El Cajon Collaborative Council

November 4th

, 2008 Meeting Notes and Resources

I. Up and Coming in the Collaborative

Lea will now be taking Council Meeting Notes – this is the first shot, we’ll review how this works at

the next meeting!

The El Cajon Collaborative is reviewing its Guidelines this fall/winter. An orientation to El Cajon

Collaborative and Guidelines is tentatively scheduled prior to the Collaborative Council meeting in

February 2009.

II. Information Roundtable – Announcements & Other News

� Community Services for Families (CSF) Report – currently El Cajon CSF Case Managers are serving

46 families, 10 Dependency, 11 Voluntary and 25 Prevention.

� Kara Vickery from El Cajon Valley High School passed out a flyer for a new program called Cool

Bed+ that is recruiting foster families in the rural East Region – call (619) 221-8610 x.276 or

complete an online survey at www.sdycs.org.

� Joline Smith of FamNet promoted a supervised visitation training that they are hosting on Nov.

9th

and 10th

– register online at http://www.famnetsd.com/anaform1.html.

� Gwen Johnson from First United Methodist Church/Bethlehem Food Pantry informed the group

about their emergency food program and Community Dinners on Wednesday evenings. In

addition, the church is preparing to provide some Christmas food baskets for families with

children, call (619) 401-5278 for more information on either program.

� Lannay Monks from El Cajon Church of the Nazarene has tickets for a FREE Thanksgiving Dinner at

the church on Saturday, Nov. 22nd

. Also the church has a FREE medical clinic for Adults every

other Friday, call 444-9054 for more information on either program.

� Janedra Sykes from Center for Community Solutions promoted their wraparound DV services, for

referral call 888-385-4657.

� Romalyn Galacgac from East Region Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) promoted three

different events – see attached flyers for details.

� Tonette Salter from Grossmont-Cuyamaca College offered meeting space for anyone who needs

rooms for large or small meetings (619) 660-9558.

� Paula Guerra from Home-Start shared contact information for their different programs in the East

Region, Family Self Sufficiency can help with emergency basic needs assistance (619) 401-8375

call ahead for an appointment. Counseling is available for anyone under age 18 who is at-risk of

abuse or has experienced abuse (619) 692-0727 x.118. Case-management services for families

with a child under age 5 is available by calling (619) 692-0727 x.134.

� Chrissy Braxton from Harmonium can offer sliding-scale counseling services (no-insurance is

accepted) call (619) 258-3740 x.276.

� Janet Middleton from Cajon Valley Union School District noted that they have seen more

homeless families at the beginning of this year than all of last year.

� Three representatives from the International Rescue Committee were in attendance, looking for

ways to expand into the East Region with refugee resettlement services for the larger number of

Iraqi refugees this year including home-visitation, case management and employment.

Information Roundtable/Announcements continued

� Pam Toohey is starting a 501c3 non-profit organization, offering assistance and support for birth

parents who are involved in the child welfare system. They have a support group for parents –

call (619) 277-7909.

� Sheryl Eaves from Cuyamaca College CalWORKs program is seeking toys for a holiday toy/food

drive and any CalWORKs participants interested in attending college. Call her at (619) 660-4332.

� Heather Summers from Family Health Centers of San Diego promoted their health, wellness and

parenting basics resources for families with children under age 5, see flyer.

� Joseph Ziauddin started the East County Refugee Center three months ago and is working on

development of various resources for new refugee families, call (619) 334-9708.

� Michael McKay from Catholic Charities' Department of Refugee Services discussed being one of

four San Diego resettlement agencies who welcome newly arriving refugees and work to provide

services for the first 8-months of arrival. Three of these agencies, Catholic Charities, IRC and

Jewish Family Service, work together in a project called the Wilson-Fish Comprehensive

Resettlement Collaborative that provides cash assistance, case management and employment

services for all refugees/asylees during their first 8 months residing in San Diego County. More

information and data about refugee services can be obtained by contacting Michael at (619) 287-

9454 (ext. 185).

� Rebecca Reyes of the El Cajon Community Development Corporation (CDC) brought flyers for two

of their upcoming events – a Saturday morning cleanup on November 15th

and a December, 6th

holiday Parade of Lights in downtown El Cajon. See flyers for details.

III. Next Council Meeting – December 2nd

Presentation: Chaldean-Middle Eastern Social Services

IV. ATTACHED RESOURCES

Please scroll through the following pages for attached resources referenced above.

A. HHSA East Region Promotions:

B. Family Health Centers of San Diego Promotion:

C. El Cajon CDC Promotions: