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New career pathway program helps CA students with disabilities

by Suzanne Potter

A recently launched program is designed to help California high school and community college students with disabilities identify their career interests, develop work-ready skills, and land paid experiences with local employers.

Career Launchpad – from workforce development organization Institute for Workplace Skills and Innovation (IWSI America) and the California Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) – is currently available to young people ages 16 to 21 in southern California in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Inyo counties.

“We want to develop an individual service plan (ISP) for each student. All the time we’re working with them, we have an eye to helping them build a resume. We ask them to think about characteristics of self-attributes,” explains Deborah Williamson, vice president of operations, IWSI America.

“‘Are you a team player? Are you responsible?’ They’ll come up with a long list about themselves. We’ll ask things like, ‘What subjects do you gravitate to in school? What do you excel in?'”

Williamson continues, “We ask them to link what they’re doing in school with how that’s going to impact a career goal. We ask them to visualize their work life in the future. ‘Where do you see yourself working? What kind of work context?’ There’s a lot of dialogue about what they see themselves doing.”

Career Exploration and Real-World Experiences

The DOR offers five student services including job exploration counseling, paid work-based learning experiences, information about postsecondary education options, workplace readiness training, and self-advocacy training, notes Carol Asch, assistant deputy director for the Vocational Rehabilitation Employment Division with the California DOR.

 

“We wanted to take advantage of IWSI’s relationships with employers and their experience with apprenticeships,” says Asch.

She explains, “With Career Launchpad, before [students] can start to receive services, they need to be registered with the DOR. We can start if they have an IEP (individualized education program) or a 504 Plan with their school, or if they have a disability or a documented disability, then we can start working with them and authorize the services on an individual basis.”

Williamson adds, “They have to be in school. If they graduated from high school, they should be moving towards their first year in college – even if they are on a break.”

Currently there are about 40 students participating in Career Launchpad with another 26 authorizations moving through the pipeline, notes Williamson.

During the initial 90 days, students participate in online sessions and industry-focused workshops. There is also focus on increasing the students’ understanding of social and interpersonal skills before they move onto 300 hours of paid service at a workplace.

Based on coaching sessions, career counselors are recommending two or three career options that students might like to explore.

With Career Launchpad just getting underway in early June, no students have yet been placed in real-world workplaces, but the 16 areas of career focus include health care, manufacturing, construction, hospitality, and agriculture.

Partnership is Key

Career Launchpad stakeholders include parents, guardians, local school, district and postsecondary education partners, local and regional employers, community organizations, and industry groups. Says Williamson, “Key to Career Launchpad is a partnership from Day One.”

She continues, “We could not, without the partnerships, be able to pull that off without the DOR, without the local businesses, without community college providers, without wraparound service providers. It just wouldn’t fly. It really is a true team effort.”

Williamson says the early participants are motivated, “Students are pounding on our website asking, ‘Hey, when can I have my ISP plan? I’m really excited about what you said about me.’ And we’re like, ‘Well, you said it about yourself.’ So the banter of dialogue is really good.”
She notes parents are also very excited about their children’s prospects. “The feedback that we’re getting realistically has been quite positive, quite encouraging to move ahead, that this is important. Parents have said to us, ‘We had no idea. We didn’t know what we were going to do about the employment factor given our situation. This is phenomenal.'”

Laura Aka wrote this article for WorkingNation.

La Llorona 2023 has already started the season on the Xochimilco channels, it turns 30!

Shared/by México Desconocido

La Llorona 2023 has already started its season of presentations on the Xochimilco channels, the premiere took place last Wednesday, Oct. 4. However, the functions open to the public will take place from Oct. 6 to Sunday, Nov. 19.

It should be noted that this work, already traditional in the Day of the Dead celebrations, celebrates 30 years of embodying one of the iconic legends of Mexican culture, which is why it included innovations, cultural precisions and technical improvements, which will make it worth contemplating. an unforgettable experience.

The premiere of this night show, which this year takes on the name “Chokani”, which refers to “La Llorona” in Nahuatl, was attended by the Secretary of Tourism of Mexico City, Nathalie Desplas Puel, who highlighted that this staging It is unique in the world, as it combines legend with various artistic disciplines, while spreading the natural heritage of this area of Xochimilco.

Among the cultural details, there is precisely a greater attachment to the pre-Hispanic origins of the legend, which transmigrated and took on new cultural attire, depending on the region and time of Mexico in which it was transmitted.

“La Llorona 2023 (Chokani), with 30 years of celebrating and disseminating the wonderful culture and tradition of Xochimilco, its mythical channels, is a fusion of art, theater, dance and music, which makes this staging unique in the world,” the capital official said about it.

