Happy Holidays from Collaborate PASadena!
Building Capacity for Collaboration
Collaborate PASadena celebrated the graduation of nearly 30 students from its Neighborhood Leadership Institute last week, in a gathering that featured the students’ community projects and the presentation of certificates from elected officials.

The graduation caps off a 10-week series of workshops tackling subjects that included: being an authentic leader; civic participation; project planning and development; cross cultural relations; conducting effective meetings; strategic planning and problem-solving; public speaking; recruiting and sustaining volunteers; and group conflict and consensus building. Each session also featured guest speakers from a wide cross-section of the community, including area elected officials, education and nonprofit leaders, law enforcement officials, and past program participants.
Class of 2017 participants coordinated community projects in conjunction with local nonprofit organizations, government agencies, or city commissions. Projects included “Arts in the Pasadena Unified School District,” "Education and Prevention for Parents/PACTL," "Homelessness and Services," "Outward Bound Adventures," "Who's in the Space?" (with the Pasadena Accessibility and Disability Commission), and "Parent Engagement" (with PUSD middle schools).
Collaborate PASadena is grateful to sponsors who helped make the training possible, including B ill and Claire Bogaard, Day One, Junior League of Pasadena, and Pasadena Tournament of Roses.
Collaborate PASadena Neighborhood Leadership Institute graduates include: Susana Arlette Alvarado, Lamar Anderson, Sidney Armstrong, Jeannette Benites, Marlene Benites, Marcy Borough, Marie N. Cantor, Bill Creim, Shelley De Leon, Deirdra Duncan-Gonzalez, Emily Ekshian, Lydia Idem Finkley, Lydia Foster, Stella Franco-Allen, Erica Gutierrez, Jenny Jakubiak, Riaz Khan, Natasha Mahone, Beatriz "Vivi" Martinez, Josefina Morales, Peggy Names, Lila Roberson, Marta Salgado-Niño, Treasure Sheppard, Steven Sneed, Martin Sweeney, and Brenda Zarazua.
The Vision | The children of Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre all grow up in a safe, stable,
                        and supportive environment that prepares them for success in school and in life.
City Offers Opportunities for Youth
They are seen all around town, at events large and small, in their official t-shirts. They are well-trained, poised and enthusiastic. They are Pasadena’s Youth Ambassadors.

All youth in the Pasadena area may participate in the Ambassador Program, which is unique to the City of Pasadena, giving local high school students the opportunity to become city workers and gain exposure to various events and opportunities the city provides. In addition, students also participate in career, college, and life workshops to better prepare them for the future. Students that go through the program deeply engage in the community by attending local conferences, festivals, races, and many other events that take place each year. The Ambassador Program is much more than just another extracurricular activity – it is an opportunity to become an active member of the community while opening doors and establishing connections along the way.

Community Services Specialist and Program Coordinator, Ashley Carrasco, says of program participants, “We are always more than happy and willing to assist our students and alumni with anything we can, and continue to keep in touch long after they have exited the program.”

Click here for more information about the Youth Ambassador Program.
Click here to explore a number of other opportunities for young people offered by the city.
Office of the Young Child | EDI Data Is In!
The Early Development Instrument (EDI) data is in! This assessment was conducted in February of 2017 by all PUSD kindergarten teachers, and is a measure of children’s early development in communities across the nation. It assesses children’s ability to meet age appropriate milestones across five developmental domains: physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, and communication skills and general knowledge. In 2018, the Office of the Young Child, in partnership with local organizations, will embark on a stakeholder engagement process, to:
  • Establish common understanding of the 2017 EDI results in the context of the overall community narrative on child and family well-being.
  • Share data, the EDI maps (school site and community-wide), public health and school data to help shape the community narrative around early childhood within a family and neighborhood context.
  • Frame the conversations going forward to focus on the revealed opportunities for future strategies, activities and partnerships.
  • Determine existing and emerging assets and identify gaps.

Watch for future opportunities to become involved in these conversations.
It's easy to run into Bill Creim in Pasadena -- because he is everywhere! Bill is a force of nature, and uses his abilities and passions to help the community in myriad ways.

As a product of the Pasadena Unified School District himself, Bill is undeterred in his commitment to helping the schools. He has served on the Pasadena Educational Foundation board of directors for 15 years, and just finished his second term as President. He has devoted the past several years to helping grow Jackson Elementary School into the thriving STEM Dual Language Magnet Academy that it is today. In that work, he helped bring STEM, Reading Partners, Music, Clubs and other programs to the school.

Bill and his wife Linda, the Senior Clinical Administrative Director of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, introduced USC doctors to the PUSD Athletic Director. The doctors now serve the PUSD at each football game. Bill helps schools throughout the district by bringing programs, partners and resources to the schools and students. Last Friday he played Santa Claus for students, a role that is fitting for him and what he does for PUSD.

Very recently, Bill secured a generous gift for a project assessing urban forestry management and practices in LA County. With the funding received, the project team was able to conduct a survey of municipalities and public interest organizations in the county to assess levels of commitment and investment to help ensure the health of urban forests -- and with it, protection from extreme heat for our region's most vulnerable communities.
By profession, Bill is a business attorney. He graduated with highest honors, Summa Cum Laude, from UCLA where he earned Phi Beta Kappa honors, and a law degree from USC where he served as Editor of the Law Review, graduating Order of the Coif while earning the American Jurisprudence Award in Constitutional Law. Bill is a recent graduate of the Collaborate PASadena Neighborhood Leadership Institute where, during one training session, he gave an impassioned speech for his fellow program participants entitled "One Voice" -- briefly excerpted here:

You say I’m only one person.
That I’m only one voice.
But one voice can move a room.
And the voices from one room – can start to move a community.
And I ask for your help, for your voice to help these children with special gifts and to help these children with special needs and I ask you to stand up, and fight for these children who have no one else to stand up and fight for them.
Because if you do, if you do stand up and help one child, one time, you truly do change this world forever.

Bill is changing the world, and we are all grateful!
Dr. Brian McDonald addresses Teacher Grants Reception
Teacher Grants Awarded
Earlier this week, Pasadena Educational Foundation awarded more than $200,000 to teachers and principals for a wide range of projects across the district. Approximately 175 grants were given, and a sampling of project names includes Mighty Readers Book Club, Encore, AP Studio Art, World History Video Projects, Atomic Spectrum, Financial Literacy, and Life, Camera, Action, to name a few. For more information on this impactful PEF Teacher Grants Program, click here.
Library a "Must-See"
If you haven't been to the Altadena Library (600 E. Mariposa Street) in awhile, you must get up there to explore. The library recently completed a major renovation, as well as a significant overhaul of all of its programs. There is something for everyone! The library has become a real community hub -- click here for the library's newsletter highlighting all the latest happenings.
News and Events
Click here to find the latest news and events on the Collaborate PASadena website! We happily post partner news and events on our site and on our Facebook page and Instagram. Submit to elizabeth@collpas.org.
Partner Praise
Project Wraparound is a collaboration of the City of Pasadena Public Health and Human Services Departments, a mental health program designed to serve youth (ages 0-21) and their families. They do great work and we are all grateful! For more information, click on their logo above.

Take a moment to explore these great organizations in our area:
am-pluh-fahy
v. to make stronger; enlarge; extend