Local

By Megan Jamerson

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- On Christmas Day, a documentary film on the city of San Bernardino called Berdoo will premiere on YouTube. The film is the creation of Executive Producer Nishita Matangi, a graduate of Loma Linda University’s School of Public Health. She saw the need to tell the story of a resilient community working to help its youth overcome barriers to simply attending school.

Matangi is originally from Northern California and said she first learned about San Bernardino when she made the decision to move there for graduate school.

“I obviously Googled it and when I Googled it, you can imagine the things that came up,” said Matangi. She saw headlines saying the city was the most unsafe place in California to live and other startling stats.

During her program, a research project on the city’s school district continued to build on that negative narrative. She learned that nearly 18 percent of students chronically miss school. That’s higher than rates seen at the state and national level.

“So with chronic absenteeism, it counts the days the students miss school, maybe because they were sick or they were staying home because they were taking care of family,” said Matangi. “So it accounts for life situations and not just they’re ditching school.”  

But the data didn’t tell the whole story. She remembers the first focus group they did with students, parents, faculty and staff.

“We were all in a room just listening to students kind of banter back and forth, and they were just telling these little life scenarios that you would never even consider, for lack of a better word, a normal upbringing,” said Matangi. “Things like ‘Oh yeah, my dad’s in prison’ or ‘My uncle was shot down the street.’ Right there down the street, and they could pin-point exactly.”

She said while safety was clearly a big issue, students had found ways to adapt and were striving to succeed, with the help of a community that was actively investing in them. And so, the idea to make a film that celebrates the true spirit of San Bernardino was born.

“It’s not a big headline story to say that, hey, this kid woke up and went to school every single day regardless of the fact that his parent was working three or four jobs and nobody was pushing him to go to school,” said Matangi. “It’s just not talked about and I think it’s so sad because these kids, all they hear about their city is the negative, and there’s nobody really sharing the positive side of it.”

The film began production in January of 2020. Filming halted at the start of the pandemic, but the crew got creative and wrapped production in August. One of the community members interviewed in the film is Shanaye Sumner. Sumner said she was asked by Matangi to be in the film after they met at the San Bernardino Food Fest.

“I was excited,” said Sumner. “I didn’t feel like my life was special enough to share that for the film, but once she asked me, I was super excited and I was glad they were doing something on San Bernardino that wasn’t negative.”

Sumner is a 2006 graduate of Cajon High School and said locals like her have a lot of pride in their city. She is also an example of local persistence. Despite growing up seeing substance abuse and violence in the community, she hasn’t lost sight of her childhood dream to become a registered nurse.

“For me personally, I didn’t want to be that statistic,” said Sumner. “Even though the city gets a bad rap, you don’t want to make it look worse by being what everybody expects you to be. So you have to have that mindset, that I got to do what I got to do, no matter what.”

Sumner is now just a few credits away from starting a nursing program. She said the love and support of her grandma has kept her going after getting off track for a while. She would like it if the film inspires others. Executive Producer Matangi agrees and would also like the film to be a gift of hope to the community.

“2020 has been such a rough year,” said Matangi. “San Bernardino has been through so much, just going through its history and it’s come back strong every single time. This is just one more thing to mark down in San Bernardino’s history that people rise up from.”

Berdoo will be available to stream on YouTube for free from December 25 to January 4. To learn more visit berdoofilm.com.

LOS ANGELES, CA—- An organ donor from Moreno Valley will be among those honored by OneLegacy and Donate Life as part of the Tournament of Roses 2021 TV special, “The Rose Parade’s New Year Celebration presented by Honda.” The local donor, Xavier Kesan Brown, passed away at 13 months old. His family chose to donate his liver, lungs, pancreas, both kidneys and small intestine. 

Xavier’s mother, Kayla Fouse, said that donating her son’s organs was the best decision she ever made for him and for her family.  