La Llorona 2023, when and how to see it? Schedules

According to the head of the Tourism Secretariat of Mexico City, the second half of the year represents the most productive period for the tourism industry, which is why events like La Llorona are essential for the offer of travelers, who seek in Mexico the most authentic of its culture. Regarding the work, she described it as “a trip to the past in the unreal place of Xochimilco, where the legend comes to life through music that fuses modern instruments with pre-Hispanic ones.”

With a duration of 150 minutes, the play “La Llorona” takes place on a stage set up on a chinampa, in the middle of the Tlílac Lagoon; To arrive, the public must board a trajinera at the Cuemanco Embarcadero and remain there during the performance. The show ticket includes the trajinera ride.

The darkness over the Cuemanco canals, in Xochimilco, contributes to generating an atmosphere of mystery and expectation before the staging begins, which goes back to the final stage of the confrontation between the Mexica and the Spanish. The scenery includes an illuminated pyramid of various colors, the actors who personify warriors and other invaders, and in the dialogues, the reason for the lament of a mother who has lost her children.

The 2023 Season of “La Llorona 2023”, in Xochimilco, consists of a total of 36 performances from Oct. 6 to Nov. 19, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, in addition to Tuesday, Oct. 31, and Wednesdays, Nov., starting at 7 p.m.

Bukele announces the deployment of 4,000 troops and promises to “capture every last remaining terrorist”

by El Reportero wire services

Salvadoran authorities established fences in three communities in the nation, given the growing number of complaints of criminal activity in those areas

The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, announced early this Wednesday the deployment of 3,500 Army soldiers and 500 police officers to establish fences in three communities in the nation, within the framework of the Government’s fight against gangs.

The measure, which is implemented in execution of the ‘Extraction’ phase of the Territorial Control Plan (PCT), concerns the Valle Verde and Popotlán colonies in the municipality of Apopa, as well as La Campanera, in the municipality of Soyapango.

“We are not going to stop until we capture the last remaining terrorist. We will not allow small remnants to regroup and take away the peace that has cost us so much,” Bukele wrote on his X account, attaching a video with the deployment of the teams. of security.

For his part, the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Gustavo Villatoro, stated in a press conference that the fences were established after a “call from the population”, which warned that criminal groups are still active in the area. “This fence will be maintained in the face of a growing number of complaints about gang members who continue to operate in that sector,” said Villatoro, quoted by the local press.

Meanwhile, the National Civil Police (PNC) detailed in a series of publications that its agents have intensified the verification of the legality of housing and car documents, along with other measures.

For his part, the head of Justice reported that the Security Cabinet presented this same day, before the country’s Legislative Assembly, a request to once again extend the emergency regime, which has been in force since March 2022.

Javier Milei accuses Kirchnerism of trying to “outlaw the most voted force” in the primaries

The candidate for president of Argentina for La Libertad Avanza rejected the Government’s complaints against him for promoting a bank run

The Argentine presidential candidate Javier Milei, for La Libertad Avanza (LLA), assured this Wednesday that the Government is trying to “outlaw” the far-right party, after President Alberto Fernández denounced it for, allegedly, generating a bank run that increased the price of the parallel dollar abruptly.

“Kirchnerism is trying to dirty the electoral process or even ban the political force that obtained the most votes in the primary elections (PASO), because they know that we are about to win in October and end their Government of criminals forever,” he stated. the economist at a press conference.

Milei thus responded to the accusations that, from both the ruling party and the opposition, hold him responsible for the notable jump in the price of the ‘blue’ dollar, which is traded outside banking channels. This Wednesday, the informal currency reached 1,010 pesos, a fact that worries him considering that its value impacts the real economy and the level of inflation.

“I tell President Fernández, Vice President [Cristina] Kirchner and the acting president (sic), the Minister of Economy [Sergio] Massa, that nothing will be able to prevent the beating that we are going to give them at the polls,” Milei predicted in response to the Peronist Government’s complaint for “public intimidation.”

What is Milei accused of?

The controversy began on Monday, when Milei declared in a radio interview that “the peso is the currency issued by the Argentine politician,” so “it cannot be worth anything.” “That garbage isn’t even good for compost,” she continued.

Additionally, he advised the population that has savings in fixed-term deposits to wait for maturity and immediately buy dollars, in the interest of the foreign currency appreciating due to the increase in demand.

“Telling Argentines to stay in pesos is condemning them to the most absolute poverty,” the candidate reiterated this Wednesday before a group of journalists.

After his statements, multiple sectors accused Milei of encouraging hyperinflation to win the presidential elections in the first round.

In the complaint presented by President Alberto Fernández it is admitted that the exchange instability originates from a set of factors, although the “decisive” effect of Milei’s incendiary statements on the rise of the national currency is highlighted, since the scenario of high economic uncertainty added the weight of his word as a candidate who leads in the polls for the first round of the elections scheduled for October 22.

