The farm is looking forward to the upcoming semester. All summer long there have been students and parents coming to see the farm and its facilities.

 

Mr. Brixey wants to remind everyone that we have a garden next to the highway. If you have a desire for some fresh veggies feel free to come out and pick some.

 

We have been recently cleared to purchase a CAT 14H Motor Grader for heavy equipment. Needless to say, Merlin is excited at the prospect of new equipment.

 

If you ever want to visit the farm and see what we do and how we do it, just stop by and we would be more that willing to give you a tour.

There’s been a lot of excitement in the foundation office these past months, including several significant donations to the students, staff and faculty at both colleges.

Phyllis Roberts, a longtime Coalinga resident and former local educator, donated $25,000 to establish the Phyllis Roberts Endowed Scholarship for students attending West Hills College Coalinga.

Mr. Vince Motte, affectionately known as “Mr. Coalinga” donated over $12,500 to help fund a new California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS) weather station at the school farm. The CIMIS weather station will allow students and faculty to gather minute-by-minute weather data which can be used to help local farmers manage water more efficiently. Mr. Motte recently celebrated his 96th birthday.

Mr. George Ollikkala, a local art collector and philanthropist formally donated 14 reproductions of classic sculptures valued at $14,900 which had been on loan to the libraries at the Coalinga and Lemoore campuses for many years. Mr. Ollikkala’s wish is to encourage art appreciation among college students and inspire student artists’creativity.

The foundation board unanimously approved the sale and transfer of title of the Firebaugh property (occupied by the WHCC North District Center) to the district in order to allow for site improvements and construction of a new facility to meet the growing educational needs of the students and communities served by the NDC.

The grant writing team has been very busy writing multiple state and federal proposals.  Below are just a few of the highlights:

• Submitted a new Title V – A partnership between WHCCD, Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC), California Partnership for Achieving Student Success (Cal-PASS) and Central Valley Regional Researchers Consortium (CVRRC). If funded, it will create a new data system for all Central Valley schools and assist in the development of a model to improve services to online West Hills College students.

• Submitted two Allied Health Phase II Expansion to the California Community College Chancellor Office.  These are ARRA funded grants that will assist in the development of Allied Health on both campuses.

• Submitted two Fresno County Workforce Investment Board ARRA grants – one for youth and one for contract training.  The youth was funded a additional $200,000 to extend the summer youth program and will serve an additional 70 older youth.

• We have also submitted a Lumina Foundation to support research grant.

• Anita Wright is focusing her efforts on a new National Science Foundation grant that focuses on STEM.  If funded this project would bring $600,000 in scholarship and other supports to student in our science, technology, engineering and math programs.

• David Castillo is working with the city of Firebaugh for a 22nd Century City grant.  This community project centers on prudently using the existing resources, being a good steward of additional new resources.

• The Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) ARRA Funded Rural Broad Band Project. This grant is to support the deployment of broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas, to enhance broadband capacity at public computer centers, and to encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service. Through this support, it will also advance the Recovery Act’s objectives to spur job creation and stimulate long-term economic growth and opportunity.  Specifically, if funded, this project will improve high-speed connectivity in our rural service area, helping K-12, post-secondary, libraries, cities and many of our rural residents.  If funded, this project will bring in approximately five million dollars to our service area.  

• We are working on another boardband project to compliment the NTIA proposal.  This project, also funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The California Emerging Technology Fund also seeks to minimize the digital divide by accelerating the deployment and adoption of broadband and other advanced communication services to unserved and underserved communities.  This proposal works on providing the staffing at five rural communities learning centers.  The focus is on technology, educational access and job training.   If funded, this project will bring in approximately three million dollars to our service area. 

• As I write this summary, Cathy Barabe, Anita Wright and Kathy Watts are hard at work completing a new HUD grant.  This Child Care Expansion grant asks for approximately $300,000.   If funded this will assist the Coalinga Child Care Center to serve 96 children who have been displaced from a local site. Keep your fingers crossed for the little ones!

Thanks to the efforts of Cathy Barabe, Anita Wright, David Castillo, Maria Cavazos, Penny Wilson, Debbie Gore, Robert Pimental and Kathy Watts we have multiple projects in the pipeline!  Thanks for your hard work!

