Three local agencies have landed grants from the U.S. Department of Labor’s YouthBuild program, which helps out-of-school youth get their diplomas or GEDs while providing occupational training in the construction industry to build and renovate affordable housing within their communities.

The Youth Employment Partnership in Oakland gets $675,000; the City of Richmond Employment and Training Department gets $687,500; and the San Joaquin County Office of Education in Stockton gets $687,500. All of them seem to have received funding through this program at some point in the past.

Overall, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis announced about $114 million granted to 183 community groups this past weekend; that’s an initial increment for two years of grant operations, and more might be awarded if money becomes available. Of the 183, 62 were current YouthBuild grantees and 121 were new. The awards include about $47 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act economic-stimulus funding, although the Oakland, Richmond and Stockton projects received regular funding.

YouthBuild participants include those who have been in the juvenile justice system, youth aging out of foster care, high school dropouts and others. Besides getting academic and occupational skills training, they develop leadership skills and take part in community service opportunities. Many learn green building techniques by helping to retrofit existing homes, learning to make their communities sustainable and environmentally friendly. YouthBuild was transferred by Congress from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to the Labor Department in 2006, and it’s being revamped to include what the Labor Department describes as “a rigorous randomized control trial evaluation of the YouthBuild program to learn more about its impact on the disadvantaged youth it serves.”

The South Pasadena Unified Grade “A” Jug Band protests the state budget cuts to public education in this music video, based on Woody Guthrie’s 1937 original, “Do Re Mi.” The jug band is comprised of students from kindergarten through fifth grade, and video was a collaborative effort between parents and students of the South Pasadena Unified School District.

Witnesses today urged the House Education and Labor Committee to act quickly on a legislative solution to the nation’s high-school dropout epidemic. Here’s committee chairman George Miller, D-Martinez, giving an opening statement at the hearing:

“Some may think twice about using the word ‘crisis’ to define what’s happening in our high schools. But the truth is, we aren’t just facing a crisis – the house is on fire,” he said. “The new McKinsey report says the achievement gaps in this country are the same as having, and I quote, ‘a permanent national recession.’”

State Senator Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, on Tuesday welcomed to the State Capitol a group of public-school parents who bicycled up from Oakland to protest cuts in state education funding and to deliver a petition demanding more state support for public schools and removal of the 2/3 requirement to pass a budget or to raise taxes.

It’s interesting that Hancock made no mention of her opposition to Proposition 1A, which she has contended will hamstring California’s ability to rebuild the bedraggled education system. Back in February, she was one of only five legislative Democrats to buck their leadership and vote against putting 1A on the ballot, but perhaps with the measures’ polling numbers down in the dumps, she has decided to move on and pour her ardor into rolling back the 2/3 requirement.

The funding wheel goes round and round and where she stops, nobody knows.

Here is yet another example of one local agency asking another for money: Martinez schools will ask the Martinez City Council on May 6 for up to $500,000 to keep teachers in the classrooms.

We’ve already heard this week about how the county’s budget cuts might impact its ability to prosecute shoplifters and thieves, and one of the solutions is to let cities pay for their own prosecutors. Counties and cities all over California are laying off hundreds of workers and public services are being cut.

Here’s the staff report from Martinez City Manager Phil Vince:

CITY OF MARTINEZ CITY COUNCIL AGENDA
May 6, 2009

TO: Mayor and City Council

FROM:
Philip Vince, City Manager
SUBJECT:

DATE: Martinez Unified School District’s Request for Financial Support To Reduce the Number of Proposed Teacher Layoffs in FY 2009/10

April 30, 2009

RECOMMENDATION:

Consider and take action on the Martinez Unified School District’s (MUSD) request for funds.

BACKGROUND:

The MUSD approached the City three months ago requesting a one time donation of funding to reduce the layoff of up to 45 employees in 2009. The majority of scheduled layoffs include teachers.

While the MUSD successfully passed a $50 dollar parcel tax in November 2008, an anticipated $500,000 in additional funding will not be available until 2010. The school district request for funding from the City in the amount of $200,000 to $500,000, is intended to be used as a stop gap measure until further resources are available.