Among his electoral proposals, Milei promotes the dollarization of the Argentine monetary system, a measure that both the ruling party and the rest of the opposition candidates reject as inconvenient, and, furthermore, impossible to put into practice due to the shortage of foreign currency.

CA governor signs law boosting minimum wage for fast-food workers. Is $20 enough?

Yolanda Santiago, empleada de Burger King, grita “¡Si Se Pudo!” o “¡Sí, podríamos!”, con compañeros de trabajo antes de que el gobernador Gavin Newsom firme una legislación que apoya los derechos de los trabajadores de comida rápida y aumenta los salarios a $20 la hora durante una conferencia de prensa en SEIU Local 721 en Los Ángeles el 28 de septiembre de 2023. Foto de Alisha Jucevic para CalMatters

More than half a million fast food workers, mostly minorities and women, will earn higher minimum wage because Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a fast food bill Thursday. But some say that’s not a living wage

by Alejandra Reyes-Velarde

Earning $17 an hour at a Los Angeles Jack-in-the-Box, Anneisha Williams has struggled for years to keep up with rent and bills. The Inglewood native is facing eviction, she said.

She teared up describing how Assembly Bill 1228, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in Los Angeles on Thursday, will affect her life by raising her hourly minimum wage to $20 in April. 

More than half a million fast food workers will get the wage increase, most of them minorities and women, Newsom said during the signing event.

Williiams said she hopes it’ll allow her to save some money and maybe take her six children to Disneyland someday.

But not all fast food workers are as hopeful about the financial impact of the new law on their lives. Some workers said the wage hike will allow them to keep up with basic bills and rent, but no more than that.

“It’s a relief, yes, but our fight continues,” said Laura Pozos, who works in an East L.A. McDonald’s.

The average hourly wage for fast food workers in California last year was $16.21, according to a report by the Harvard Kennedy School and UC San Francisco.

The new law would raise base wages for so-called quick-serve restaurants with 60 locations or more to at least $20 an hour and create a restaurant industry council that would set future pay raises and advise on working conditions.

Minimum wage deal

The law is the product of compromise. Restaurateurs agreed to withdraw a proposed November 2024 ballot measure that would have undone a just approved, landmark law creating a fast food industry council.

In exchange, labor advocates withdrew a proposed bill that would have linked the legal liability of franchisees’ labor violations to the franchisor corporations.

Newsom said negotiating to get the restaurant industry referendum off the ballot was like moving “a tectonic plate.”

“I can assure you, this wasn’t easy,” Newsom said. “It was a profoundly consequential prospect. Tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars, would have been spent on that ballot to roll back the progress that the Assembly members had made.”

The law establishes a state-run council for five years, with business and worker representatives and a member of the public. They will set wage standards and advise on work conditions, scheduling, and health and safety standards in fast food restaurants, which labor organizers have mostly failed to unionize.

The state’s labor and commerce staff can sit in but cannot vote.

Restaurant industry officials said the newly signed law is the best outcome possible. The industry had been preparing to spend $120 million on the referendum.

Matt Haller, president of the International Franchise Association, said in a statement  the new law “preserves the franchise business model.”

“Common sense has prevailed, as franchising is responsible for creating opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people to become small business owners, and this agreement eliminates the existential threats our members faced,” he said.

Working for change

Assemblymember Chris Holden, a Democrat from Pasadena who authored the original and compromise legislation, thanked franchise owners for their willingness to negotiate a deal and the workers who advocated for the law.

“I saw firsthand all of you who gave your blood, sweat and tears,” he said. “To see so many of you today who were there through the process, knocking on members’ doors, sleeping out on Capitol Park, walking out in the morning with bells and whistles to make sure all of us were paying attention. I say, to God be the glory.”

Some workers said they were proud their hard work finally paid off.

“Little old me, Anneisha Williams, mother of six, never thought I could move mountains with the help and support of so many people,” Williams said. “There were so many people against us that told us ‘No.’ They sent these people out there with this referendum and told us ‘No.’ But guess what? We told them ‘Yes we can.’”

While the wage increase was welcome, some workers said they were more excited about getting a seat at the table with the fast food council, even though the deal pared back some of the council’s power. Now the fast food council has authority over minimum wage increases, but it has an advisory role over other issues.

A living wage?

Pozos, the McDonald’s worker, said that $20 an hour is still not enough to thrive — it won’t even help her save money — but the legislation was about winning against multi-million-dollar corporations like her employer.

Pozos lives with her husband, a teenager and an adult daughter with special needs.  The family struggles to pay the $3,600 rent, she said.

“This is going to help me to be able to pay the bills with my husband, to have more groceries for my daughters and, more than anything, it’s an important accomplishment since we’ve been going out on strikes, going door to door to talk to legislators, visiting Sacramento for this law to be passed,” she said. But “my life will continue as normal.”

