The Role of Art in the Community

After seeing the art that you saw on Monday, both the
public art and the art in galleries, what role do you
feel art plays in our community? How might the
community be different WITHOUT the art that we saw?

See you in May!

What about hope?

On our SJLA day earlier this week, you heard quite a large number of
despairing comments: not enough money was the overriding one. Both
from the City Council members and from Chris at VMC, the main issue
was that there are huge areas of unmet needs. But my question is, did
you find any ray of hope in what you heard? Was there a positive
message that you were able to take away at all? If so, what was it?
If not, what are our options for the future?

City Hall and Valley Med

SJLA "took it all the way to city hall" this month as they visited the San Jose City Hall. The day started with discussions with three of San Jose's city council members, Pete Constant (District 1), Sam Liccardo (District 3), and Pierluigi Oliverio (District 6). The class asked some very relevant and compelling questions about the city's budget crisis, the Little Saigon controversy and city leadership in general. Then it was on to a tour of the city hall and council chambers.

Afterward they were off to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, a public hospital owned and operated by the county of Santa Clara. While there they toured Valley Med's Regional Burn Center, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and world-class Rehabilitation Program.

Making a Difference

"Thank you each for working as hard as you did
Tuesday you really made a difference!

In fact, I'm curious: what does that mean to you, to
make a difference? For whom/for what did you make a
difference? Give me a couple of examples of making a
difference‚ that happened yesterday. How did they make
you feel?

See yourselves in action in the post below!

See you next month.

Labor of Love

There are so many resources that exists within our community that would be thrown away if it were not for the inspiration and ingenuity of ordinary people who see a situation, get and idea and follow it through. This month, SJLA got to experience two organizations and that started just this way. We also met with some of the community leaders who have built and run these organizations to benefit thousands through out Santa Clara County who they may never meet. We first joined Village Harvest at a private residence for some backyard fruit picking.

Village Harvest is a nonprofit volunteer organization in Santa Clara Valley, California, which brings together neighbors and community organizations to provide food for the hungry, preserve our agricultural heritage and skills, and promote sustainable use of urban resources.

A backyard fruit tree usually produces far more fruit than a household can use themselves, and there is more than enough going to waste from our own backyards and farms to provide for our local community’s hungry. Village Harvest addresses this food distribution problem by organizing volunteer teams to harvest backyard fruit and donate it to charitable food agencies and organizations, by educating homeowners on fruit tree care and harvesting, and by providing education on food preservation such as making jams and preserves from home-grown fruit. Village Harvest's contribution to charitable food agencies has grown from 37,000 pounds in 2002 to well over 100,000 pounds today.

SJLA students worked along side volunteers from Village Harvest to pick and package 2500 lbs. of pounds of fruit in just a couple of hours! This is 20%of Village Harvests total fruit picked to date this year! They then helped load the fruit up at the residence and unload it at Second Harvest Food Bank.

After Village Harvest, we headed to Resource Area For Teachers (RAFT). RAFT is a non-profit organization that provides creative hands-on activities, educational resources, workshops and inexpensive materials, (many donated by local businesses), to enrich pre K-12 education and community group programs. SJLA students worked with RAFT staff and other volunteers to help sort and package donated material that are then sold to Bay Area teachers. Prices are greatly reduced because most materials are donated by Bay Area companies and repurposed for teachers through the work of volunteers. For more information take the VIDEO TOUR of RAFT.

Walk a Mile in a Cop's Shoes

For January the SJLA toured the San Jose Police Training Facility and the Santa Clara County Jail. During their time at the SJPD training facility many of the students were afforded the opportunity to experience what it might be like to be a police officer by participating in real life police scenarios in the SJPD Forced Options Training Simulator (FOTS), a computer generated simulation with a variety of hazardous situations based on real cases. Training with this system allows participants to make mistakes and learn from them in a simulated environment so they are better prepared for real situations.


We asked some of the SJLA participants what they thought of their experience and how it changed their perspective on law enforcement.

What did you see at the Jail or SJPD that you'll never forget?

Hi everyone: We had quite a day today, didn't we? I hope you enjoyed it, and found it to be worthwhile. We saw and experienced many things that hopefully will stay with you.

Over the years, when I run into graduates of SJLA, invariably they'll say, "I'll never forget when I saw.........on criminal justice day!"
What are a couple of images from today that have stuck with you already? Why do you think those are the images that are vivid?

What did you see that you'll never forget?

I'd like you to respond to this question by Monday, Jan. 28.

Have a great week!

Rick