“It takes love and sacrifice to make the decision to donate organs, but it’s the greatest give anyone could ever give, and I am proud that my son was able to do that,” said Fouse. “While he is not physically here with us, there’s a piece of him still here helping others make memories he wasn’t able to make with us. He has given families more years, more birthdays and more holidays with their loved ones.” 

Since 2004, OneLegacy has been the lead sponsor of the Donate Life Rose Parade float to spread the lifesaving message of organ, eye and tissue donation to an international audience. Although the 2021 parade is canceled due to COVID-19, Donate Life and the OneLegacy Foundation will keep the tradition alive with a 25-foot floral sculpture, honoring 21 deceased donors from across the nation.  

“Lifesaving transplants would not be possible without generous donors and their families, who, in the midst of tragedy as they lose a loved one, find the courage to say yes to donation,” said Tom Mone, chairman of the Donate Life Rose Parade float committee and CEO of OneLegacy, the nonprofit organ, eye and tissue recovery organization serving the greater Los Angeles area. “We are proud and grateful to honor Xavier, and all these donors, whose acts of kindness have given others a second chance at life.” 

The Donate Life floral sculpture, themed “Community of Life,” features a vibrant floral honeycomb built by bees, sharing the important message that we’re stronger when we work together as a community. Individually dedicated roses will adorn this floral installation to honor the gift of life given by donors, donor families, transplant recipients and health care heroes, carrying personal messages of love, remembrance, hope and gratitude. 

The Tournament of Roses 2021 TV special will include live-to-tape musical and marching band performances, heartwarming segments related to the Rose Parade, celebrity guest appearances, special Rose Bowl game football highlights, equestrians, spectacular floats from years past, and a behind-the-scenes look into the making of a float. The Rose Parade TV special will air on various broadcast networks January 1, 2021. 

The Donate Life Rose Parade Experience is produced by OneLegacy and is made possible thanks to dozens of sponsoring donations, transplant, health care and family care organizations along with individuals who help make donation and transplant possible across the country. Sponsors for 2021 include: American Association of Tissue Banks, Axogen, Community Tissue Services, CryoLife, Dignity Memorial Providers of Las Vegas, Donate Life California, Donor Alliance, Donor Network West, JJ’s Legacy, Legacy Donor Services Foundation, Legacy of Hope, LifeLink Foundation, LifeShare of Oklahoma, Lifesharing, LOPA, Nevada Donor Network, New England Donor Services, New Jersey Sharing Network, OneLegacy and Specialist Direct. 

About OneLegacy   

OneLegacy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives through organ, eye and tissue donation in seven counties in Southern California: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and Kern. It serves more than 200 hospitals, 11 transplant centers, a diverse population of nearly 20 million, donors and families across the region, and waiting recipients across the country. For more information, visit onelegacy.org.  

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—The San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD) Board of Education welcomed newly elected trustee Mayra Ceballos during its meeting on Tuesday, December 15.

Ceballos and returning Board of Education members Dr. Margaret Hill, Gwen Rodgers, and Dr. Scott Wyatt were sworn into four-year terms. The Board presented outgoing Board member Michael J. Gallo with a special resolution in honor of his service.

The Board unanimously elected Rodgers to a second term as Board president and Wyatt as vice president.

The Board members develop the policies by which the educational programs and other business of the District are carried out. Meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. and can be viewed live on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCS0je7TAd8.

Meetings are open to the public, except for closed sessions, which the Board is permitted to hold to discuss confidential matters relating to employees, students, or litigation. Actions taken in closed session are reported out at the end of the meeting.

Edited by Naomi K. Bonman, Written by the Smile America Abdi Foundation

The holidays are all about the spirit of giving and Smile America Abdi Foundation had plenty to give this year. On September 24, 2020, the foundation gave out over 400 backpacks with supplies. In October, the foundation gave out 200 homeless survivor kits throughout Rialto, Fontana, San Bernardino, and Colton. In addition to the kits, 10 individuals were able to be placed shelters. This was just the first part of the season, before the holidays kicked off.