Although cities such as San Francisco, Pinole and Richmond have made financial contributions to their respective school districts to lessen the impact of teacher layoffs, the funding source came from Redevelopment dollars. Since Martinez does not have a Redevelopment Agency, the General Fund Reserve would be reduced by the allocation amount.

In the spirit of cooperation the MUSD and the City want to use this forum as an opportunity to share resources that would create more efficiencies for both agencies. A number of cost saving ideas were discussed, including: Read the rest of this entry »

Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch

Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, has been appointed chairman of a new Assembly Select Committee on Schools and Community.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass made the appointment today.

The committee assignment fits conveniently with Torlakson’s statewide campaign for superintendent of public instruction, a post currently held by soon-to-be-termed-out Jack O’Connell. (Torlakson terms out of the Assembly next year after having previously served two terms in the Assembly and two terms in the state Senate.)

The committee’s first hearing is set for Antioch on April 17, where panelists will discuss strategies to improve the lives of foster children. (The forum will take place at 1:30 p.m. at the Nick Rodriguez Community Center, 213 F St. in Antioch.)

Click through to read the full press releases on the appointment and the hearing. Read the rest of this entry »

Tom Torlakson

Dynamic former state Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin roundly endorsed veteran Contra Costa legislator Tom Torlakson, who held his superintendent campaign kick-off luncheon in Concord today.

Eastin lit up the hall at the Crown Plaza in Concord with her direct and unequivocal style, prompting not a few people to ask at its conclusion, “Where can I vote for her?”

Between glowing commentary about Torlakson’s candidacy, she blasted the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for what she called immoral cuts to education in recent budget decisions. And she vowed to vote against several of the measures on the May 19 special election ballot that she says will hurt education.

“The Legislature doesn’t have the stones to raise taxes on cigars … but they could steal from Prop. 98,” Eastin said.

But Eastin has clearly granted Torlakson, a California assemblyman and former state senator, an exception to her ire.

Eastin, an ardent women’s rights activist, even made it a point to say why she was endorsing Torlakson over his chief opponent, Los Angeles state Sen. Gloria Romero.

“All things being equal, I will endorse the woman,” Eastin said. “But Tom is the right person for this job.”

In an interesting sidenote, Eastin delivered her passionate and pointed speech right in front of the table where two potential congressional challengers sat: Sen. Mark DeSaulnier and Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan.

But unlike the superintendent’s race, Eastin made it clear she would endorse Buchanan. She has already offered to help with the assemblywoman’s campaign, should Buchanan decide to run.

The governor visited San Francisco today mainly to stump for the May special election budget-reform agenda, but lots of other topics came up during a question-and-answer period as well.

For example, he said he’s “absolutely” in favor of extending Legislative term limits; former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez had the right idea with last year’s Proposition 93, but would’ve fared better with voters if he’d packaged term limits with redistricting reform to prove he wasn’t “acting out of selfish reasons.” Nunez, along with then-state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, were among lawmakers who would’ve been “grandfathered” into longer tenures had the measure passed.

Lawmakers need two or three years just to learn the ropes and get up to speed, Schwarzenegger said today; under current rules, that’s half the time someone can spend in the Assembly. “I think it’s a disservice to the California people,” he said.

Lots more, after the jump…
Read the rest of this entry »

Law students from the University of California, Berkeley and UCLA are beltway-bound in a new full-semester academic internship program.

“UCDC Law” will place second- and third-year law students in congressional offices, the Justice Department, regulatory agencies and elsewhere around the nation’s capital; UC-Irvine students eventually will take part, too. Only a handful of U.S. law schools have academic programs in Washington, D.C.

“This is a direct and powerful way to expose students to aspects of lawyering in Washington and thereby broaden their thinking about professional paths available to them,” says Berkeley Law Dean Chris Edley Jr., who recently advised President Barack Obama’s transition team. “Our new classroom technology will also enable us to connect our students and experts in Washington with law students on campus, combining resources for dynamic interactive instruction.”

The first batch of interns, including seven from Berkeley, already has settled into Washington. Second-year Berkeley student Dyanna Quizon, placed in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said the level of responsibility they’ve been given “is amazing.”

“I’ve been asked to help lead a substantive training session for federal employees on making programs more accessible to non-English speaking communities,” she said. “A law student telling government officials what to do in important situations? Pretty incredible.”

More, after the jump…
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