Blue Ribbon - Music Center
http://www.musiccenter.org

Blue Ribbon Children’s Festival

The annual Blue Ribbon Children's Festival is specifically designed for fifth grade students. Celebrating its 39th year, the festival will take place on March 18, 19 and 20, 2009 featuring Ailey II, the acclaimed dance company established by Alvin Ailey.

The Music Center invites fifth grade teachers and their students from the greater Los Angeles area to participate. Following each performance, students join together on the Music Center Plaza to perform a short dance inspired by the production. Participating schools receive curriculum materials, instructions for the student dance, background on the dance company, and classroom activities to help prepare their students for the performance. For many students, the Children's Festival is their first live performing arts experience.

The Children's Festival is sponsored by The Blue Ribbon, a support group of the Music Center founded in 1968 by Dorothy Buffum Chandler. The annual festival was created in 1970 and is one of California's longest ongoing free arts education programs, hosting over 650,000 children since its inception. In 1998, through the generosity of its members, The Blue Ribbon created an endowment to fund the Children's Festival in perpetuity. The chairs for the 2009 Festival are Maralee Beck and Karen Kay Platt.

Thanks to a generous gift from Blue Ribbon member Maxine Dunitz, the Music Center developed a children's book titled "A Journey Through the Music Center" that is presented to all students who attend the festival. The book introduces students to the four theatres of the Music Center and the art forms presented in each venue. It also spotlights some of the performers and behind the scenes staff who make it all happen.

"What a wonderful day," said a teacher. "We are so thankful for the opportunity to give our kids the kind of day you provided. They were amazed at the performance, the theater, the group dance, and just at being in Los Angeles. It amazes me some of them have never been out of their neighborhood, let alone to see any type of show."

For information on how to sign up your fifth-grade class for the 2009 Children's Festival, call (213) 250-ARTS (press 4) or email ccf@musiccenter.org

Upcoming Events

May 23rd, 2009
World City - Sidi Goma
June 19th, 2009
Global Pop - Wheesung & Lena Park

St Joseph Center, Venice
http://www.stjosephctr.org/

Beginnings

Founded in 1976 by two Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, in a small storefront on Rose Avenue in Venice, St. Joseph Center, through its three decades of service to the community, has evolved into a multi-faceted social service agency that serves very poor, as well as homeless, families and individuals. The founders, Sister Marilyn Therese Rudy and Sister Louise Bernstein, were encouraged by Father Al Scott, who at that time was teaching Religion at St. Bernard's High School in Playa del Rey, to explore the area of Venice as a possible site to initiate their enterprise. In July 1976, the two Sisters put their project under the patronage of St. Joseph and, with a few volunteers, began providing advocacy and referrals and assisting families with the basic needs of food, clothing, and job readiness. Services were offered without regard for religious affiliation and religious instruction was neither required nor provided. From the very beginning, the Sisters saw their task as one of renewing hope in all people and empowering them to take steps to heal their lives.

Although working with poor families and individuals was the initial thrust of St. Joseph Center, the Sisters soon recognized the growing number of homeless persons who came into the area in the early 1980's and expanded their service by leasing a facility on nearby Rose Avenue that eventually became the Homeless Day Center. In 1986, when the founding Sisters were called to other ministries by their community, the Sisters of St. Joseph accepted the responsibility of sponsorship of St. Joseph Center as a separately incorporated non-profit 501(c)(3) entity. This relationship continues to the present day with the Provincial Council as Members who approve all significant actions of the corporation.

Even a cursory reading of St. Joseph Center's programs gives one a sense of the evolution of services that has occurred since its humble beginnings. Utilizing Case Management as one of its core competencies both within and across programs, the agency has grown exponentially as service needs have increased. At the same time, the ten programs developed by the agency are so integrally related and supportive one to the other that they form three seamless continuums of service for the 7,000 clients who are served annually.

Core Services

The Sisters' original enterprise became what today comprises the Family Center and Food Pantry Program, which serves hundreds of low-income families with a wide range of services including supplemental groceries, case management, advocacy, and referrals. Two years after its establishment, SJC opened a Thrift Store to both generate revenue and provide low-cost clothing, furnishings, and other household items to its clients. In 1981, the Center opened a Homeless Day Center (now its Homeless Service Center) to provide emergency and long-term services to the growing numbers of homeless people on the Westside. In the last fiscal year the program served more than 2,000 homeless men, women and children with such emergency and basic services as showers, laundry, mail/messages, and advocacy. In response to the special needs of the area's homeless and low-income elders, the Center created its Senior Services Program in 1986. Since the program's founding client numbers have increased 15-fold. In 1997 St. Joseph Center was awarded a contract by HUD to administer an innovative program that provides outreach services to the homeless elders. Also in 1986, St. Joseph Center was awarded a contract by the county Department of Mental Health to launch its Monetary Advisory Program, which provides money management, case management and support in finding and maintaining housing to people afflicted with chronic mental illness.