In general, $20 an hour is not considered a living wage in California. For a working couple with one child, that would be $23.81 an hour and for a single adult with no children, it would be $21.24, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage calculator.

Pozos said she still hopes her workplace, and the fast food industry in general, will one day be unionized, so workers gain power over schedules and working conditions and can fight workplace retaliation and wage theft.

Pozos added she is worried that the wage increase will motivate employers to reduce workers’ hours.

Living free

After Newsom signed the bill, Pozos celebrated with her friend Angelica Hernandez and other workers as a mariachi band played at the Service Employees International Union Local 721 office in downtown Los Angeles.

Hernandez said she was “super happy, super proud” to have supported the legislation. A fast food worker in Monterey Park, Hernandez said she has worked for McDonald’s for 19 years, earned minimum wage at times, and struggled to stay housed.

“I’ve lived with my children and husband in a car or a cheap hotel that had cockroaches,” she said. “Sometimes I didn’t have enough to feed my children. Honestly, it’s so sad to go through that, to be in a country that is rich in everything and to go through that.”

Hernandez said a raise from her current $18.18 hourly to $20 won’t be life-changing, but it’ll allow her to buy a candy bar while grocery shopping without overdrawing her account.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to save with this, but I’ll be able to live more freely,” she said.

– Alejandra Reyes-Velarde is a California Divide reporter writing about inequality in Los Angeles. She previously covered breaking news, the pandemic and Latino communities for the Los Angeles Times. She earned her bachelor’s degree from UCLA and is pursuing a master’s degree in legal studies at the university’s law school.

Play “My husband’s horns” presented at the Teatro Nahual, with participation of Blanca Salguero (previously know as Blanca Nieto)

After the successful performance of the actors in the play “Los Cuernos de mi Husband” on Saturday, October 14, 2013. Center for the Performing Arts in Mountain View, California.

by Magdy Zara

With a talented cast, the Teatro Nahual premiered the play “The Horns of My Husband” by the famous French writer Moliere (1668), who with fine humor presents a social critique, where money is more important than morality and dignity: human.

The staging, which includes live music, is directed by Verónica Meza, founder of Teatro Nahual. The play will be staged by renowned actors: Abraham Mijangos, Umbelina Martínez, Luis Nicolás, Victoria Valencia, Alberto Arias, John Cabrera, Grace Grullón and the Guatemalan actress Blanca Salguero (previously known as Blanca Nieto), who is remembered for her performance in the play La Malinche and for having participated in many plays and several Mexican films among other performances.

Guatemalan actress Blanca Salguero (previously known as Blanca Nieto.)

The Nahual theater has been founded for 20 years and is the only Spanish-speaking theater in San Francisco, and for this occasion it will present this play, a theatrical adaptation in which “Jorge,” a rich peasant, seeks to raise his social status by marrying the beautiful daughter of Messrs. Sostenes de Varilla, economically ruined bourgeois, who despite their poverty refuse to accept their new reality. They pretend to belong to the high society of the town in which they live, and they despise their son-in-law Jorge for his humble origins and for not being on par with his daughter Angelica.

The play focuses on Jorge, who admits to being a cuckold, but his own wisdom does not help him to unmask his wife who cunningly reverses any evidence of infidelity against Jorge Dandín.

The premiere took place on Saturday, Oct. 14, at the Center for the Performing Arts, Second Stage, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View, CA 94041.

Tickets: mvcpa.com or by calling 650 903 6000

Functions at MACLA, 501 South First Street, San Jose, CA 95113:

Saturday, October 21 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, October 22 at 2:00 p.m.

Saturday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m.

Ticket sales at the theater door. Reserve your ticket in advance: www.teatronahual.org

Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts in Mountain View.

Visions of Guadalupe: Image and Sound

As a tribute to Chicana artist Yolanda López, the Voces de Silicon Valley choir will present Visions of Guadalupe: Image and Sound, to highlight the artistic achievements and lifelong activism of said artist.

The performance will include the world premiere of a new original five-part composition for instruments and voices by artistic director Dr. Cyril Deaconoff, which has been titled Visions of Guadalupe.

The piece is inspired by the words of a beautiful 17th-century poem by the Mexican writer, composer and visionary Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, whose work was surprisingly brave for the time, affirming women’s rights and gender equality. Aiming to reflect on the connections between music, art and images, the program will also include short pieces by well-known composers Kaija Saariaho, Pamela Z and Flannery Cunningham.

The presentation of Visiones de Guadalupe will take place on Sunday, Oct. 22, at the Mission Cultural Center for Latina Arts in San Francisco, tickets start at $15.

Momotombo SF presents itself in Sausalito Seahorse

To spend a different night, full of good music, Sausalito Seahorse presents Momotombo SF, a group that is made up of former members of the Malo and Santana bands.

