Chery Carew and Helping Homeless Children Through Family Promise

Even though Chery Carew and her husband Stan, of 35 years, never had kids of their own raising children has been a significant part of their lives.  She filled her home with such warmth and hospitality that many of those Family Promisechildren she helped raise from her extended family lovingly refer to her home as “Hotel Carew.”  Chery is now trying to bring that same sense of kindness and compassion encompassed in “Hotel Carew” to homeless children throughout the South Bay by helping to establish a unique charity called Family Promise.

Family Promise is unique in that it caters specifically to homeless families with children.  Through Family Promise Chery seeks to bring hope, dignity, and a life change for homeless families by providing temporary housing and helping families to develop the tools they need to get back on their feet and into sustainable employment.

Family Promise GirlAs a lifetime resident of the South Bay, Chery knows how homelessness can often go unnoticed. Though not talked about much, it is a significant local problem.  On any given night there are nearly 7000 homeless people in the South Bay.  Many of these are families with young children.  The plight of homeless families is especially difficult as most homeless shelters separate families.  Families that can’t find temporary shelter are often forced to sleep in their cars.  Sadly, some have no choice but to sleep outside.

Chery was inspired to start Family Promise after taking part in a Program that visited over 37 non-profit organizations and witnessing all the good that could be accomplished when one person followed through on their dream.  Despite keeping quite busy as an active member of her church and running a marine equipment consulting firm that she has owned with her husband since 1980, she has made time for Family Promise because she has a  passion for helping the people in the world that have the least.  She wants to help them move up, and to become successful.

Family Promise CardboardTo further that cause, Family Promise will hold two key upcoming fundraisers.  One of these called Cardboard Box City will be held on Saturday, September 20th at the First Christian Church in Torrance.  At that event, people will be able to help create a city out of cardboard boxes as they enjoy an evening of food, entertainment, and chances to win tickets to such locales as Knott’s Berry Farm.  Another event, Empty Bowls, is scheduled for October 11th at the American Martyrs Parish.

Family Promise is also seeking those willing to volunteer in various capacities throughout the organization.  Details on how to get involved, participate in any of the upcoming events, or become a donor can be found here at the Family Promise of the South Bay website.  With your help, Chery will be able to share the “Hotel Carew” experience with many deserving children in the South Bay.

Jim Stump and the Fight to Inform the Public About “Common Core”

Jim StumpJim Stump was born amidst the fanfare of Hollywood, but he is actually not a man that enjoys the spotlight.  He much prefers to do his work quietly behind the scenes and would describe himself more as a foot soldier in the trenches than a general calling the shots.  Much of the work Jim has done in those trenches revolves around education.  He spent 23 years employed by LA Unified School District at times serving as Department Chair and Union Representative.  As a veteran advocate for education, he recently took on the charge of helping to educate people with regard to Common Core and how it’s being implemented in our local schools.

That effort is timely as the Torrance Unified School District (TUSD) is set to begin a new year with an increased focus on implementing the Common Core.  TUSD has been trying to inform concerned parents about Common Core through formal informational sessions held throughout last year.  One of Jim’s concerns, however, is that much of this information, such as the TUSD presentation found here, provides only top-level talking points and leaves parents with lingering questions as they struggle to understand the details of the Program.

To help parents in that regard, Jim Stump has helped organize a local group calling themselves South Bay Common Core Watch.  The aim of the organization is to help educate the community on some of the details of the Common Core Program as well as provide a forum where parents can collaborate and share experiences their children are having at their respective schools.

Common CoreCommon Core is often sold simply as a Program that standardizes curriculum and helps students to think critically by focusing more on the thought process than the answer.  While Jim believes there are many good things about the Program, there are some aspects of Common Core that has caused him concern.

For example, one aspect of Common Core is increased testing.  Under the Program, students may be shuttled to a computer lab for testing as much as once per week.  This could take away from needed classroom instruction.  Teacher performance will also be more closely tied to student test performance causing teachers to focus “on teaching to the test.”

A much larger concern is that students may be subject to psycho-metric testing.  Mixed in with the usual academic questions, students may also be asked questions designed to evaluate their behaviors and tendencies.  The information gained through this type of testing can be stored and later analyzed by the government to create a lifetime psych profile of the student.  Potentially the government could then use that information to discriminate for things like admission into the military or other government employment.  It could also be used as selection criteria into elite universities.

Another concern is the distortion of the standard curriculum.  Subtle changes are appearing in critical subjects like sex education and U.S. history.  Where previously teachers were instructed to focus on aspects of World II like the rise of Nazi Germany and the atrocities committed against Jews, they might now instead focus on how the war provided opportunities for women and minorities to improve their socioeconomic positions and how dropping the atomic bomb raised questions about American values.

