VALLE DEL ORO HAS A BRAND-NEW PROGRAM FOR YOUTH AND THEIR FAMILIES!!!

WHAT IS NOMAD LAB? NOMAD LAB is a program created to support the goals of the Valle del Oro Neighborhood Committee in partnership with the City of Santa Clarita, GHP Management and the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission. As an initiative of the Valle del Oro Neighborhood Committee, NOMAD LAB is devoted to building a better neighborhood through arts programs and activities for youth and their families.

NOMAD LAB consists of 3 programs (art labs) for Valle del Oro youth ages 12-19: Creative Voice Lab, Creative Writing Lab and Public Art Lab.


Creative Voice Lab: Participants will investigate the creative possibilities of their own voices by working in individual singing lessons and choir formats. From gospel, to folk songs, and hip-hop to jazz, participants will learn songs from around the world and will explore a wide variety of musical styles including improvisation. This lab will be taught by Carmina Escobar and Erinn Horton, graduate students from the CalArts School of Music. This program is for youth ages 12 to 18.

Creative Writing Lab: Whether we’re text messaging our friends, or writing someone a letter, glancing at billboards along the freeway or noticing graffiti on a light post, we constantly interact with and use writing and language in our daily lives. We use words, images, sounds and gestures to express who we are and learn about others. In this creative writing workshop we will use language in its many forms to take a fresh look at the world(s) we live in and perhaps to discover or create new ones. In a series of writing experiments, such as poetry, twittering, and others we will explore stories and voices from our families, neighborhoods and beyond while listening closely to our own distinct voices in the world. This lab will be taught by writer Carribean Fragoza. This program is for youth ages 16-19.

Public Art Lab: Posters, monuments, “street” and “urban” art, interactive performance… these are all forms of expression and creativity that take place on the public stage for all to see. Participants in this workshop will learn about art in public spaces and explore the impact of art on the culture and well-being of our communities. Through Skype web-sessions we will connect with artists and youth from around the globe. Participants will work on the creation of collaborative public art projects using video, sound, recycled materials, art tools and other diverse media. This lab will be taught by artist Evelyn Serrano with CalArts School of Art students Megan Broughton and Daniella Curry. This program is for youth ages 16-19.


WHEN?
Each NOMAB lab workshop will meet once a week for 2 hours for a period of 10 weeks.
Dates: February 16-May 1, 2010, 4-6pm (specific workshop dates will be determined by January 15th)
Participants will showcase the work created in the NOMAD LAB workshops on May 1st, 2010 at the second annual Valle del Oro Neighborhood Festival.

WHERE?
NOMAD LAB workshops will meet in the NOMAD LAB space, located directly above The Village Apartments Leasing Office.

WANT TO PARTICIPATE?
Fill out the attached application and turn it in or mail it to:
The Village Apartments Leasing Office
Attention: Evelyn Serrano/ NOMAD LAB
23700 Valle Del Oro, Newhall, CA 91321-3167.

Application deadline is JANUARY 22, 2010
NOMAD LAB is a free program. Youth may participate in one lab at a time. Program space is limited and applicants will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis. Participants must live in The Village Apartments, the Terrace Apartments or The Vistas Condominiums and commit to attend all 10 sessions of the program. Accepted applicants will be notified by February 1st via phone and mail.

NEED MORE INFORMATION?
For further information about NOMAD LAB please contact the NOMAD LAB Program Coordinator Evelyn Serrano at (661) 755-6974 or via email at thenomadlab@gmail.com. Se habla español.

First Valle del Oro Neighborhood Festival

First Valle del Oro Neighborhood Festival
VECINOS HACIENDO AMIGOS/NEIGHBORS MAKING FRIENDS

Here are some pictures of our first Valle del Oro Neighborhood Committee that took place on May 5th, 2009.
The event was an absolute success, bringing together more that 350 Valle del Oro residents of all ages. The festival included a great variety of activities for youth including the Echo Park Film Bus, arts and crafts workshops, and the CalArts Graffitti Task Force. The festival attendees enjoyed delicious food generously provided by Tacos Madre, the City of Santa Clarita Community Services Department and our own neighborhood residents. We also enjoyed wonderful jazz and brazilian music by student ensembles from CalArts, a voice performance by Carmina Escobar, and banda music!

