Photo by Joseph A. Garcia 
The State of California, like the rest of the country, has experienced an economic downturn unlike anything seen in decades. This has led to a reduction in availability of financial resources for Aspiranet, as our work increases with the growing number of children and families in need. These are difficult times, and difficult times bring with them difficult decisions.
At Aspiranet, we will continue to uphold our commitment to the future of children. Aspiranet touches the lives of over 5,000 children and families every year. Your gift will support children and families we serve statewide: We find loving and nurturing foster and adoptive homes; we work to prevent child abuse and neglect; we provide in-home services to high risk families as they care for their infants and toddlers; we meet the learning and behavioral challenges of troubled adolescent boys; and we help emancipating foster youth transition successfully to emotional and financial independence.
Our vision is to take collective action to support communities as they love and care for children. When we come together to love and care for children, we create stronger, healthier and safer communities.
(CENTRAL CALIFORNIA) Aspiranet, one of the largest foster care and family services agencies in California, invites the community to participate in its annual Holiday 2009 Toy Drive across five counties in Tulare, Kern, Fresno, Kings, and Mariposa.
Through this toy drive, Aspiranet builds a bridge between the generosity of the community and the holiday wishes of foster children. Now through December 20, customers can take “wish ornaments” from 76 Starbucks stores and return them with the child’s holiday “wish” for distribution to the foster children, just in time for the holidays.
“The socially responsible staff of Starbucks motivated their customers to become involved,” and allowed Aspiranet to distribute gifts to a record number of children in 2008,” said Vernon McFarland Brown, CEO of Aspiranet.
“Foster families are our society’s unsung heroes,” notes Jeannie Imelio, Central Valley Regional Director of Aspiranet. “They play a key part in our community, providing homes, care, and support for children of all ages. Their successes are team efforts – partnerships in parenting and community building in which all can play a part; from corporate partners to the support and generosity of everyday citizens, it’s a success story that greatly exceeds the sum of its parts.”
Aspiranet is pleased to announce that the Foster family is featured on a new website called “Picture the Rewards,” which was developed to help Aspiranet’s foster children. 
Noe and Yvonne Garcia became certified foster parents with Aspiranet in January 2007. They became foster parents to help children in need of a home, but the Garcia’s were not thinking of adopting. They never expected to meet a child they could not let go of! Jade came to live with them in March 2007, and they quickly grew very attached to him. When it became clear that he would be going up for adoption, the Garcia's made the decision that they would adopt Jade. It was a long process, but through perseverance and commitment, Jade was adopted on National Adoption Day 2009! Jade’s photo is featured in the article linked below which was published in the Stockton Record. His face clearly shows how excited he was to have found his forever family! 
It’s a match made in heaven – Aspiranet’s commitment to foster families and a corporation with a will to support their inspiring work. Thus, while many simply advocate for the support of low-income families, Oakridge Old Navy and Aspiranet take action, last week delivering free clothing to nine foster children in three homes. Old Navy store manager Eric Jasmine personally visited the families at the San Jose Aspiranet offices to deliver the goods to the grateful kids.The event inspired Jasmine to network with other store managers, resulting in a broader alliance between Aspiranet and Old Navy, to commence Nov. 30, when 10 stores – from the South Bay to the Gold Coast, including Oakridge, Fremont, Eastridge, Marina, Salinas, Gilroy, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Valley Fair, and Westgate – will place donation barrels in-stores for customers to join the effort. The donation program will run through Dec. 5.
Get the latest SNBC news in our bilingual November 2009 Newsletter (pdf). Download it now!
With daily news reports regarding the H1N1 (Swine) flu, we’d like to take this opportunity to address this important public health issue with you. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the symptoms of H1N1 flu are similar to seasonal flu and include: fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, and fatigue. Some individuals may also experience diarrhea and vomiting.
Recently the Central Coast Aspiranet office had its inaugural fundraising event called “The Black Vest Affair” Motorcycle Run. It was a lot of fun and a beautiful day for everyone. We are sorry that many of you could not attend. So we decided to offer t-shirts from the event!