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As the days rolled into the Thanksgiving holiday, Smile America Abdi gave out over 200 turkey and chicken plates at Werner Elementary School on November 24. And most recently, on Monday, December 21, over 1000 toys were given away at the same elementary school.

“Not a day or a second that goes by that we do not think of Abdi and Miss Abdi so much,” Farah M., representative of the Smile America Abdi Foundation, stated. “No matter what Abdi’s Spirit is with us and his Love of improving, empowering his Community will continue until the End of time GOD WILLING.”

The Smile America Abdi foundation was founded by Abdi Mohamed of Somalia located in East Africa. He has lived and knows of the struggle that many African Refugees face. However, he noticed that not much was different after relocating to Southern California. He noticed that the Black communities in California were no better than the refugees in Africa.

Mohamed’s love of helping, empowering, motivating, and advocating for his people as continued here in Southern California. In addition to the holiday giveaways, through the foundation he tutors children after school, and he recycles in order to buy pizza at the park so children in the community do not join in local gang groups. He also teaches youth skills in money management, how to fill out college applications and FAFSA forms. He also babysat for single mothers.

Abdi Mohamed did great works for the foundation, but unfortunately, he was killed in 2018; however, his work is not in vain and is now being carried out by his sister Farah Mohamed.

“My brother Abdi believed in bringing local government, local business, and the community together in order to make our community a better place for the next generations to come,” Farah Mohamed said.  

SACRAMENTO – With COVID-19 cases rising at an alarming pace and ICU beds at or nearing capacity statewide, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) today launched the “Mothers” advertising campaign featuring real California moms urging people to stay home this holiday season.

The mothers in this campaign advocate that the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones is to stay at home, wear a mask, wash your hands, and physically distance. This Christmas, staying apart will keep us together.

The campaign’s goal is to encourage Californians to pause plans to gather with extended family and friends for the holidays and shine a light on the catastrophic effect family gatherings can have as COVID-19 continues to spread. Beloved family traditions can continue with video-call present opening or online cookie baking. 

“We have lost more than 20,000 people in California to COVID-19 and are reporting record numbers of new cases again today, which makes every gathering riskier than ever before in this pandemic,” said Dr. Erica Pan, Acting State Public Health Officer. “Tragically, more than 20,000 families will have an empty seat at their holiday tables this year. As a mom and a daughter, I know how painful it will be to miss out on holiday celebrations, but the only way we can end this heartbreak is to protect one another by staying apart and finding alternative ways to show our love this year.”

The campaign will run statewide in English and Spanish throughout December, with additional ads through January. Campaign components include TV, radio, social media and digital platform spots. The campaign has an equity focus as Californians from ethnic and racial minorities are at increased risk of getting sick and dying from COVID-19 because of social inequities.

“The messages from these moms are clear and compelling,” said First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom. “Our cherished extended family traditions can wait. This year, the most important gift we can give our loved ones is protection against COVID-19, and that means staying apart. The Governor, our children and I will be celebrating the upcoming holiday at home without extended family and friends, and we hope you will too. It’s too dangerous otherwise.”

“For me, it’s loving people from a distance,” says Dawnita Flowers, a mother of two from Riverside, who is featured in the ads. “If I don’t see you it’s because I love you more.”

The new campaign is made possible with $9 million in funding from Kaiser Permanente and is in partnership with The Center at Sierra Health Foundation. The concept was designed by Gallegos United, a California-based, Latino advertising agency. It was filmed with actual California mothers, in accordance with CDPH’s strict public health guidelines for filming. Under the state’s Regional Stay at Home Order, public service advertising is a permitted, critical infrastructure activity.

To view the Mothers ads, English:

Spanish: 

The campaign website is LoveMeansStayingAway.org.

