OXNARD COLLEGE YOUTH PROJECT HONORED BY
CALIFORNIA WELLNESS FOUNDATION
The California Wellness Foundation has selected the Oxnard College Youth Project as one of 18 of the “Best Practices” programs in the state.
Dr. Jaime Casillas, Dean of Economic Development and Community Initiatives at Oxnard College, said that the California Wellness Foundation decided to showcase the program because of its success in helping about 100 “at risk” youth turn their lives around through a combination of remedial education, counseling, youth leadership training, job search and enrollment in a personal guidance class taught by OC faculty.
The project to provide alternative academic opportunities was made possible by a grant written by Community Initiatives staff and sponsored by the
Workforce Investment Board of Ventura County.
“In essence, these young people are students that society would rather forget about and, in most cases, the K-12 school system saw no alternative other than to give up on them,” said Dr. Casillas.
He said the program benefited from the support of Oxnard College staff members Lucia Haro, Everardo Rivera, Danielle Fallert, Kathy Spencer, Debra Cronin, Geoff Willis, Mike Alexander and Dr. Lydia Ledesma-Reese, who conducted workshops to motivate the students. Also to be commended are Florencia Ramirez and Youth Project coordinators Dr. Deborah DeVries and Armando Vasquez, who taught the youth and developed the concept for the model program.
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