California State University, Monterey Bay
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Harvesting Hope: How La Casa de La Cultura Serves Migrant Families Through Health and Advocacy Programs
Get PDFThis project aims to enhance community engagement in Pajaro through strategic outreach and marketing efforts for weekly meetings hosted at La Casa de la Cultura. By increasing awareness and participation, the initiative seeks to empower residents, especially those from marginalized backgrounds, to access vital resources and services. The project will collect data on attendance and community interests, leading to more tailored presentations that address pressing concerns. Ultimately, this outreach aims to foster a unified, informed community capable of advocating for its needs and accessing available support systems effectively
Addressing the Issue of Public Defender Excessive Caseload in Low-Income Communities
Get PDFThe Monterey County Public Defender’s Office plays a vital role in providing legal representation to low-income individuals, ensuring their constitutional rights are upheld. Although the office effectively fulfills its mandate, it aims to enhance defense support by exploring ways to reduce attorney workloads and improve service quality. This project was developed to assess attorney-to-client ratios, identify staffing needs, and evaluate the potential benefits of integrating paralegals into the team. Using a mixed-methods approach, the project included interviews with attorneys to gather insights on workload challenges and identify tasks that could be delegated to paralegal staff. Findings revealed that certified paralegals could alleviate attorneys’ administrative burdens, enabling them to dedicate more time to case preparation and client representation. The project recommends incentivizing current legal secretaries to obtain paralegal certification as a cost-effective and sustainable strategy to strengthen the office’s legal support infrastructure. Future steps include establishing partnerships for paralegal training programs and evaluating the impact of these changes on attorney efficiency and client satisfaction
The Forgotten S.O.P.
Get PDFThe Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development (iiED) is dedicated to cultivating entrepreneurship and economic growth within the Monterey Bay. Its goal is to create a pipeline of entrepreneurs from the Monterey Bay region who remain local and are able to increase the number of businesses and high-paying jobs in the area. To reach this goal, iiED provides multiple opportunities to its participants and tailors those opportunities based on their feedback.
Recently, iiED’s management has begun to experience turnover as individuals retire or reduce their work hours. As a result, iiED has begun to depend on the specialized knowledge of key individual employees, which jeopardizes its sustainability. This project aims to redistribute the workload of key employees to reduce the risk of burnout by creating comprehensive job aids and standard operating procedures (SOP) for iiED’s budget management and has assisted with the facilitation of the creation of an accounting intern position. This position will take on some of the more timely tasks associated with budget tracking and reconciliation. Moving forward, iiED will need to maintain these job aids and provide training for any future accounting interns. It is also recommended that iiED focus on creating manuals for each of its positions that contain SOPs, job aids, position tasks, and resources that are position-specific. iiED should also continue to use team task tracking tools, like Basecamp, to ensure task continuity in the event of sudden turnover
Bridging the Gap of Client Engagement with Mental Health Services
Get PDFWithin Monterey County there is a continuum of deterioration of mental health and substance use. The Monterey County Behavioral Health: Adult Post Hospital Team (APHT) provides acute care to clients who are being discharged from the Emergency Room or Mental Health Unit with a mental health or substance use disorder. The purpose of the project is to help bridge the gap of client engagement through different collaborative methods of post hospital care. By analyzing quantitative data from the APHT tracking sheet and gathering qualitative insights through case notes and interviews with two mental health professionals, the researcher aims to determine whether clients are disengaging due to a lack of basic necessities, which may be creating a barrier to their involvement. With a random sample of the clients, it was found that 100% have MediCal health insurance, 20% are homeless, and 80% of clients have a phone number listed to get in contact with them. Although the lack of basic necessity was not the outcome, it was concluded that all of the clients from the random sample got closed by the agency because they never called back or stayed in contact with their case manager. For this outcome, I would recommend that the agency starts to work collaboratively with the discharge team in the hospital, and advances their telephon
iPhone and Android Phone Manual
No full textThe Veterans Transition Center of California (VTC) is committed to promoting housing stability for homeless veterans and their families in Monterey County. Case managers work to ensure each veteran receives the support necessary for stability and reintegration. To enhance services, a needs assessment was conducted to evaluate veterans’ current skill levels and identified additional assistance with online navigation through a cell phone manual. The manual will cover key functions, online navigation, and accessibility features for individuals with disabilities. The manual will empower veterans by providing detailed instructions for staying connected, accessing healthcare services, applying for jobs, and using various online resources. A survey will be conducted to understand the current skill levels of veterans and identify areas needing additional support. The goal is to help veterans achieve self-sufficiency, improve their quality of life, reduce homelessness risk, and maintain their well-being, education, and social participation. Veterans experiencing homelessness frequently rely on support systems, including case managers, veterans\u27 organizations, and social services. The cell phone manual aims to help veterans gain digital skills to use smartphones effectively, supporting their transition to civilian life