Momotombo SF is renowned for its exciting interplay of Latin jazz and rock, driven by Latin rhythms and Afro-Cuban rhythms, creating a powerful and authentic Latin rock sound straight from the adventurous and psychedelic days of Winterland and The Fillmore.

The presentation will be this Saturday, Oct. 21, starting at 8 p.m., general admission costs $25, to purchase tickets through https://sausalitoseahorse.ticketleap.com/momotombo-sf

Works by Latin artists accompany the SF Symphony Orchestra

Mexican artists Liz Hernández (painter and sculptor) and Fernando Escartiz (sculptor) will present their works during the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra concert.

For the months of October and November, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestras, together with the San Francisco Symphony Choir, have scheduled a series of concerts called The Planets and The Illuminations.

Elim Chan, chief conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, conducts the San Francisco Symphony in Benjamin Britten’s Les Illuminations, featuring tenor Andrew Staples in his Orchestral Series debut. The work features texts from Arthur Rimbaud’s poetry collection of the same name and is a rare foray into the French language for a composer celebrated for his contributions to English music.

The program includes an exhibition of paintings by Modest Mussorgsky, in homage to the artwork of Viktor Hartmann. Each of the ten movements is based on a different work by Hartmann. Inspired by images from an exhibition, newly commissioned artworks by Bay Area artists Liz Hernández and Fernando Escartiz (both Mexican) will be displayed in the lobby of Davies Symphony Hall and on screen during the concert. Before the presentation of the piece, a short video will be shown that will include an interview with the artists about how they found inspiration in paintings in an exhibition.

On Thursday, Oct. 26 at 6:30 p.m., attendees can arrive early for a space-themed pre-concert discussion with special guest Bing Quock, deputy director of the California Academy of Sciences’ Morrison Planetarium, which will be held on stage at Davies Symphony Hall. one hour before the concert. (Free for all concert ticket holders).

An open rehearsal will take place on Thursday, Oct. 26 at 10 a.m., while performances on Oct. 26, 27 and 28 will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets for concerts at Davies Symphony Hall can be purchased through sfsymphony.org or by calling the San Francisco Symphony Box Office at 415.864.6000.

Davies Symphony Hall is located at 201 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco.

Celebrate “The Day of the Four and the Troubadour”

by Magdy Zara

The Puerto Rican Club of San Francisco holds its annual celebration of jíbara music: “El Día del Cuatro y la Trovadora”, this year honoring the divine feminine legacy of Puerto Rican musical heritage.

For this year they present two outstanding artists brought directly from Puerto Rico, such as: Fabiola Méndez and Rosaura Batista.

The concert will feature Fabiola Méndez, playing the cuatro, a small Puerto Rican guitar, the national instrument of Puerto Rico.

The event will also showcase the freestyle skills of troubadour Rosaura Batista, a lyricist specializing in the musical traditions of the Puerto Rican countryside.

The evening will include a performance by wonderful local talent, such as: La Mixta Criolla, a dynamic band from the Bay Area, with deep roots in the musical traditions of Puerto Rico.

The event begins at 2 p.m., with the presentation of La Mixta Criolla, on November 12, at the Puerto Rican Club of San Francisco, located at 3249 – A Mission Street. Tickets are $20 to $30.

The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra begins the Christmas season

The San Francisco Symphony’s 2023 holiday season begins Nov. 30 and concludes Dec. 23, featuring a variety of holiday programs, including traditional Christmas classical music performances, family events, and film screenings with Christmas themes and a star-studded party.

The foyers of Davies Symphony Hall are transformed into a Christmas wonderland, with towering trees decorated with ornaments handmade by children and volunteers from local schools and non-profit community organizations, while talented performers will shine on its stages.

Some of the special guest artists will be: vocalists Oleta Adams, Peabo Bryson, Jennifer Holliday and Ruben Studdard on The Colors of Christmas; Mariachi Sol de México® by José Hernández in A Merry-Achi Christmas; Vertigo Company at the Nutcracker Circus; and Peaches Christ, Rory Davies, Bianca Del Rio, Renée Lubin, Dylan Mulvaney, Edwin Outwater, Michael Phillis, Nikola Printz, Sister Roma of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, among others.

Family-friendly performances include the Symphony’s annual Deck the Hall celebrations, Cirque Nutcracker, Peter and the Wolf performed by the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra with guest narrator Tom Kenny, the holiday films The Nightmare Before Christmas and Home Alone, and A Charlie Brown Christmas—Live.

The SF Symphony accompanies three iconic Christmas movies live: The Nightmare Before Christmas, Love Actually and Home Alone.

Conductor Jonathan Cohen leads the SF Symphony, chorus, and vocal soloists in the return of George Frideric Handel’s popular Holiday Brass program Messiah and Symphony.

The Feast of the Last Supper will be this November 15

The Last Supper Party returns this November with the masterful participation of four renowned artists, who between poetry and music will be giving their opinion on various topics.