Event: Ice Cream Social Celebration
Title: Adoption Day Resource Fair
REACH and Tulare County Celebration
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has published a practice guide which offers recommendations for improving behavior among elementary students. Reducing Behavior Problems in the Elementary School Classroom offers five key recommendations to help school staff identify and improve problem behaviors, as well as teach and reinforce new skills.
To view the guide, click here: http://bit.ly/1SAkmp
On Tuesday, August 4, Aspiranet Sunset Neighborhood Beacon Center (SNBC) hosted a National Night Out event at its Rec Connect Center.
SNBC Director of Policies and Partnerships Michael Funk, San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong, SNBC Rec Connect Program Director Ryan McCarthy, and Aspiranet CFO Lewis Overton, Jr.
The nationwide National Night Out campaign is a unique crime/drug prevention event sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch. The campaign involves citizens, law enforcement agencies, civic groups, businesses, neighborhood organizations, and local officials from over 15,000 communities from all 50 states, U.S. territories, Canadian cities and military bases worldwide. In all, over 37 million people participated in National Night Out 2008.
National Night Out is designed to:
SNBC participated in the event with an open invitation to the Sunset Neighborhood to partake in free food, games, face painting, and music at SNBC's National Night Out BBQ! The event was held on a sunny afternoon at the SNBC Rec Connect Center, at which SNBC is working to strengthen San Francisco recreation centers as lively community hubs with new and improved programs for youth and their families.
To view a photo gallery of pictures taken at the SNBC National Night Out Community BBQ, please visit http://snbc.org/photos/national-night-out-2009
Kids and Family Fun DayPictured: Brittany Latherow (Amy's daughter), Amy, Tony, Michael, and Richard Gill.
To learn more about Sibling Connection Initiative, please visit http://www.aspiranet.org/FosterCare/SiblingConnection.aspx
1838 Eastman Ave, #100PRIDE Trainings
Aspiranet has adopted PRIDE as it’s pre-certification training for prospective foster parents and adoptive parents. PRIDE is an acronym for Parent Resources for Information, Development and Education. PRIDE is a nationally recognized training that was created as a collaborative effort on the part of more than 150 foster parents, adoptive parents, social workers and educators.
The PRIDE training is beneficial for all foster and adoptive parents and Aspiranet is requiring that all currently certified foster families be trained in PRIDE. Families that have not articipated in PRIDE training during pre-certifi cation are required to have the PRIDE training by June 2010 as part of their continuing education training.
In July we had the first training in Ventura that combined pre-certification families with already certified families. The addition of the certified families to the training group enriched
the experience for all. As the trainer, it was great to have so many experienced families sharing their skills and experiences with the group. It made for a very enriching training. We often have had Foster Parents serve on the Foster Parent Panel during one hour of training which was always one of the best parts of training, and it is wonderful to now have Foster Parents share throughout the entire training. I look forward to seeing you at an upcoming PRIDE training!
"The first time they say they love you.""All of the hardship... is paid back time and time again by the smile on their faces..."
"They're part of your family and you love them, and they know that""You can't describe the joy you feel with these children..."
From Grantee Magazine, a California Wellness Foundation publication
Studies of Experience Corps volunteers show that the program provides multiple health and social benefits. The Johns Hopkins Schools of Medicine and Public Health surveyed volunteers who had participated in the program for four to eight months. These seniors said they were more active (63 percent) and felt stronger (44 percent). They had also made new friends and spent fewer hours watching TV.
With a deep commitment to communities, Mike Christian, founder of Smokey's House of Barbecue restaurant in Oxnard, is helping to make a difference in the lives of children and families throughout Southern California.
by Marina R. Hernandez
The atmosphere at the Camarillo Moose Lodge High Tea was that of another era – one during which ladies would gather and enjoy the company of one another for high tea. The event provided attendees with the opportunity to take time out of their busy schedules to socialize with old friends, make new acquaintances, and sip tea. A few men from the Loyal Order of Moose volunteered as butlers, serving the ladies hot water for their tea.
