January 28, 2005

NEWS BRIEFS

Evergreen girls cast in Opera San Jose’s Carmen

Alyssa Jepsky (11) and Stephanie Kaul (13) have been cast in Opera San Jose’s production of “Carmen,” by Georges Bizet. They will appear in nine performances of America’s favorite opera from Feb. 5 – 20 at the historic California Theatre in downtown San Jose. For tickets, call (408) 437-4450. Find out more about these rising stars in the Feb. 12 – 25 issue of the Evergreen Times.

Reminder: Feb. 9, 5:30 p.m.

Mayor Ron Gonzales’ ‘State of the City’ address

This year’s State of the City event will be held in the newly renovated California Theater at 345 South First St. in downtown San Jose on Wednesday, Feb. 9 at 5:30 p.m. The event includes this year’s Good Neighbor Awards and Pride of San Jose Awards. Complementary tickets are required for entry and can be obtained by calling (408) 345-9797.

Complementary parking will be provided in the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. To arrange accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, please call (408) 277-4424 at least 48 hours before the event. (A multimedia version of the invitation may be viewed at www.sjmayor.org/event_library/new_website/JAN05/socinvitefinal.html

Free tax assistance for lower income adults

IRS-certified volunteers will provide tax-aid assistance for lower income persons in 17 public sites throughout the city of San Jose from Monday through Saturday, Feb. 1 – April 15. Times vary according to location.

Free tax preparation is available for lower income clients, with preference given to those over 60 years of age. Tax counselors are available to assist clients in many languages. The Office on Aging can direct eligible older adults to the appropriate site. English, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Burmese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Tagalog, French, Hindi, Vietnamese, Polish, Armenian and Persian are the languages spoken.

Call (408) 277-4790 to locate a site that fits your needs. You may then contact that site and make an appointment. Be prepared to bring last year’s tax returns, this year’s forms with mailing label and all income verifications (W2 or WP2 forms), interest/dividend information (1099’s) and total amount of Social Security or disability payments for calculating credit.

Free Leadership Academy for community development

The Neighborhood Development Center (NDC) is now offering a new series of Community Leadership Academy Trainings.

The Community Leadership Academy, which replaces the former Neighborhood Academy, will now provide training in English, Spanish and Vietnamese year round. These classes are FREE, open to all community members in the city of San Jose and participants may enroll in one or more classes.

For more information or to register, contact the NDC staff at (408) 392-6771 or send an e-mail with your name and phone number to ndc@sanjoseca.gov.

The NDC is also currently updating its neighborhood association database for the upcoming 2005 year. Please contact them if you would like to receive announcements of free training offered by this program as well as a quarterly newsletter on citywide information. Find NDC on the Web at www.sanjoseca.gov/prns/NDC.htm.

Wednesday, Feb. 2

Enrolling volunteers and bringing out their passion

Recruiting volunteers is a key to having successful programs, organizations and events. Volunteers are waiting for you to ask them to help! A class on enrolling volunteers and bringing out their passion will be held at the Neighborhood Development Center, 43 East Gish Rd,, First Floor, in San Jose on Wednesday, Feb. 2 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Presented by Ed Solis, this class will teach you where to find volunteers, how to bring out their passion and what has them stay long term.

Volunteers needed for Child Abuse Prevention Center

Are you interested in making a difference in the lives of abused and neglected children of all ages in Santa Clara and San Mateo County?

The Child Abuse Prevention Center offers you an opportunity to join its Volunteer Case Aide Programs, which assist children and their families by providing services requested by county social workers. Volunteer Case Aides provide many caring tasks for children in foster care. All volunteers will be finger printed and DMV screened.

The Child Abuse Prevention Center, whose focus is to ensure the physical and emotional safety of children, is also recruiting Speaker’s Bureau volunteers to teach child abuse prevention and personal safety to children and adults. Presentation training will be provided.

Bilingual volunteers are encouraged to share their talents with any agency program and students are welcome.

Training class for all volunteers will be held Saturday, Feb. 19 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in San Jose. For more information, call (408) 975-5383.

Emergency response changes in San Jose

Beginning in January, 9-1-1 calls from cellular phones within San Jose are being answered by city of San Jose 911 dispatchers. These calls were previously answered by the California Highway Patrol (CHP), then forwarded to city of San Jose dispatchers once the proper jurisdiction was identified.

This transition will continue over the next several months. Under the new system, CHP dispatchers will still answer 911 calls placed from or near a San Jose highway.

This change is designed to streamline emergency dispatch and response services in San Jose. In preparation for assuming this new service, new software was installed, which allows dispatchers to more accurately pinpoint the location of cellular 911 callers.

Also in January 2005, San Jose residents and businesses will be charged a new fee on their phone bill. The city of San Jose Emergency Communication System Support (ECSS) fee, passed by the San Jose City Council in August 2004, is a monthly charge of $1.75 for each individual line, including cellular phone lines, and $13.13 per trunk line, which are primarily business lines.

Telephone customers with lifeline service and certain other customers, including specified non-profit hospitals, educational organizations and government agencies, are exempt from this fee.

The ECSS fee will help maintain the city’s current 9-1-1 system as well as help improve service for wireless customers by routing cellular 9-1-1 calls directly to city of San Jose dispatchers. For more information, you can call (408) 277-5403 or send an email to ECSSfee@sanjoseca.gov.

YMCA of Santa Clara Valley offers complimentary membership to military families

The YMCA of Santa Valley is offering complimentary six-month memberships to families whose head of household or employed spouse have been called to active military duty in the National Guard or Reserves.

“This program was initiated following the tragedies of 9/11 and we want to continue this special service to support those serving in the National Guard or Reserves,” said Dave Thornton, president and CEO of the YMCA of Santa Clara Valley. “The sacrifices being made by the families of active duty reservists deserve the support of the entire community.”

For immediate consideration, applicants must present a copy of active military orders for the National Guard or Reserves to any local Santa Clara Valley YMCA or telephone (408) 351-6415 or (408) 288-YMCA for information.