The Feast of the Last Supper is a series of presentations featuring the voices of various artists and writers who denounce the countless injustices and impacts of corruption, unbridled power and greed.

Event organizers invite audiences to share ideas and bread and find inspiration in the thoughts and words of artists whose perspectives are drawn from a kaleidoscope of cultures. But they are united by compassion and a common desire to seek justice, equity and truth.

The artists present in this edition are:

Shizue Seigel; who is a writer, performer, educator and activist. Her work explores complex intersections of history, culture, and spirituality through prose, poetry, and visual art.

Tureeda Mikel: (also known as Ture Ade’ or Story Medicine Woman), is an award-winning poet with her work published in four languages. Tureeda has also been known as a holism activist.

Cadence Myles – An Oakland-based multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter, Cadence Myles was born to make music. She combines the styles and influences of Alicia Keys, Michael Jackson, Jill Scott, 311, Prince and Usher and channels them into one human being.

Kimi Sugioka: is a poet, composer and educator. She is the current Poet Laureate of the City of Alameda, a position that includes creating platforms for the presentation of a diverse variety of poets and spoken word artists. Kimi also performs her own work frequently throughout the Bay Area.

Fe Bongolan: (Creator of the painting The Last Supper) is a visual and performing artist from the Bay Area. She is an alumna of San Francisco State University with a bachelor’s degree in Craft and Design. She found theater arts her senior year at SFSU and to this day it consumes her life.

The Feast of the Last Supper will take place next Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m., at 3036 24th St, San Francsico.

El Cerrito presents “Neighborhood World Music Sessions”

Since last October 25, El Cerrito presents the “Neighborhood World Music Sessions”, an inspiring series of live music, which will take place every Wednesday until the end of the year, completely free, presenting this Nov. 15 to Melissa Cruz and Madness Trio.

Javier Navarrette Music Production, is proud to co-produce “The Annex Sessions”, with Amer Burdyer (SunJams Foundation for Music in Schools), José Ruiz (DJ) and The El Cerrito Grocery Annex.

For the third year in a row, Navarrete brings world-class musicians from the Bay Area to perform free shows for the community.

As Javier Navarrete may recall, he is a Bay Area-based percussionist/educator who has dedicated himself to the study and performance of music, specializing in Afro-Caribbean rhythms. He has studied in Cuba with musicians from the National Folkloric of Cuba and has had the opportunity to play with greats such as Aretha Franklin, Poncho Sanchez, Los Van Van, The “Conga Kings”: Francisco Aguabella, Carlos “Patáto” Valdez, Armando Peraza, among others.

The shows will be at El Annex in El Cerrito, every Wednesday in 2023, starting at 6 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. At the Natural El Cerrito Grocery company. For this Nov. 15, Melissa Cruz and Locura Trio will perform

New deadline looms as student loan payments restart

by Suzanne Potter

California News Service

Oct. 4, 2023 – Federal student loan payments resume this month after a three-year pause, but people in public service have until the end of the year to benefit from recent repayment reforms.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program will forgive the remainder of your federal student loan after you have worked for a public agency or certain nonprofits for 10 years and made 120 payments.

Jessica Saint-Paul, a physician assistant, public health educator and member of the American Federation of Teachers Local 1521, helps run student loan clinics for her union.

“They can come back and apply for Public Service Loan Forgiveness,” Saint-Paul explained. “And consolidate their loans to get into an income-driven repayment plan all on the same website: StudentAid.gov.”

During the Trump administration, the Department of Education rejected 98% of Public Service Loan Forgiveness applications. The American Federation of Teachers sued, and now the agency has to review every single application filed since 2007.

Reforms under the Biden administration mean people can get credit for the years they have already worked since October 2007, even if their loan was in forbearance and they had stopped making payments. Some of the most favorable terms expire Dec. 31.

Saint-Paul attended an American Federation of Teachers student debt clinic in 2018 and discovered she had the wrong repayment plan and faced the reset of her loan payment count to zero. She joined a class-action lawsuit against loan servicer Navient, which forced major changes to the industry. She noted once the feds finally forgave her loans, it gave her the financial freedom to secure her retirement and focus on getting married and starting a family.

“This allows freedom, for you to be able to live your life,” Saint-Paul contended. “You’re doing the work for the community, I can still do that and not have to worry about a $1,200 a month payment for the next 25 years. This has changed my life tremendously.”

American Federation of Teachers Local 1521 members have achieved more than $4 million of student loan forgiveness through Public Service Loan Forgiveness since March of last year.

 

Advocates for Hispanic community sponsor free financial literacy training

Free financial literacy training is now available in low-income neighborhoods in Los Angeles, hosted by two nonprofits: The Hispanic Access Foundation and Thrivent Financial Services.