For more tips about keeping yourself and your community safe over the holidays, go to https://covid19.ca.gov/holidays/.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- San Bernardino County has filed an action directly in the California Supreme Court asking the court to find that the governor’s stay-at-home orders exceed the authority found in the California Emergency Services Act. The county seeks to exercise local control in response to the COVID-19 pandemic rather than be restrained by the state’s regional approach that treats San Bernardino County the same as significantly different counties such as Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Diego.

“The governor is not permitted to act as both the executive and legislative branch for nine months under the California Emergency Services Act,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Curt Hagman. “If it is concluded that the act allows him to do so, the act is unconstitutional as it permits the delegation of the Legislature’s powers to the executive branch in violation of the California Constitution.”

San Bernardino County has worked tirelessly on behalf of county residents and businesses urging the state to recognize that the county’s size and geographic diversity should allow for fewer restrictions in communities with lower COVID-19 metrics than the county as a whole.

“The governor declared that the state’s approach would be based on science and data, but the state has not produced science or data that suggest the restrictions he has imposed would address the current trajectory of the pandemic in San Bernardino County,” said former Supervisor Josie Gonzales, who joined the county in the Supreme Court filing as a private citizen.

The filing states the county seeks to reclaim its constitutional authority “to tailor regulations and orders which are specific to its residents based on facts which are unique to their locations rather than subject its residents to overbroad multi-county, Governor-implemented, regionalized lockdowns.”

By Dale Hunter | In Partnership with California Black Media 

Depending on where in California you live, some of the water from your faucet probably traveled hundreds of miles from its origins: either a melting snowbank in the high Sierra Nevada or a winter rainstorm that doused its foothills. 

That origin point, California’s headwaters, on average receive 60 percent of the state’s annual precipitation falling as rain or snow. Californians consume roughly the same amount of water after it flows through streams and rivers into reservoirs, accounting for half of the state’s surface water storage. 

However, the harsh reality of destructive wildfires that mar every California warm season — especially this year — can also hit these headwater forests. When these catastrophic blazes, which are driven by climate change, burn through forests, they can affect water treatment because ash is washed into watershed streams and rivers.

Intense heat from these fires bakes the ground into hardpan. Seasonal rains wash ashes off the surface into streams leading to reservoirs that feed water treatment plants. Water providers can still treat and deliver safe drinking water, but the ash makes the job more difficult because it adds sediment to the reservoirs. 

The good news is there are solutions within our reach. Work to achieve those solutions is underway in many parts of the Sierra Nevada and requires reversing a hundred years of well-intentioned, but ultimately destructive forest management. 

During most of the last century, wildland firefighting focused exclusively on preventing forest fires from starting. And When one did start, minimizing its size at all costs was the main priority. However, this strategy ignored the natural role of fire over millennia. Ignited by lightening or set by Native Americans who understood its value, natural fire kept forests thinned and healthy by removing excess undergrowth. These fires tended to creep along the forest floor and burn less hot and in more controlled patterns than today’s raging and record-setting conflagrations. 

However, large swaths of forests kept largely free from fire have overgrown. Instead of larger trees spaced apart, much of the Sierra Nevada headwater forests have become a thick carpet of smaller trees packed together and growing over dense underbrush. Years of severe and intermittent drought have cooked this vegetation into bone-dry kindling, explosive fire fuel that feeds all-consuming fires such as the ones that swept through California and the Pacific Northwest this year. 

Removing this undergrowth, thinning headwater forests back to their natural state and restoring the role of fire within the ecosystem represents a massive undertaking, but is not impossible. In California, public water agencies, environmental nonprofit organizations, as well as local and state agencies and the federal government are collaborating on many levels to enhance headwaters health, and in doing so protect the quality and reliability of our water supplies. 

