August 2019 Newsletter

Backpack Giveaway Events
On August 15, we participated in two partnership Backpack Giveaway events. One is for students living in Ping Yuen and Ping Yuen North; another is for students living in Sunnydale's public housing​.
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Visitacion Valley Strong Families (VVSF), our family resource center in Visitacion Valley, is one of the many community partners for this event. Organized by Mercy Housing for Sunnydale's public housing, attendees must show proof of residency to claim a new backpack filled with school supplies for their underage children.

Lesette Gray, our Youth Employment Coordinator, was at VVSF's table to meet and recruit youth from Sunnydale public housing to enroll in our Mayor's Youth Employment and Education Program (MYEEP) fall session. She has been running this program for close to 20 years, before she joined VVSF.

The day started with a Community Clean-up from 9 am to 12 pm.  The backpack giveaway and community resources fair went from 1 to 8 pm inside the Sunnydale Community Room. In addition there were games, prizes, activities, and food for all.

Ping Yuen's Backpack Giveaway was from 1 to 3:30 pm, accessible to resident households with children in school from K-12 grades. APA is involved at this event because we provide onsite staffing at Ping Yuen. Our social worker's role there is to broker relationships between the households with children and city service providers to remove barriers to housing stabilization.

APA will also be staffing a Youth Activity Coordinator on a part-time basis starting in September 2019 to engage the youth in meaningful after-school, and some weekend, activities.

The Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD), Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC), African American Women's Circle and PYRIA partnered with the Ping Yuen Residents Improvement Association to put on this event.