The third annual Yolo County Celebrity Fashion Show marked the official launch of Child Abuse Prevention Month in April. Joining the supervisor and mayors were other Yolo County elected officials, well-known citizens and children from throughout Yolo County. The crowd noshed on appetizers and wine while reveling to the sounds of contemporary musical artists ranging from pop to country music as local celebrities displayed their sense of style and humor by modeling fashions provided from area stores.

In addition to Saylor, Cabaldon, Pimentel and Krovoza; Mayor Pro Tem Rochelle Swanson of Davis; City Council member Oscar Villegas from West Sacramento; West Sacramento Planning Commission member Beverly “Babs” Sandeen; Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig; Davis Joint Unified School District Trustee Gina Daleiden; Woodland Joint Unified School District Trustee Julie Blacklock and Winters School Board Trustee Robyn Rominger were in the fashion line up. Other models included Yolo County Administrator Patrick Blacklock; Davis Rotarian Judy Wolf, Davis Ace owner Jennifer Anderson, de Luna Jewelers Manager Adrian Blanco, Woodland County Fair Fashion Mall General Manager Al Aldrete IV, Capay Valley Vision President Lynn Rolston; Univision Channel 19 news reporter Viviana Paez; and United Way California Capitol Region CEO Steve Heath.

Major sponsors for the event were Sutter Health, Davis Rotary Club, Kaiser Permanente, Capitol West Realty and the Suzanne and Larry Dale Heitman Foundation. Of special note were $10,000 donations from both Sutter Health and the Davis Rotary Club. Wine was donated by the Carvalho family winery in Clarksburg and glasses by the Grocery Outlet.

The fashion gala is held by the Yolo County Children’s Alliance and Child Abuse Prevention Council (YCCA) to raise funds for prevention, intervention and treatment programs to prevent child abuse and neglect.

Each year, Yolo County’s Child Welfare Services receives approximately 1,500 reports of suspected child abuse or neglect. YCCA is actively addressing issues that lead to these tragedies by providing child abuse prevention programs and educating the community about the many resources available for prevention and treatment.

The fashion show was the first of many activities to be held throughout April in recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Month.

Calling the program “West Sacramento’s own economic stimulus package,” Katie Villegas, YCCA executive director noted that much of this money will be spent within the West Sacramento community.

The Yolo County Children’s Alliance’s (YCCA) West Sacramento Family Resource Center provides this free tax preparation service at 1200 Anna Street, portable 21, in West Sacramento. The site will remain open for free tax preparation assistance through October 1, 2012. Hours of operation are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday – Friday and volunteers speak Spanish and English. Walk-ins are welcome, however appointments are recommended.

Trained volunteers help Yolo County residents whose incomes are $50,000 or less prepare their federal and state income tax returns. Last year the service assisted 90 families and secured $220,000 in tax refunds.
Services include free electronic filing and direct deposit.

Yolo County residents can call YCCA’s West Sacramento Family Resource Center at 916-572-0560 or the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 to find out what documents they will need to bring. Generally people should bring any information concerning their income and expenses for tax year 2011.

It is estimated that last year, residents in Yolo County forfeited $4.1 million in unclaimed Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) because they were unaware of their eligibility or could not afford to pay a tax preparer.

Tax help services are also offered on Saturday mornings at the West Sacramento Library by appointment only. For More Information: Call 1-866-607-4030 or 916-572-0560.

Families can also get referrals for additional services such as health insurance for children, Cal-Fresh, WIC, direct deposit and many other programs in Yolo County to help children and families.

Best of all, the services are free!

Holiday Adopt-a-Family
Hundreds of families need a helping hand during the holidays so they can have a traditional holiday meal and give presents to their children. To help, the Children’s Alliance matched community organizations and businesses with families needing help. Most families needing help are identified through the YCCA programs that are already providing assistance with insurance, food stamps, tax return assistance, food assistance or the Step by Step home visiting program.
Once a family has requested help, the Children’s Alliance provides a list of families and information about the family’s needs to a matching organization or business. A date is established for the organization to deliver the food and gifts to the Children’s Alliance and then we deliver the items to the family, ensuring they know who the sponsors of the gifts were. The sponsors get into the spirit of the holidays and usually have the presents gift-wrapped when delivered to the YCCA.
This year, Sutter Health adopted 33 families, Kaiser Permanente adopted five families, Clark Pacific adopted 12 families. We also received donations from the Davis High basketball Team, from Our Lady of Grace church in West Sacramento. Beverly Sandeen, Vice Chancellor University Relations UC Davis, donated nearly 200 toys through her 50th birthday party.
Anyone can make a donation without adopting a family. Universal recipient gifts are given to children and families in need. For example, through Beverly Sandeen’ s generosity, dozens of children in Yolo County received at least one present during the holidays.