Empowering Minds: Navigating Mental Health through Workshop based learning
Get PDFLuna Y Sol is an organization located in Santa Cruz county, specifically in Watsonville. The organization serves youth with the ages ranging from 12 to 17 and their families. Luna Y Sol supports youth with Mental Health, Trauma and those who are exposed or have direct involvement with violence. The program offers youth a safe place and community for them to visit when needed. The project implemented at Luna Y Sol consisted of a four part mental health workshop for youth. The purpose was for youth to become more aware and familiarized on the topic of mental health which included, what it is, finding healthy coping mechanisms and where to seek help if needed. Finding collected from pre and post surveys showed a majority of youth showed an increase in knowledge from the first workshop to the last. The project partially met its expected outcomes. It was partially met because plenty of youth showed an increase in mental health knowledge and resources which was the goal. The organization did notice the consistency was not there from everyone which impacted the results for some. The next steps Luna Y Sol could take to address the issue is creating and having weekly workshops for the youth. A recommendation would be to survey and take suggestions from youth who go on what they would like to see from the organization on the topic of mental health and what resources they would like to see more of
Educational Benefits of School Gardening Programs for Elementary Aged Students
Get PDFThis capstone project aims to discuss the educational benefits of school gardening programs for elementary age students. Through detailed academic research and in the field interviews with educators and administrators, it was determined that school gardening programs have a positive impact on student success in science and in connection with nature. Interviews were conducted with two principals, two garden teachers, and three classroom teachers. Throughout the project, obstacles were faced head on and limitations were lessons learned. Based on research studied and conducted, a recommendation for increased implementation of school gardening programs were made
Interview with Tracey Torres
No full textTracey Torres owns a lowrider car, and teaches high school. She shares stories of early car experiences in her interview. She also discusses teaching, and student interest in lowriding. Tracey discusses Chicano/Chicana culture, and the joy she finds in lowriding.https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/ohcma_lowrider/1004/thumbnail.jp
Geography, Climate, and Habitat Shape the Microbiome of the Endangered Rock Gnome Lichen (Cetradonia linearis)
Get PDFBacterial symbionts are essential components of healthy biological systems. They are increasingly recognized as important factors in the study and management of threatened species and ecosystems. Despite management shifts at the ecosystem level, microbial communities are often neglected in discussions of holobiont conservation in favor of the primary members of a symbiosis. In this study, we addressed the bacterial community knowledge gap for one of two federally endangered lichen species in the United States, Cetradonia linearis (Cladoniaceae). We collected 28 samples of the endangered rock gnome lichen (Cetradonia linearis) from 13 sites and characterized bacterial communities in thalli using 16S rRNA metabarcoding to investigate the factors influencing the microbiome composition and diversity within the thallus. We found that Proteobacteria (37.8% ± 10.3) and Acidobacteria (25.9% ± 6.0) were the most abundant phyla recovered. Cyanobacteria were a major component of the microbiome in some individuals, despite this species associating with a green algal symbiont. Habitat, climate, and geography were all found to have significant influences on bacterial community composition. An analysis of the core microbiome at a 90% threshold revealed shared amplicon sequence variants in the microbiomes of other lichens in the family Cladoniaceae. We concluded that the bacterial microbiome of Cetradonia linearis is influenced by environmental factors and that some bacterial taxa may be core to this group. Further exploration into the microbiomes of rare lichen species is needed to understand the importance of bacterial symbionts to lichen diversity and distributions
Matching people struggling with mental health and homelessness to resources
No full textToo many people struggle with mental health problems. The County of Monterey Behavioral Health Access Team is a local government agency within the County of Monterey Behavioral Health (MCBH) Bureau. They provide outpatient services for children, adolescents, adults who are experiencing psychiatric or substance use problems. Contributing factors to poor mental health are due to lack of access to services, having a lower socioeconomic status, and trauma. The consequences to this issue leads to homelessness, substance abuse, and suicide. The purpose of the project was to connect county residents to housing and other resources. As a result, twelve clients were successfully placed on a centralized waiting list to attain services, which will help improve mental health. This project was a success. The expected outcomes were achieved, and the project will continue to be implemented going forward because of how well it was received