Niños Activos / Active Kids While we greatly miss convening our biweekly Niños Activos/Active Kids playgroups in person in Calistoga and St. Helena - the fun and learning has not stopped! Our education team has continued to provide parents and their young children with home-based bilingual early learning activities, ranging from social media story times, arts and crafts kits, and connections via phone to let families know about resources available to them. We have partnered with St. Helena Farmer's Market and Healthy Cooking for Kids on food access and sharing healthy, fun snack recipes, as well as with Nimbus Arts to disseminate unique arts and crafts projects. As shown by the smiling girl above, whose mother shared this photo through our instagram page, these connections are making a difference. The Ninos Activos early learning program is generously supported by Auction Napa Valley/Napa Valley Vintners, the In & Out of School Fund of the Napa Valley Community Foundation, Junior League of Napa-Sonoma, and individual and corporate donors. | |
Celebrating our construction graduates Last fall a workforce pathways pilot program was launched, to increase employment opportunities in the construction trades and support recovery from the 2017 wildfires. The pilot was a collaboration between Napa Valley Community Foundation, Napa Valley Adult School, Napa Valley College, On The Move, UpValley Family Centers, and Calistoga Joint Unified School District. A total of 11 students participated upvalley, going through various construction-related courses over several months, and finishing in March 2020. Due to the pandemic we were unable to proceed with our planned graduation ceremony. However, we recently celebrated each of the graduates with a social distanced ceremony where, one by one (with the exception the father/son duo above) each graduate received their certificates and program incentives like work boots - for the next steps in their career. We congratulate the graduates on their hard work and accomplishments! We look forward to offering round two of this program in the coming year. More information to come. | |
2020 Census The 2020 Census is still underway! It has been extended through October 31, 2020 due to the pandemic. Last weekend, the UpValley Family Centers in collaboration with the Napa Valley Community Leaders Coalition and the Napa Complete Count Committee reached 18,000 county residents via text message and through organized car caravans - driving the streets of Calistoga, St. Helena and the City of Napa. These efforts were the latest push to raise awareness that the census is critical for ensuring adequate local funding for essential services, and for political representation. These efforts translated into an increase in the self-response rate from 66.1% to 66.3 % between Saturday and Sunday alone --- approximately 280 residents completed their census in one day! Please help spread the word - if you still need to complete your census go to mycensus2020.gov or complete via phone in English by calling 844-330-2020 or in Spanish by calling 844-468-2020. | |