YCCA Holiday Party 2011
Attendees at the Children’s Alliance Holiday Party could smell Maria’s famous Pozole as soon as they walked in the door! More than 100 guests and supporters of the Children’s Alliance crowded into the conference room at 600 A. Street in Davis to share the holiday spirit with YCCA staff and members of the Child Abuse Prevention Council.
Sipping Katie’s delicious cider while sampling Maria’s pozole and other tempting appetizers and desserts, guests enjoyed festive holiday decorations, a running slide presentation of YCCA activities from throughout 2011, and took advantage of office tours at the fifth annual celebratory event to honor and thank YCCA’s partners and supporters. It was a wonderful event and now an annual tradition!

GiveLocalNow is a movement in the Sacramento Region (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties) to increase philanthropy to local nonprofits based on the research of the Greater Sacramento Generosity Project. The campaign is intended to strengthen the nonprofit sector and philanthropy in our communities.

Learn more and join us for a FUN time at the

GiveLocalNow

MEDIA EVENT & LAUNCH CEREMONY

10:00 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 15, 2011

Crocker Art Museum, 216 O Street

Directions at www.crockerartmuseum.org

No RSVP is necessary

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and regional leaders, as well as donors both large and small will be on hand to help launch this social change movement towards a more charitable region.

 http://www.givelocalnow.org

• Drowning Prevention
• Grilling Safety
• Healthy & Active Summer
• Heat Safety
• Boating Safety
• Bike Safety 
• Carbon Monoxide Safety

Newsletter V1N1 October 2010

Click www.HealthCare.gov to visit the new website!

This website is designed to help you get the information you need to make the best choices about your health care.

Using the Insurance Options Finder, you can, for the first time through a single tool, identify both the private and the public health coverage options available in your local community.  Through the Health Finder tool, you can find tips to help improve your health and prevent disease.  In the “Information for You” section, you can learn more about your rights as a consumer in the health insurance marketplace and upcoming changes that will benefit you.

The site also allows you and other visitors to give feedback, to help make it even more useful.

www.HealthCare.gov

“We can help families to apply for Health Insurance Enrollment, Completing Food Stamps Applications, Referrals for WIC, Weatherization programs, and more… come to our office or make to make an appointment at 1-866-607-4030 or 916-375-7650 x 246”

• Free Food Distribution every Friday at 11am until supplies last, at Alyce Norman in Room 21

Click here to view our photos of the food distribution.

• St. Joseph Mobile Mall every other month at 11 a.m. (on the second Friday of the month) in the parking lot distributes Cloths and Household items for free!!!

Next visit: August 13th, 2010 at 11 a.m.

• WIC information every second Friday of the month at 11am at Alyce Norman in Room 21

• Health Education Latino Council “healthy food sampling” at Alyce Norman Room 21 every Friday at 11 am

With over 30 high school and adult volunteers, the event ran smoothly and without incident.  The Yolo County Children's Alliance would like to thank the Westfield Elementary School and its staff, the West Sacramento Grocery Outlet, Yolo County Food Bank, St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Wells Fargo, Project Linus, Glass West Inc., Sutter Health, CalSters, First 5 Yolo, the YCCA Board of Directors and all of the other contributors, volunteers and staff.  We look forward to working with all of our collaborators in the future and we are excited about the opportunity to continue hosting the Community Giveaway and serving the community of Yolo County.

In years passed, we've provided over 2,000 people with free food, clothes, household items and toys for their children during this one day event but we need your help!

Please donate any canned or non perishable food items.  These items will go directly to families in the West Sacramento area this holiday season!