Natural fire has partially returned through what are known as prescribed burns. Set outside of the height of fire season and closely monitored, this tactic has successfully cleared out overgrowth in limited sections of forest. There are risks, and these fires do affect air quality, but the alternative is far worse. Another tactic, although labor intensive, is employing work crews to manually thin sections of forests. These projects often use heavy machinery, such as masticators, which are tractor-mounted woodchippers. 

One example can be found in the Northern Sierra Nevada. The Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) is leading a public-private partnership that treated more than 1,000 acres of forest in the Lake Tahoe area during 2019. Over 10 years, this single project aims to restore health to 22,000 acres of forest within the headwaters of the American River, a major source of water for the Sacramento area. 

Making those forests less vulnerable to catastrophic wildfires will require a long-term financial commitment, as well as determination. However, as with many challenges with California water, collaboration involving water agencies has opened a clear path toward a more resilient future for our state’s water supply. 

Offices remain open. Customers encouraged to go online first.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles is temporarily suspending behind-the-wheel driving tests for at least two weeks beginning December 14. The DMV is taking this step for the health and safety of customers and employees during the current statewide surge in COVID-19 cases.

“Behind-the-wheel drive tests require two people to share space in one vehicle and – while we have made numerous changes to safeguard the testing process – the current surge in COVID-19 cases presents increased risk to both parties,” said DMV Director Steve Gordon. “While our field offices remain open to serve the public, we hope customers will first go online to take care of their DMV needs.”

In-vehicle testing is a requirement for first-time driver’s license holders and commercial license applicants. The temporary suspension includes commercial and noncommercial tests but does not apply to motorcycle drive tests, which can be conducted at a safe distance.

Customers with scheduled appointments in the next two weeks will be notified their tests are canceled. The DMV will automatically reschedule the tests at a later date.

DMV drive test examiners will be redirected to assist with other customer transactions.

The DMV previously suspended drive tests for three months beginning in mid-March. The DMV resumed administering behind-the-wheel tests in June with safety protocols in place, including required face coverings, temperature checks, cracked windows for increased air circulation and seat covers.

Californians who do not have an urgent need to go to a DMV field office should delay their visit, including those interested in applying for a REAL ID. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has announced that the REAL ID enforcement date is October 1, 2021, and customers who want a REAL ID will have an opportunity to apply at a later date.

To protect customers and employees, the DMV requires everyone who enters the DMV to wear a face covering, physically distance and have their temperature checked. To best serve customers and maintain appropriate distance, the number of people allowed in the office is limited, chairs are appropriately spaced and plexiglass has been installed.

The DMV continues to recommend that customers use its online services, expanded virtual services and other service channels to complete transactions including eligible driver’s license and vehicle registration renewals. Nearly all Californians can now renew their driver’s license online – even if the renewal notice states an office visit is required. Customers can also use the Service Advisor on the DMV website to learn their options to complete DMV tasks.

Written by Naomi K. Bonman

SAN BERNARDINO, CA— In an effort to make the holidays special for families in need, Community Action Partnership of San Bernardino County will be hosting a Mobile Toy Shop on Saturday, December 19 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at San Bernardino Valley College located at 701 South Mt. Vernon Avenue in San Bernardino.

There are a few requirements that must be met in order for families to participate, which are that: You must be a resident of San Bernardino County and you must register online before attending. Families can register at mobiletoyshop.eventbrite.com where they can purchase one ticket per household. It is asked that you do not register for multiple time slots or the same time slot multiple times, doing so will delete your registration.

This event is also in collaboration with the Family and Friends Foundation, and is sponsored by: SoCalGas, Health Net, ConvergeOne, Southern California Edison, Union Bank, and Citizens Business Bank.

For more information, please call (909) 723-1558 or email fdpservices@capsbc.org.

By Quinci LeGardye | California Black Media 

More than half of California is now under a regional stay-at-home order. 