All of the district switches were replaced in July - 85 total. Big project, big improvements.The previous switches were nearly 10 years old and at end of life for support. We got a good run for our money out of those. Several computer labs have been moved on both campuses to provide students with better service and more space. We have been working to prepare our network so students will now log onto any district computer on our network as themselves. Previously lab computers logged in under a generic login specific to each lab. This should provide a higher level of accountability for students, as they no longer are anonymous. The department is preparing for the departure of Mike Parker. He has decided to retire. This will leave a big hole in the department. We are going to miss him greatly. 

We continue to look at social media options and are starting MySpace, Facebook and Twitter accounts for the district.  Watch for more soon.

 

Several statewide and national publications have featured West Hills’ photos and stories recently.  At the top of the list, we received mention in the Chronicle of Higher Education as a “Great College to Work For.”   The Community College League of California Summer 2009 magazine featured a photo and quote from Kelly Cortez, the WHCL student speaker.  Finally, the Western Rural Development Center at Utah State University has accepted an abstract from Carole Goldsmith and David Castillo on the Westside Institute of Technology.  A full story will be published in Rural Connections.  The publication is intended to spark the creation of new networks, generate discussion throughout the region and nation, and educate and inform the region and the country on the innovative research and activities as they relate to rural development that is taking place in the west.

The Great Colleges story has received coverage in The Business Journal and local newspapers.  Thanks to all who took time to fill out the Chronicle questionnaires that made this recognition possible.

 

Our next big projects are annual reports for the district and foundation.  These are big projects that take many hours of creative energy.

 

The biggest news in Marketing is the retirement of Tom Benedict after many years as director of duplicating services.  Tom has done a great job of creating the graphic design images that help brand West Hills College.  His many years of experience as a commercial printer were invaluable as we produced annual reports, brochures, flyers, ads, banners, and special publications like the 75th anniversary book.  He will be missed but we wish him well.

Workforce Update

You may have seen the members of Coalinga One-Stop on the front page of the Coalinga Recorder.  It was a beautiful picture and an informative story.  If you are interested, email me (insert email) and I will send you a copy!   

 

Their hard work is paying off for many adults. During the fourth quarter, their employment rate was at 92 percent and 99 percent had employment retention of more than 90 days. Of their current caseload, 73 percent were deemed “job ready” through the WorkKeys and assessment process.  Even more impressive, their wage gain data – an average gain of $17,514, one of the highest in the county.  Great work team! You are all really making a difference in helping people become self-sufficient in these turbulent economic times.

 

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Summer Youth Employment Update

While continuing to work to find adults jobs in this economic crisis has been a challenge, the staff have taken on a huge undertaking and recently implemented the Summer Youth Employment Program that aims to service over 300 underprivileged youth on the west side of Fresno County. The primary goal of this newly designed program is to offer youth, ages 14-24, a six-week work experience funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  Students attend a series of career-related workshops to help prepare them for their future in the world of work.  They also must meet regularly with summer youth employment specialists during the course of their work experience. Summer youth staff currently placed 230 student workers throughout the community and will place approximately 75 more before the end of the summer. Response to the program has been very high with student-workers and employers alike. The summer program is currently working closely with over 150 employers on the west side of Fresno County in various cities that have been hit hard by the current economic down-turn. The Summer Youth Employment Program is helping ensure that local businesses operate efficiently as well as giving today’s youth valuable work-related skills to benefit their future.

 

Other ARRA Updates

The Fresno County Workforce Investment Board’s Adult Council has recommended that West Hills Community College District receive $500, 000 to provide shovel-ready training to qualified WIA adult and dislocated workers.   If ratified, this would mean additional training opportunities for job seekers in the area of water technology, heavy equipment and healthcare.  If fully funded, this will result in 100 participants receiving training at WHC Coalinga, WHC Lemoore and through the Westside Institute of Technology.  This will be a huge help to those seeking skill upgrades in order to gain employment.  Keep your fingers crossed that the full WIB Board approves this request!

 

On a related note, we have been working with the grants office in an effort to aggressively seek out federal stimulus funding to support our college workforce training initiatives.  See the grants update for more information.