6 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY July 25-31, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com THE BUZZ FREE SPEECH Producing journalism requires cash—there are photocopies and court transcripts to pay for, cameras and audio recorders, ink and printing costs. The same applies not just to professional newsrooms but student newsrooms as well, and to support their efforts, the California Press Foundation announced $16,119 in grants to 13 outlets in high schools and colleges throughout California, ranging from $512 to $1,500. Recipients include The Arcade at North Hollywood High School, The Channels at Santa Barbara City College and Monterey County’s own Monterey Peninsula College. The college’s campus newspaper, formerly El Yanqui, is back with a new name and branding as Lobo News. The Journalism Club was revived when several students requested it last fall. The $1,448 grant will go toward a rig kit for vlogging and livestreaming, as well as a high-speed camera. “I love the paper—it’s tactile, you can pass it around. But we do need to have more AV-capable technology at our disposal,” says Yoshimi Ishii, a staff writer at Lobo News. The plan is to continue to publish a print issue as well, focusing on MPC events and people. Good: On July 16, the City Council of Sand City approved sending a friendly letter to the City of Seaside, asking for their collaboration, and cooperation, in an effort to build a bike and pedestrian trail along the Transportation Agency for Monterey County’s rail corridor in both cities—essentially, the plan is to add more mileage to the Rec Trail and close the one-mile gap in the system. About a block of the corridor is within the city of Seaside, which is why Sand City is reaching out—the city has already been awarded a nearly $2 million grant from the Monterey Bay Air Resources District for planning and implementation of the trail, and Sand City’s planners are working toward 30-percent designs now. The letter concludes, “We hope to have the Seaside City Council’s strong support on this opportunity to serve the trail and access needs of our cities and the region.” GREAT: With nearly half of all of the state’s adolescents estimated facing serious mental health challenges, the California Department of Health Care Access and Information awarded $125 million to school districts for the hiring of certified wellness coaches to provide non-clinical support to students and their families. Three Monterey County school districts were awarded a combined total of over $4 million: Monterey Peninsula Unified School District received the largest grant of over $2.4 million; Alisal Union School District received $1 million; North Monterey County Unified was awarded $635,635. The 18-month program begins this fall. Wellness coaches will be charged with providing education, screening, care coordination, individual and group support and crisis referrals. The program includes money for stipends for certified wellness coach interns to help increase the state’s behavioral health workforce. GOOD WEEK / GREAT WEEK THE WEEKLY TALLY The number of people in Monterey County who receive in-home supportive services, a state program that provides for in-home care to the elderly and people with disabilities. There are 5,900 IHSS providers in the county, of which 77 percent are family members acting as caregivers. An average of $11.8 million is paid monthly to those providers. Source: County of Monterey Department of Social Services 6,500 QUOTE OF THE WEEK “It was scary at times and beautiful.” -Kelsey Pfendler, skipper of The Hericanes, a team of women who rowed from Monterey to Kaua’i over a period of nearly 41 days (see story, montereycountynow.com). JOIN US FOR A FREE CONSERVATION WEBINAR The Monterey Peninsula is a leader in water conservation. Thank you for your commitment to being water wise! Learn more at: montereywaterinfo.org/events Join us for a free, interactive workshop in August, presented by Green Gardens Group via Zoom. Tuesday, August 6 Permeable Everywhere 6 p.m.–7 p.m. Prevention•Education•Treatment•Recovery Preventing alcohol and drug addiction by offering education, prevention, treatment and recovery to individuals and families regardless of income level. Cigarettes are the most littered item on earth with about 4.5 trillion cigarettes littered each year. LET’S KEEP IT CLEAN THIS SUMMER! Truth Initiative, 2017 Support youth prevention services! www.SunStreetCenters.org
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