The classes partner with Latino churches and come with a meal and child care, to make them as accessible as possible.

Christine Tamara, director of partnership engagement for the Hispanic Access Foundation, said 95% of participants said they have never had any kind of financial education.

“The Latino community works really hard,” Tamara pointed out. “We’re really trying to train them to make their money work for them. We’re really wanting to educate the community on the importance of financial literacy and planning, having a budget and investing.”

A report from the Latino Community Foundation found Latinos in California have $92 billion in spending power. The classes are called “Prepare for a Better Future,” and the next class is tomorrow night in South Los Angeles.

Tamara explained financial counselors help people use a tool on the Social Security website to predict what their benefits will be, come retirement age.

“We encourage them to put in their information and go to the government’s website,” Tamara noted. “So they kind of have an idea right now, if they were to retire, or at a certain age, what would be their Social Security check. And a lot of them are really shocked.”

The idea is to help people list out their sources of income and what they’re spending and then determine which things are a “need” and which are a “want.” Students are shown estimates that find if a person invests $50 a month in stocks, assuming a 10% return, in 40 years it would add up to almost $280,000.

Crime and manipulation of society

I was once told that there was an agenda to destroy everyday life, culture, and history, and especially what is called the middle class.
The rationale behind it was that after destruction comes reconstruction. That with the destruction of everyday life people are confused, with culture people lose their identity, with history people lose the knowledge of where they come from – an important reference to their past, and with the destruction of the middle class it is lost. economic independence, since this is based on small businesses, which are the largest employers in society, and those that sustain the economy.
The purpose, I understood, is that people are easily manipulated by a certain powerful elite that governs behind the politicians.
When people lose hope and are overcome by hopelessness – which is the result of the manipulation of society through scarcity and violence, they (the government or the powers in charge) offer salvation, which this amounts to social conditioning – or restrictions on freedom itself. It is a disastrous contract, where we would give up our freedom in exchange for “security.”
I have noticed that security in society has deteriorated lately, news of assaults and murders of people, robberies of businesses and homes in the suburbs have increased in alarming numbers.
More than “10,000 people have had their cars stolen so far this year in Oakland…” reads one headline, and the same in San Francisco, where dealing in stolen goods has become a ‘regular job’ for many. , these sellers of stolen items are considered merchants.
Not only is this corrupting many, but it is creating a culture of thieves, while the police are just a sidewalk away without confiscating what was stolen, and without arresting those who buy this ill-gotten merchandise.
Every day, hundreds of people parade along 24th Street and The Mission – in BART Plaza – looking for ‘deals’, either for their personal use or for resale.
I have always known that in addition to the one who steals, the one who buys what is stolen also commits a crime of receiving what was stolen, and therefore they share the blame with those who carry out the theft.
Those who were able to see the news of a young man who, without being provoked, murdered another young man who was with his girlfriend on a street in Oakland. It was so painful to see how, without respect for life, he pierced a knife through the heart of the man who was accompanied by his girlfriend when he came from a wedding.
Likewise, the severity of this social chaos is not limited to crime. It also affects the economic system, many family businesses and large companies are closing, leaving consumers without their favorite restaurants or stores, depriving them of part of their lives.
The streets of our businesses have reached a point of dirt and violence that makes merchants prefer to close their businesses, many of which have been small family businesses that have supplied the neighborhoods with important consumer products. Let’s imagine for a moment, what will be of our neighborhood in a few years? Will we be able to maintain our lifestyle? Will we be able to preserve the culture of our neighborhood? Will we keep the little piece of our land in this great city? I don’t believe it.

Mexico and the US focus on semiconductors at economic dialogue

Con la llegada del nearshoring, México ahora alberga serias ambiciones de fabricar semiconductores. (Vishnu Mohanan/Unsplash)

Mexico News Daily 

Mexico and the United States have launched a joint “semiconductor action plan” that aims to make North America the world’s “most powerful” chip-producing region.

The announcement of the plan came after high-ranking Mexican and United States officials participated in the third meeting of the relaunched Mexico-U.S. High Level Economic Dialogue (HLED) in Washington D.C. on Friday.

“Today… we’re launching a joint semiconductor action plan to accelerate our integration, to scale our efforts to attract new investment,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a press conference.

“Under President Biden’s leadership, we’re building regional clean energy technologies and semiconductor supply chains through the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act that will drive our economies through this century,” he said.

Blinken said that “Mexico’s overhauled one-stop shop website” – the federal government’s “ventanilla única” –  “is providing prospective investors the tax and regulatory information that they need to take advantage of this landmark legislation.”

At the same press conference, Foreign Affairs Minister Alicia Bárcena and Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro offered additional details on Mexico and the United States’ shared ambitions for the semiconductor industry.

Bárcena, who succeeded Marcelo Ebrard as foreign minister earlier this year, said that “supply chains in our region and especially semiconductors and conductors” was “one of the most interesting topics” discussed at Friday’s bilateral meeting.

She said that Mexico and the United States have “a very clear strategy: for this region to become the most powerful region in production of semiconductors and conductors in the world.”

According to the international freight platform ShipHub, Taiwan is the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, accounting for 50% of total production. South Korea ranks second followed by Japan, China and the United States.

Buenrostro said Friday that Mexico and the U.S. are “working together to turn North America into the most important place for the integration of supply chains pertaining to several strategic sectors,” including semiconductors, electric vehicles and medical supplies.

“Regarding semiconductors, Mexico, and the U.S. … are working to see how we can complement each other on this technology to have the strongest supply chain on semiconductors, taking advantage of different ICT markets,” she said.

“For Mexico, this is a significant opportunity. It allows us to have better paying jobs,” Buenrostro said.

At last year’s HLED, held shortly after the United States government released its implementation strategy for the US $50 billion “Chips for America” program, the U.S. invited Mexico to take advantage of massive investment in the sector.

“… What we have is an invitation that is received perhaps once in a lifetime, so we’re going to accept it, and thank you very much for thinking of Mexico,” Ebrard told U.S. officials at a press conference in September 2022.

In a joint statement released on Friday, the Mexican and United States governments said that their officials had “discussed how to seize emerging opportunities through the HLED to promote manufacturing investment and generate employment and prosperity as the United States implements the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.”

Those two acts, the statement said, “together devote more than $400 billion to strengthening regional semiconductor supply chains, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and boosting demand for electric vehicles and clean energy technologies.”

“We discussed how to continue medical device and pharmaceutical regulatory collaboration, and advance other work. We also considered ways to address the climate crisis and strengthen regional energy security,” the statement added.

Among other issues discussed at the HLED was cooperation at the Mexico-U.S. border, over which huge volumes of licit – and illicit – goods pass.

“We’re taking steps to improve and strengthen even more our border coordination, like piloting a model port to streamline inspections and finding ways to reduce wait times, making it easier for people and goods to cross legally while strengthening our capacity to deal with fentanyl and other illegal narcotics,” Blinken said.

Bárcena also noted that ways in which border infrastructure can be strengthened were discussed.

“When it comes to land trade between the U.S. and Mexico, we have lines of communications that are extremely important for the transportation of merchandise and people. …  We have 60 ports of entry on our shared border. …  We have shown progress and talked about the infrastructure on both sides [of the border], discussing how we can bring our infrastructure up to speed so that we have better outcomes,” she said.

The foreign minister noted that Mexico set aside 15 billion pesos (about US $860 million) to spend on the modernization of border infrastructure this year.

“Among other things, [the investment will] increase our capacity to detect weapons and synthetic drugs,” she said.

Bárcena also highlighted that Mexico is currently the United States’ largest trade partner, with close to $400 billion in two-way trade in the first half of the year.

“That means many things. It means that there are responsibilities, commitments, and I would also say that there is a shared vision to create one of the most powerful areas economically and socially speaking,” she said.

The HLED was held ahead of this week’s Mexico-U.S. High-Level Security Dialogue, at which the fight against fentanyl is set to be a central issue. Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Attorney General Merrick Garland are among the U.S. officials who will attend the meeting in Mexico City on Thursday.

Buenrostro said Friday that Mexico “is committed to supporting the fight against synthetic drugs,” a view that contrasts with that held by some Republican Party lawmakers in the U.S.

“This is something I want to convey.  We want to cooperate.  We want to help and do everything at our disposal to control the productive chain, the illicit productive chain of … fentanyl,” she said.

Peralta Community College District is seeking proposals – RFP No. 23-24/08

Request for Proposals

The Peralta Community College District (PCCD) is seeking proposals from qualified firms to provide Inspector of Record Services, Laney College Library & Learning Resources Center (RFP No. 23-24/08).  Proposals are to be delivered to the Purchasing Department, 501 5th Avenue, Oakland, CA 94606 or electronically (via Vendor Registry), until 11:00 A.M. on October 31, 2023.

The project involves construction of a new three story 75,622 sq. ft. building at 900 Fallon Street, Oakland, CA 94607.

A non-mandatory Pre-proposal video conference meeting will be held on October 9, 2023 at 11:00A.M. via Zoom: Conference Meeting ID 817 2739 4976

https://peralta-edu.zoom.us/j/81727394976

Copies of the proposal documents may be obtained by clicking on the following link: https://vrapp.vendorregistry.com/Bids/View/BidsList?BuyerId=4d041f6c-7568-4c8a-8878-c82684292a3c  or, by contacting the Peralta Community College District, Purchasing Department, 501 5th Avenue, Oakland, California, 94606, Phone (510) 466-7225, Office Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Governing Codes:

GC 53068

EC 81641

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