Last week, when the governor announced the impending shutdown, he said health officials had carved the state into five regions. Their goal is to coordinate a broad emergency response that would reach across county lines and consider the proximity and capacity of health services within each area based on population and density. Those regions are: Northern California; Greater Sacramento; Bay Area; San Joaquin; and Southern California. 

Effective Dec. 6 at 11:59 p.m., the Southern California and San Joaquin Valley regions went under the order after both areas’ intensive care unit (ICU) capacities fell under 15 % — the threshold Gov. Newsom set last week as the bar that would trigger shutting down. 

Five Bay Area counties also went under the order voluntarily on Dec. 6. 

But as the state strengthens restrictions, Republican lawmakers are calling for transparency. They are calling on Gov. Newsom to share data that detail the affects that COVID-19 related restrictions have had on Californians. On Dec. 3, Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) called on the governor to revise the state’s re-opening standards, called the Blueprint for a Safer Economy. 

In November, Grove wrote a letter asking the governor to allow gyms, museums, places of worship and restaurants to remain open for indoor use with social distancing guidelines whenever the state enforced its strictest social isolation policies under the Blueprint for a Safer Economy. 

Last week, Grove also called on Gov. Newsom to release data relating to mental health, domestic violence and the achievement gap in education between Black and Brown students (and lower income students across the board) and their White peers since March. 

“Californians have a right to public health data that is being used to shape their lives, and the governor owes the state leadership that is committed to transparency and accountability. We have to ensure the state’s actions are based on a holistic approach that protects out mental, social, and emotional well-being along with our physical health,” said Grove. 

State health officials announced Dec. 5 that ICU capacity had fallen to 12.5 % in the Southern California region, and 8.6 percent in the San Joaquin Valley region. Statewide, California had the highest number of new coronavirus cases for one day on Dec. 5, with 25,000 new reported cases. 

The stay-at-home order went into effect three days after Gov. Newsom announced the 15 % threshold for ICU. capacity. It affects 33 million Californians, 80 % of the state’s population. The order will last for three weeks, and it will be renewed on a weekly basis until the region’s projected I.C.U. capacity increases to 15 % or more. 

“We are at a tipping point in our fight against the virus and we need to take decisive action now to prevent California’s hospital system from being overwhelmed in the coming weeks,” Newsom said. 

Under the order, gatherings of any size of people from more than one household are prohibited. Non-essential businesses must close, including bars, wineries, hair salons and barber shops, nail salons, museums, movie theaters, playgrounds, indoor recreation facilities and amusement parks. Travel is also prohibited except as necessary for permitted activities, such as working at essential businesses or doing necessary shopping. 

Retail businesses can stay open, but they are limited to 20 % capacity, and restaurants can only do takeout or delivery. Schools that are already open for in-person instruction can remain open along with critical infrastructure businesses. Also, worship services and protests are allowed as long as they take place outdoors. 

Though most activities are now closed, the state government encourages members of the same household to visit parks and beaches, which remain open under the order, to maintain their physical and mental health. 

The current stay-at-home order is the most restrictive statewide order since the March 19 order, which closed everything except essential businesses. On Nov. 21, the state directed counties with high caseloads to stay home and close non-essential businesses between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., but case numbers continued to rise. 

The regional stay-at-home-order also comes soon after the Thanksgiving holiday. Public health officials have expressed their fear that the impact of Thanksgiving has yet to be seen, since any possible COVID-19 infections from that time can begin to show symptoms within the next week or so. 

“We know that those cases that occurred around people’s dinner tables or activities and travel through Thanksgiving are going to show up right about now,” said California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly on Dec. 7. “We believe that the levels of transmission that we’ve been reporting will likely continue to go up because of those activities.” 

The current list of counties under the stay-at-home order as of Dec. 7 include: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Imperial, Inyo, Mono, Calaveras, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Benito, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tulare, Tuolumne. The Bay Area counties under the order include: San Francisco, Santa Clara, Contra Costa and Alameda, with Marin County going under the order Dec. 8.