Lynwood Rotary Meeting Update 08--6-2015

At the August 6 30 Meeting, the members and guests heard about a variety of programs and activities.

The scheduled speaker, Raul Armenta, Cerritos College graduate this spring and UC student this fall was unable to attend. He was going to talk about a term paper he completed this Spring, about the “School To Prison Pipeline.” Daniel stated that you will hear this term used in reference to the criminalization of certain youth in the community, in which they succumb to a life style resulting in incarceration for much of their life. On this theme, Daniel distributed copies of an article by Jesse L. Jackson Sr. The article states that there is a growing support from a group of both liberals and conservatives (ACLU and George Soros on the left to Freedom Works and the Koch brothers on the right) to revise federal sentencing guidelines for nonviolent offenders. A memorable quote from the article is: “The U.S. Population has 5 percent of the world's population but 25 percent of its prison inmates.”

Daniel introduced a substitute speaker who he just met at the National Night Out event at Ham Park on Tuesday, Aug 4 (at which event the Rotary Club had a table with assistance with Youthact members). She is Cheryl Bradford, Assistant Operations Manager for Teen Challenge International, L.A. County Headquarters, which is located in Lynwood. The organization provides drug rehab programs at facilities at various locations throughout So Cal and elsewhere, including a home for women in Lynwood. Ms. Bradford will be the speaker for Sep 3, so come to that meeting for more information about the good works of the Teen Challenge organization.

There were a variety of announcements, starting with Simona Ramirez, Program Manager for Avant Garde, a consulting firm that has contracts with cities, including the City of Lynwood, for assisting residents with low income to purchase homes and to stay in their existing homes if they have loan payment problems. Formerly on the staff of Assembly Member Rendon, Simona is now scheduled to be the speaker for Oct. 15.

Fernando and Tila Millan had several announcements. For Youthact members and parents there is a coming annual picnic on Friday evening in South Gate Park. Also, the annual Rotary District Picnic at Redondo Beach Lagoon will be on Sunday Sep 20. A major fun activity at this event is the boat races in the shallow lagoon using boats made by the different Rotary clubs from card board. Again this year, Rotary member Joe Wang will help the Youthact members construct one or two cardboard boats for the boat races. Also, Daniel will lead a tour of the Metro Rail Public Art on Friday, for Youthact members and some adults on Friday, Aug 14. The roundtrip tour will start at 10 am at the Long Beach Bl. Green Line Station and go to Union Station where lunch will be in MTA Headquarters cafeteria. The artwork at several stations will be presented for the youth participants. The trip will end at 2pm at the Long Beach Station. (Tap cards are provided for each tour member, no charge.)

Daniel will join Martina for the Rotary District Breakfast Meeting on Wed. Aug 12 at 7am at the well-known Lawry's Restaurant on La Cienega Blvd. In Beverly Hills. This is a Rotary Literacy Event and the speaker will talk about the Impact of Adult Illiteracy. Martina urged other Rotary members to come to the next three Breakfast Meetings to be held in Oct, Feb, and Apr. Club President Martina Rodriguez thanked Rotary members and Youthact members and several parents for their attendance at the August 4 National Night Out Event, to include helping serve the hot dogs and buns to the attendees for this major annual event organized by the City of Lynwood. Also, after the Aug 6 meeting was over, the dates for the next speakers were changed so that Assembly Member Anthony Rendon will be the speaker on Aug 13. Martina urges all members to attend to hear our Assembly Member.

Daniel Miller / Omar Franco Public Relations and Community Outreach for Lynwood Rotary