This festival was possible thanks for the passion and generosity of many resident volunteers and partner organizations.
A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU!!!

VALLE DEL ORO NEIGHBORHOOD COMMITTEE
VALLE DEL ORO RESIDENTS
CITY OF SANTA CLARITA COMMUNITY SERVICES DEPARTMENT
THE VILLAGE APARTMENTS MANAGEMENT
CALARTS MUSIC STUDENTS
TACOS MADRE
LOS ANGELES COUNTY HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION

Stay tuned for news on our second Valle del Oro Community Festival!!!

After 4 months in the making the first Valle del Oro Community Festival is here! This Saturday will be a day to remember. There will be great music by talented CalArts musicians and local residents, delicious food, games, an art exhibit and much more for the entire family.
This is the first of hopefully many public events organized by this committee with the objective to bring people from our neighborhood together, strengthen our community and work together to bring positive change to our neighborhood.

Come out and bring your family and friends!

This festival is an initiative of the Valle del Oro Neighborhood Committee and was made possible thanks to the invaluable commitment and energy of our Valle del Oro residents, the constant and generous support of Cynthia Llerenas, Hope Horner and the City of Santa Clarita Community Services Department, and the Sheriff Department. We would also like to give special thanks to Geoffrey Palmer, owner, and Rebecca and the management staff at The Villlage Apartments for hosting this event. The Committee would also like to recognize Josh Parr and the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission, David Knutson, James Lewis and his band, Alfredo Miranda and the Bossa Nova Project, Rpb Peterson and Bloco Chico, The Rap All Stars, Carmina Escobar and Paulo and the Echo Park Film Center. Thank you for your contribution to this event and to our committee!

We Have A New Logo!

Juntas Comunitarias/Neighborhood Meetings

VALLE DEL ORO COMMUNITY MEETINGS

The Valle del Oro Neighborhood Committee and the City of Santa Clarita’s Community Services staff is hosting monthly meetings to provide an opportunity for the Valle del Oro residents to focus on the resolution of community issues.

All meetings will be held at:
McGrath Elementary School – Cafeteria
21501 Deputy Jake Drive, Newhal
6:30-8:00pm

Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 (Potluck)
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009


JUNTAS COMUNITARIAS DE VALLE DEL ORO

El Comité de Vecinos de Valle del Oro y el personal de Servicios Comunitarios de la Ciudad de Santa Clarita continua organizando juntas mensuales para que los residentes de Valle del Oro puedan encontrar soluciones a los problemas en su comunidad.

Todas las juntas se llevarán a cabo en:
McGrath Elementary School – Cafeteria
21501 Deputy Jake Drive, Newhal
6:30-8:00pm

Miércoles, 6 de Mayo, 2009
Miércoles, 10 de Junio, 2009 (Potluck)
Miércoles, 19 de Agosto, 2009
Miércoles, 16 de Septiembre, 2009
Miércoles, 7 de Octubre, 2009
Miércoles, 18 de Noviembre, 2009
Miércoles, 2 de Diciembre, 2009

Our VDO Committee makes the news!

Here is a link to an article on the Santa Clarita City Briefs posted by the City in response to a VDO Committee letter published in The Signal On Feb. 4. Read the letter below and check out the response article by clicking on the link.


LINK TO CITY BRIEFS' ARTICLE:

http://santaclaritacitybriefs.com/2009/02/13/city-helps-valle-del-oro-with-community-issues/


VDO COMMITTEE LETTER PUBLISHED BY THE SIGNAL:

Signal commentary:

Posted: Feb. 4, 2009 11:35 p.m.
Updated: Feb. 5, 2009 4:55 a.m.

We met over coffee to discuss the problems in our community - the Valle Del Oro community in Newhall.

My neighbors, now friends, from the Village and the Terrace apartments and I have been involved now for over a year in monthly meetings working with the city. We want to thank Hope Horner and Cynthia Lierenas from Community Services for their time and efforts.

We've worked to organize ourselves to develop important goals for betterment of the community. I've met some really wonderful people who are working very hard to make life better for themselves, their families and the community.

"People should not have to live this way," I said to them, though we have been stating this for over a year now.

They asked if we, too, had the recent problems with fires in the trash dumpsters and fire extinguishers being stolen.

We had, and they informed me it was a gang initiation.

"My neighbor saw three young men running away from the dumpsters after setting fire." My friend stated.

I guess after hearing incidents like this now for over a year, I am not surprised as much, but still saddened by what people will do to destroy a community.

I asked them to tell me more about what is going on where they live. "My neighbor cannot use his second bedroom because of the black mold," one stated.

I inquired why management did not take care of this, if it is coming from within the common walls. He said it is in their contract that the residents are responsible, and many people have this problem in their units.

Vandalism occurs weekly from resident break-ins, vehicle destruction, and there is shooting every weekend.

Naive as I am, but getting more educated, unfortunately, I ask, "What are they shooting at?"

My neighbors tell me, "They shoot in the sky most of the time." The families are in such fear, they tell me that they sleep on the floor or under beds so they will not get shot. "You can see the places on the walls where their heads rest at night," says my neighbor.

There is drug dealing, residents cooking in their apartments and selling food, and there is prostitution.

"I was in the gym when a man came in with a photo album asking me if I was interested in a prostitute."

He went on to say that the women are 13 to 19 years old, and there are certain apartments set up for this.

And the wash where the children like to play is becoming a tent city with numerous people now living there and doing whatever.

"Did you know they have found bodies down there?" my neighbor asked. I was not surprised to hear by now that they were dealing drugs.

My neighbor asked me if I wanted another cup of coffee. "No," I said. "I've had enough for one morning,"
People should not have to live this way in Santa Clarita.

----->

Upcoming VDO meetings (with city staff)

Valle Del Oro
HORARIO DE JUNTAS

El personal de Servicios Comunitarios continuará organizando juntas mensuales para que los residents de Valle Del Oro puedan buscar una solución a los problemas en su comunidad.

Todas las juntas se llevaran acabo en:
McGrath Elementary School - Cafeteria
21501 Deputy Jake Drive, Newhall
6:30-8:00 p.m.


• miercoles, 4 de marzo 2009
• miercoles, 6 de mayo 2009
• miercoles, 19 de agosto 2009
• miercoles, 7 de octubre 2009
• miercoles, 2 de diciembre 2009


Valle Del Oro
COMMUNITY MEETINGS

The City of Santa Clarita’s Community Services staff will host monthly meetings to provide an opportunity for the Valle Del Oro community to focus on the resolution of community issues.

All meetings will be held at:
McGrath Elementary School - Cafeteria
21501 Deputy Jake Drive, Newhall
6:30-8:00 p.m.


• Wednesday, March 4, 2009
• Wednesday, May 6, 2009
• Wednesday, August 19, 2009
• Wednesday, October 7, 2009
• Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Article published in The Signal, by Hope Horner

Here is an article published in The Signal in response to a letter generated by our Committee that was published in the paper a few days prior.


http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/9251/

Update on our December Meeting and 2009 GOALS!

Dear all,
Here I am sending you and our neighbors a note to update you on our last Valle del Oro meeting. The meeting/potluck went well and was well attended. We had approximately 40 people, mostly from The Village. Jackie Ponce and Alex Ruano did a wonderful job at getting everything ready and beautiful for our gathering. And the food was delicious and abundant!! We all had a good time together including the many children that joined us.

After our meal we talked about our work together during 2008 and the issues that still remain unresolved and continue to be our focus for 2009. One general and urgent concern was the matter of safety. The majority of the neighbors felt that having the phone numbers to reach city staff and law enforcement helped, but that most of the crime they witness goes unreported due to fear. Most choose to not call and report the issues with law enforcement or the property managers as they are afraid that the "troublemakers" will immediately know (or assume they know) who reported them and will start threatening them and their families, a risk most feel they can't take. Several neighbors also shared that the property managers' very high turnover has to do with intimidation from local gangs: as soon as they start trying to "clean up" the complex, the managers and their families become victims of intimidation. It would be interesting to see if we could get these administrators to relate their experiences to this committee but this task has proven difficult. Perhaps one thing to pursue is to have members of this committee meet with the apartment complex management in THEIR turf, in their office, on their schedule, instead of trying to bring them to our Wednesday meetings.

