Read up on what IAMLA is up to in their latest newsletter! They have upcoming events, internships available and some new pieces on display.

Click here to read more about IAMLA.

“Saturday, volunteers at the Harbor Christian Center went above and beyond at Carnegie Middle School in preparation for their Workday project. These volunteers cleaned all of the landscape areas around the campus, picked up trash, and even got things set up for a soon-to-be STEAM lab. This prep project took place ahead of the Workday project sponsored by Phillips 66. Thank you volunteers!”

Click here to learn more about Share Fest. 

This is how Boys and Girls Club of Mountain Communities is helping the communities around them.

“Power Hour
The first hour of every day is devoted to completing homework. Staff assist our members with homework and preparing for tests. Parents get to spend a stress free evening with their kids.

Virtues
Every week we discuss a new virtue and how our members can apply it in their daily lives at the club, school, and home. It is reinforced throughout the week as the kids work and play at the club.

Diversity
Each week we talk about diversity, talking about differences in cultures and beliefs around the world and in our own community. A favorite topic is the different ways our own members celebrate different holidays, their traditions and foods.

Healthy Habits
We encourage healthy foods by providing free healthy snacks every day. Organized and free play games promotes exercise and healthy bodies. Age appropriate discussions covering topics from personal hygiene to drug and alcohol use make the kids aware that they are responsible for their own bodies.”

“The AYS “Share-A-Stand” program brings orchestra members to Markham Middle School in Watts, Robert Frost Middle School in Granada Hills, and Griffith Steam Magnet Middle School in East Los Angeles, mentoring 300 music students.  Over the course of a school year, AYS musicians conduct master classes, lead sectionals, rehearse side-by-side with the students, and hold Q&A sessions where the students can ask about their lives as young musicians. The program includes bus transportation and tickets for students, their families/guardians, and music teachers to attend two AYS concerts; the field trips will both reinforce classroom instruction and provide students with new experiences—for many of the students this will be the first time they have seen a live performance, let alone a performance by professional artists in world-class venues. The year culminates in a combined concert of AYS musicians and each school’s students for the entire school in May.”

Click here to learn more about American Youth Symphony. 

City Impact Counseling Center provides quality Mental Health services to the Ventura County community.  Their commitment is to restore and enhance relationships as well as bring reconciliation and hope to the children, youth and families we serve in the community.
 
Their professional team consists of highly trained licensed and licensed eligible marriage and family therapist (MFT) and social workers (LCSW) that provide individual, couples and group therapy. Counseling is offered in English and Spanish and complies with the California Board of Behavioral Science standards.  Each year their Counseling Center serves over 1,000 children in Ventura County.   Services include:

• Counseling for individuals, couples and groups at main office
• Counseling at Church Satellite Offices – T.O. Emmanuel Church  & Moorpark Presbyterian  
• School-Based Counseling – (based on needs identified by individual schools)
• Student And Family Empowerment (SAFE) counseling for Special Education students
• Parenting Classes – (Parent Project classes)
• Student Support Groups (offered in English & Spanish)​​

City Impact’s Counseling Programs strives to provide quality mental health services to their community at large.  Services are bilingual, family friendly and easily accessible in our main office as well as at church satellite offices, schools, homes and other community venues.  While some counseling is offered at no cost to the client, they provide affordable fees for low-income clients who do not meet program criteria.

“Looking for volunteer opportunities during the weekend? Or maybe even during the week? Big Sunday is always checking among our nonprofit friends for great opportunities to help out. Check out Our REALLY BIG Community Calendar!“

Click here to learn more about Big Sunday. 

Hear Connie’s story and how Door of Hope helped her and her family!

Learn about how Haven Academy of the Arts got their start.

“Fifteen years ago, a teenaged Sunday School teacher partnered with Oceanside Christian Fellowship’s (OCF) Worship Director to battle a well know nemesis in the world of theatre: the cheesy church drama. Dissatisfied with most of the Christian scripts available for church performances, Rebekah Hellerman and Margy Emmons began writing their own musical productions. OCF Youth Theatre was born. Over the years the program morphed from an alternative Christmas production to a full-fledged youth arts program where kids ages 6-18 had numerous opportunities to explore the arts within the safety of a church environment where directors and choreographers cared deeply for each individual child.

Each summer, Rebekah would return home from college to direct a musical. OCF Youth Theatre sponsored four successful Summer Theatre Camps, producing well-known family musicals such as Oliver! and Beauty and the Beast, and participating in outreach in inner-city Los Angeles. With its program doubling in numbers in two short years, Rebekah sensed the need for a year round program where youth could participate in the arts in a safe and nurturing environment. Families who had no connection to OCF Church were signing up to participate in camps and productions. Rebekah noticed the impact OCF Youth Theatre had on the youth who participated. Lives were being transformed.”

In 2007, under the guidance of mentors and friends, Rebekah founded Haven Academy of the Arts, a non-profit organization designed to carry on the traditions of OCF Youth Theatre all year long. OCF Church graciously allowed this new non-profit to use its classrooms and auditorium for rehearsals and performances. Haven opened its doors in September 2008 with its first musical production, The Sound of Music. As a small, start up non-profit, the production featured 30 youth from both OCF and the local community. Haven produced three more musicals that first year and offered a K-5 art class.

Today Haven Academy of the Arts has produced over 25 musicals and serves roughly 300 students annually. Our South Bay productions range from 40-140 cast members, while our new Pico Union branch brings Haven’s after-school arts program directly to under-served youth from the Pico Union neighborhood of inner-city Los Angeles. Our alumni have gone on to be teachers, pastors, nurses, musicians, children’s ministry directors, missionaries, and dentists. We have nurtured incredible leaders who have returned to our program to serve as choreographers, stage managers, administrators, and directors. Haven Academy of the Arts is leaving a legacy with its students, and our students are leaving their own legacy as leaders in the community.”

Click here to learn more about Haven Academy of the Arts.

No problem is too small, too large, or too shocking for the Teen Line volunteers. Here is some great information they put out on self care. 

“You are overwhelmed at school, have extracurricular activity commitments filling up your calendar and family obligations that are fighting for your time and on top of it all, many of your responsibilities are overdue. To make space for all the things you need to do you skip lunch, give up sleep, stop exercising and give up on your social life entirely. When we are stressed self-care is usually the first to go and that only makes things worse.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where phrases like “the greater the sacrifice, the bigger the reward” holds more weight than taking a few moments for self-care. Sometimes sacrificing too much can be counterproductive. Imagine staying up all night to study for a test but then are too tired to concentrate during test time and get a bad grade. When we give up self-care, we lose focus and we lose a little bit of ourselves.

So, what is self-care? Self-care is any activity that we do deliberately to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health. It is also the key to improved mood, reduced anxiety, and enhanced relationships. Thanks to Teen Line Volunteers, here are 17 examples of how to self-care.”

Click here to read the full article.