffer from food insecurity. Ironically, this lack of regular, healthy nutrition has led to very high rates of obesity among children, because what is most readily available to them is highly-processed and cheap, fast food. With support from Vesper Society, Harding Elementary School started The Garden Project as a collaborative effort of the El Centro Elementary School District and Harding School, First United Methodist Church, El Centro, and the El Centro Rotary Club. Starting in September 2014, the entire Harding Elementary School student body took responsibility for planting, composting, weeding, and watering the garden. Led by Rev. Dr. Ron Griffin from First United Methodist Church and El Centro Rotary, the project is a fantastic collaborative effort by the students and teaches the importance of healthy nutrition. The beauty of this project is that the whole community can become involved. From local farmers to the UC Cooperative Extension, Vesper Society’s support helped plant the seeds of leadership for healthy... Read More
La Clinica de La Raza
Some communities lack the resources, infrastructure, and clout they need to thrive. This can deprive youth and families of basic health and well-being simply because of where they live. So when La Clínica de La Raza recognized the need for a behavioral health program at their Oakley clinic and for a school-based health center at an Oakland middle school, Vesper Society supported the efforts. La Clínica Oakley opened in December 2011, as a 20-hour per week “satellite” health center to serve East Contra Costa County residents who lack access to affordable medical care. With support from Vesper Society, La Clínica Oakley hired its first behavioral health clinician. The clinician provides crisis intervention, assessments, and brief treatment to clients and their families. Patients can receive referrals to community resources, and Spanish-speaking patients can attend group visits for anxiety and depression. Partially as a result of La Clínica Oakley’s extended services, they now operate full time! In East Oakland, many students have a disproportionate risk of community violence exposure and experience multiple stressors, all of which contribute to anxiety, depression, and unhealthy coping behaviors. Forty-four percent of students report violence in their school by grade seven, 28 percent of students report feeling hopeless, and 19 percent report considering suicide in the past year. With support from Vesper Society, La Clínica is expanding its capacity to provide behavioral health services to students in East Oakland at the Havenscourt Health Center (HHC), a school-based health center that serves students at two public middle and high schools. The new services will include assessments, brief treatment, counseling, case management, and group sessions at no cost to students or families. La Clínica de La Raza’s mission is to improve the quality of life of the diverse communities they serve by providing culturally appropriate, high-quality, and accessible... Read More
Oakley Youth Advisory Council
Located 50 miles northeast of San Francisco, Oakley’s landscape of rolling fields, orchards, and vineyards gives us a glimpse into its agricultural past. Settled in 1897, it only recently became an incorporated city in 1999. The city’s vision is to be recognized as a model of civic participation and a vibrant delta community where families live, work, play, shop, and visit. In 2006, the City Council made building community identity for Oakley youth a priority. Vesper Society partnered with the Oakley Recreation Department to facilitate the development of the Oakley Youth Advisory Council (OYAC). OYAC, composed of 21 members representing grades 6-12, was established to advise the City of Oakley on policies that pertain to community youth; form alliances with local organizations, schools, and businesses to help provide constructive activities for youth; and aid youth by assisting in solving problems concerning their interests and find ways to increase student participation within the community. OYAC has become woven into the fabric of the city. Members, along with their friends, volunteer with “You, Me, and We” (a city initiative to integrate newly arrived immigrants), Cityhood Celebration, Heart of Oakley, Harvest Festival, Marsh Creek Coastal Clean Up, Movies in the Plaza, and Dia de Los Muertos. In addition, OYAC helped create award-winning youth programs, “It’s A Girl Thing” and “Boyz Time,” that aided middle school students in preparing for high school and provided insights on navigating difficult issues like social media and bullying. By uplifting and supporting Oakley’s youth population and encouraging community involvement, Vesper Society and OYAC are ensuring the next generation’s leaders have the support they need to make a maximum impact on the community. You can view a video OYAC members made that describes the role they play in the... Read More
Operation Access
A health problem that you cannot afford to treat can become a major obstacle. It can lead to job loss, deterioration of quality of life, emergency situations, and often despair. Operation Access (OA) is committed to helping low-income, uninsured people receive the surgical and specialty care they need but cannot afford; to providing meaningful local volunteer opportunities for medical professionals; and is dedicated to restoring patients’ ability to earn a living, to care for their families, and to enjoy healthy lives. OA brings healing and hope to people in need, and demonstrates that the impulse for doing good work is alive and well in the Bay Area medical community. OA brings together hospitals and medical professionals who provide outpatient surgical, specialty, and diagnostic care free of charge to low-income, uninsured community clinic patients. In conjunction with its work with East Contra Costa County primary care providers, Vesper Society recognized the need for a stronger safety net for area residents, and funded OA’s East Contra Costa program from 2011 through 2014. OA has built strong, integrated partnerships with local community health centers, including La Clínica Oakley, which Vesper Society has also supported. In many instances, OA is the only available resource for surgical and specialty referrals for those patients who cannot obtain insurance or have limited access to county facilities. In 2016, they provided 131 unduplicated East County residents with 177 total surgical procedures and diagnostic services. This Vesper Society project has cultivated a culture of medical volunteerism among individuals and institutions throughout the county. For East Contra Costa County patients, that means a more responsive and effective process that supports them and improves the quality of their lives and the well-being of the... Read More
Project 2
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Partner 1
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