Jim would also like parents to know their rights.  Parents can opt out of Common Core testing and take other measures if they are concerned.  How exactly Common Core will be implemented within TUSD is not totally clear at this point.  One thing that is certain, however, is that Jim Stump will continue to work behind the scenes to make sure the public is informed about what exactly this new curriculum entails.

To learn more check out the South Bay Common Core Watch Facebook site below or send an e-mail to obayccwatch@gmail.com to sign-up and receive weekly newsletters on Common Core.

https://www.facebook.com/SBCCWatch

Going Green and the Rise of the Liberal and Progressive Agenda in Torrance

The "Creative Greenius"

The “Creative Greenius”

Sporting a spiffy South Bay Club 350 dress shirt well known environmental activist Joe Galliani, pseudonymed the “Creative Greenius,” made an appearance at the last Council meeting.  South Bay Club 350 is a local climate action group that the Creative Greenius helped organize.  The Greenius took the opportunity to praise the Council for approving the installation of 16 electric vehicle charging stations throughout Torrance.

Galliani, an electric car owner, lauded the $560K project and expressed his belief that it will make Torrance a destination location for electric car owners to come eat, shop, and spend money.  As an advocate for a wide variety of climate related issues throughout the South Bay, he noted that he’s “never seen more Tesla’s in one place than in Manhattan Beach” and that he hoped to see those Tesla’s here in Torrance.  Not to pick bones too much with the revered Greenius, but one might surmise that the prevalence of Tesla’s in Manhattan Beach has a lot more to do with the income of the residents there than the availability of public electric vehicle charging stations.  But I digress.

The Greenius was also undoubtedly ecstatic with an initiative unveiled by fellow electric car owner and green agenda advocate, councilmember Tim Goodrich, to bring Community Choice Aggregation to Torrance.  Galliani’s blog chronicles his recent efforts to fight a bill in the state legislature that he believes would kill Community Choice.  One post even relates how local state representative Al Muratsuchi called him personally to apologize after voting in favor of the Community Choice killing bill claiming he was lied to about the bill’s implications.

PrintCommunity Choice Aggregation is sold as an opportunity for municipalities to exercise local control and leverage group purchasing power to lower energy rates.  But the real boon for climate activists like Galliani is the potential for it to deliver more “green” friendly energy.  For example, the Greenius quoted the Climate Protection Campaign on his blog stating that “Community Choice is the single most powerful measure under local control to achieve the greatest greenhouse gas reductions in the shortest period of time.”

All of that sounds great, but of course Community Choice is not without its risks.  In an apparent botched rollout of a similar program in San Francisco it turned out that green power could end up costing significantly more.  At one point, it was reported that typical electric bills were set to increase from $73 a month to $300 a month.  Cities also incur significant financial risk as start-up costs and long-term financial obligations may not be recovered if the Community Choice Program fails to retain a large and stable customer base.  One study estimated those at risk costs at nearly $4 Million for the City of Berkeley.

No matter how individual residents feel about Community Choice Aggregation it’s not often that historically conservative leaning Torrance is lumped in with liberal bastions like San Francisco, Berkeley, and Marin County some of the other entities currently pursuing Community Choice.

Further evidence of the advance of the green agenda was the Council’s approval for the Mayor to attend the Global Mayor’s Forum in China co-sponsored by the World Urban campaign.  The main focus of that event will be urban sustainability with agenda topics such as reducing carbon footprints and mitigating climate change.

Resident Mark Stephenson criticized the trip, perceived by some as a boondoggle, due to its 50% percent increase in the Mayor’s allotted travel budget and use of economic development funds that former Mayor Scotto previously characterized as very tight.  Perhaps in an attempt to counter those sentiments, Democratic Councilmember Weideman emphatically voiced his support for the trip stating that he “really approved of the item” as it would foster “international networking and long-term economic development.”

It’s not surprising to see far left leaning progressives such as Goodrich advocating for a green agenda.  What may be a surprise to some, however, is the complete acquiescence and seeming support of such initiatives by the two Republicans on the Council, Councilmembers Ashcraft and Rizzo.  In addition to those initiatives mentioned above, just in the last few months we have also seen the Optimized Street Sweeping Program, Car2Go, an increase in union power, and a bypassing of three culturally diverse higher finishing Republicans in the past election in favor of a non-Republican appointee to the Council.  Not a peep of opposition has come from Ashcraft or Rizzo to any of these left leaning decisions.

Ironically, Ashcraft and Rizzo recently headlined at a meeting for the Torrance Democratic Club (TDC) in an evening billed as an opportunity to reach across the aisle.  Given the recent stances of Ashcraft and Rizzo that event may not have been as bi-partisan as advertised by the President of the TDC Jimmy Gow as the positions of these Republicans appear quite indistinguishable from their fellow Democrats on the Council.

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