The late 1980s and early 1990s saw an expansion in the Center's ability to feed the hungry and care for families. In 1989 a building at 663 Rose Avenue in Venice was purchased to become Bread and Roses Café, one of the first three programs in the nation to combine a sit-down, table-service food program for the homeless with a food service training program for the jobless. It remains the only non-shelter hot meal program on the Los Angeles's Westside and serves 150 meals a day in a pleasant, dignified atmosphere. In the same year, the Center opened its Child Care and Parenting Program (now the Early Learning Center) to provide nurturing kindergarten preparation and family support to 20 low-income families with preschool-age children. 1990 saw the opening of the Center's Affordable Housing Program, which helps more than 100 formerly homeless families and individuals each year to find and maintain affordable and permanent housing. The Center opened a Food Service Job Training Program (now its Culinary Training Program) in 1991 to provide homeless, formerly homeless, and chronically unemployed adults with the skills needed to secure employment in the food service industry. Internships at UCLA, Freeman Centinela Hospital, and Saint John's Health Center give graduates important hands-on experience, 70-80 percent of whom find permanent jobs each year.

Services for Veterans

In 1994 the Center was awarded a contract from the Social Security Administration to establish its Veterans Representative Payee Program, which provides case management, money management and housing support to homeless and low-income veterans. Two years later a second contract with the Veterans Administration established a money management program specifically aimed at homeless veterans who are dually diagnosed (i.e., those who struggle with both chronic mental illness and substance addiction). A 1997 study conducted by a UCLA Veterans Administration research psychologist, Thad Eckman, PhD, found that St. Joseph Center's Veterans Representative Payee Program saves taxpayers $1 million annually by dramatically reducing participating veterans' hospitalization rate.

Childcare Expansion

The turn of the century saw the launch (in partnership with the Venice Community Housing Corporation) of St. Joseph Center's Infant Toddler Development Center, Venice 's first and only licensed, fee-free (for qualifying families), center-based care for children twelve weeks to three years old. This partnership addressed a serious shortage of childcare services for low-income people in the local community.

One year after opening its Infant Toddler Development Center, SJC reorganized its programs into three Service Continuums, each headed by a Director, in order to more efficiently manage and coordinate client services. All programs are now part of the Family Services Continuum, Homeless Services Continuum, or Money Management Services Continuum.

In 2003, St. Joseph Center's Child Care and Parenting Program moved to a new, larger location blocks the Center's main site and became Early Learning Center, which provides nurturing childcare and kindergarten preparation to 32 toddlers and preschoolers, almost twice as many as before the move.

Today and Tomorrow

St. Joseph Center has grown into a multifaceted organization employing close to 100 paid staff and benefiting from the dedication of more than 400 volunteers annually. It is a significant presence on Los Angeles's Westside through its 10 programs and eight different locations, all of which continue to respond to the wide-ranging needs of homeless and low-income families and individuals in the community. And the construction of a new facility primarily for family-based programs and administration (scheduled to be completed in sprng 2008) will ensure that St. Joseph Center remains up to the task of addressing the community's needs for decades to come.

UNICEF
http://www.unicef.org/

UNICEF is the driving force that helps build a world where the rights of every child are realized. We have the global authority to influence decision-makers, and the variety of partners at grassroots level to turn the most innovative ideas into reality. That makes us unique among world organizations, and unique among those working with the young.

We believe that nurturing and caring for children are the cornerstones of human progress. UNICEF was created with this purpose in mind – to work with others to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease and discrimination place in a child’s path. We believe that we can, together, advance the cause of humanity.

We advocate for measures to give children the best start in life, because proper care at the youngest age forms the strongest foundation for a person’s future.

We promote girls’ education – ensuring that they complete primary education as a minimum – because it benefits all children, both girls and boys. Girls who are educated grow up to become better thinkers, better citizens, and better parents to their own children.

We act so that all children are immunized against common childhood diseases, and are well nourished, because it is wrong for a child to suffer or die from a preventable illness.

We work to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among young people because it is right to keep them from harm and enable them to protect others. We help children and families affected by HIV/AIDS to live their lives with dignity.

We involve everyone in creating protective environments for children. We are present to relieve suffering during emergencies, and wherever children are threatened, because no child should be exposed to violence, abuse or exploitation.

UNICEF upholds the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We work to assure equality for those who are discriminated against, girls and women in particular. We work for the Millennium Development Goals and for the progress promised in the United Nations Charter. We strive for peace and security. We work to hold everyone accountable to the promises made for children.

We are part of the Global Movement for Children – a broad coalition dedicated to improving the life of every child. Through this movement, and events such as the United Nations Special Session on Children, we encourage young people to speak out and participate in the decisions that affect their lives.