Issues that greatly concerned neighbors, in addition to the safety issue, are vandalism, robberies, loud partying, after-hours gatherings, shootings in the middle of the night, youth hanging out at all times of day, alcoholism, and drug dealing.

And here are the Valle del Oro Committee 2009 Goals:

1) Advocate at every level for a new centro comunitario/community center based in our neighborhood.
This center is essential to the success of our committee's objectives and to the health of our neighborhood. The center would be not only a place of communal gathering but also a site for learning, teaching, recreation, sharing and growing. TOGETHER. Programming at the center would support multiple community needs as well as youth, adult and family needs. The committee will work towards creating a strategic plan to attain this goal. Soon, the committee will begin advocating at the City Council level. And, in addition to the long-term goals, the committee will propose and pursue short term solutions to address communal, recreation and educational programming needs including finding a temporary location for a "community/educational space" in our neighborhood as soon as possible.

2) A safe and healthy neighborhood
The committee will work to create a multifaceted strategy to address serious issues concerning the safety of our families. This strategy will not only include continuing to work with law enforcement personnel and City staff, but also work on community education, tolerance, youth leadership training, empathy training, arts training, crime prevention, etc. as a way of providing educational and community-focused alternatives to the youth and their families.

3) Strengthen the Committee
The strengthening of the committee's presence, membership, organization and functions is essential to attaining all 2009 goals. It will be our objective for the Valle del Oro Committee to grow in numbers and also expand the leadership. Once this has been accomplished we will be able to create sub-committees (each reporting to the neighbors in our monthly committee meetings) that will be charged with leading the work towards attaining each of the goals listed here. The committee will work on expanding its visibility outside of its regular monthly meetings by holding regular public informal gatherings in our neighborhood and outreaching to the community, with the main objective of letting our neighbors know of our work, goals and ways to get involved. We trust that larger membership, increased visibility and a consistent message will deter some of the criminal activity and help us define what our community will become. It will also allow us to define that which we will not tolerate in our neighborhood, and will provide support to potential victims of crime.

The committee now has a blog, our virtual forum on the net, now residing at: http://valledeloro.blogspot.com/
The blog will serve many functions, including:
-being a "virtual community center", a forum for dialog, always open and available
-an archive for Committee meeting minutes, updates, calls for action, etc.
We recognize that this blog is just one more way through which we can keep our community informed and connected, and should be part of a larger set of strategies that will include those without net access.

4) Strengthen our partnership with the management companies from The Terrace and The Village
Here the stress in on PARTNERSHIP as finger pointing has not taken us anywhere. Several attempts to involve and invite the management companies to our community-organizing meetings have failed. Still, we recognize that the management companies are a fundamental "piece of the puzzle" and in order to be successful in our efforts to have a safe community the committee will need to work with them. Some strategies that will be explored are finding ways to meet regularly with the management and report back to the neighbors. Committee representatives will need to be identified to take on this task. Some neighbors are also interested in investigating Section 8 compliance at The Village Apartments.

5) Work with City staff on a publication in Spanish to serve as a complement to the City-published English-only SCV Seasons Magazine
This publication will allow Spanish-speaking citizens in our valley to have access to the network of centers and wide-ranging educational and recreational programming available to them. It will also allow these families to feel connected to the City and its work in a myriad of ways, and to become more active civic participants.

We are thankful to Cynthia Llerenas, Hope Horner and the City of Santa Clarita for their support throughout this last year, which was essential in getting our neighbors working together. We are looking forward to more dynamic dialog with them in 2009. We are committed to changing our neighborhood for the better and to carefully conceive strategies born from the Committee that would fit the specific issues and location of our neighborhood. Your input and support is always appreciated.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday. Best wishes for you and yours in this new year!

Evelyn Serrano