We work in 190 countries through country programmes and National Committees. We are UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund.

American Cancer Society
http://www.cancer.org

The American Cancer Society is the nationwide, community-based, voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and service.

American Society for the Control of Cancer is founded

The American Cancer Society was founded in 1913 as the American Society for the Control of Cancer (ASCC). This group was started by 15 well-known doctors and business leaders in New York City. The start of this group was a very important event in the history of public health.

In those early days, cancer was rarely mentioned in public. The disease was steeped in a climate of fear and denial. At that time cancer claimed 75,000 lives a year in the United States alone. The Society's founders knew they had to raise public awareness if progress was to be made. The number of doctors, nurses, patients and family members who had to be reached was overwhelming. Despite the enormity of their task, the founders and their colleagues set about writing articles for popular magazines and professional journals. They also published Campaign Notes, a monthly bulletin of cancer information, and recruited doctors throughout the country to help teach the public about cancer.

The Women's Field Army takes action

In 1936, Marjorie G. Illig, an ASCC field representative and chair of the General Federation of Women's Clubs Committee on Public Health, made an extraordinary suggestion. She proposed creating a legion of new volunteers whose sole purpose was to wage war on cancer. The Women's Field Army, as this organization came to be called, was a huge success. Its recruits wore khaki uniforms, complete with insignia of rank and achievement, and canvassed the streets to raise money and help educate the public.

Clarence Little, the ASCC's managing director at the time, wrote that "In 1935 there were 15,000 people active in cancer control throughout the United States. At the close of 1938, there were 10 times that number." More than anything else, it was the Women's Field Army that moved the Society to the forefront of voluntary health organizations.

The American Cancer Society is created

In 1945, the ASCC was reorganized as the American Cancer Society. It was the beginning of a new era for the organization and, in many ways, for the country as a whole. World War II was over, the single greatest threat to modern democracy had been defeated, and the nation could at last focus on the enemy at home. Many believed it was time for another bold move. In 1946, Mary Lasker and her colleagues met this challenge by raising more than $4 million for the Society -- $1 million of which was used to establish the Society's research program. With the help of dedicated volunteers like Lasker and Elmer Bobst, the Society's research program quickly began to bear fruit.

Cancer research support

Around the same time the cancer signals campaign began, Dr. Sidney Farber, one of the Society's first research grantees, achieved the first temporary cancer remission using the drug aminopterin. This marked the beginning of the modern day era of chemotherapy for cancer treatment. Over the years, scientists supported by the American Cancer Society have established the link between cancer and smoking; demonstrated the effectiveness of the Pap smear; developed cancer fighting drugs and biological response modifiers, such as interferon; dramatically increased the cure rate for childhood leukemia; proved the safety and effectiveness of mammography; and much, much more.

All told, the Society has committed more than $3.3 billion to cancer research, funding 42 Nobel Prize winners -- often early in their careers before they had received recognition and monetary support for their work. (For a listing of accomplishments, please see our document, American Cancer Society Accomplishments 1946 to 2008).

The Society's symbol

Another historical point of interest is the use of the sword as a symbol for the American Cancer Society. The sword came from a nationwide poster contest in 1928 sponsored by the national society, then called American Society for the Control of Cancer, and the local division, the New York City Cancer Committee. George E. Durant of Brooklyn won the contest, receiving a first prize of $500. He explained that he selected the sword to express the crusading spirit of the cancer control movement. The twin-serpent caduceus, which forms the handle of the sword, emphasizes the medical and scientific nature of the Society's work. Classically, twined serpents represent healing of the sick and creativity of the healthy.

Since 1928, the American Cancer Society has used the sword as its symbol as it continues to champion the causes of cancer prevention, eliminating suffering from cancer, and saving lives.

A Place Called Home
http://www.apch.org/

A Place Called Home is a dynamic, non-profit youth center located in South Central Los Angeles. APCH provides educational programs, counseling, mentoring, music, dance and art classes. We also have a recreation and athletic department. One on one attention is at the heart of all APCH programs and activities. This reflects the belief that each member arrives at our center with skills and abilities that have not fully been realized. As youth participate in our programs, they discover their interests and talents. APCH strives to help youth achieve a better sense of themselves and the world around them. Our goal is to increase the likelihood that they will stay in school and go on to higher education and viable jobs.

Mission
To provide at-risk youth with a secure, positive family environment where they can regain hope and belief, earn trust and self-respect and learn skills to lead to a productive lifestyle free of the gangs, drugs and poverty that surround them. We help inner city youth find their dreams through educational enrichment.

Vision
In the next 5 years, we would like A Place Called Home to impact the community with:

A decline in violent and gang related activities
An increase in High School graduates
An increase in college entrants and graduates
An increase in gainfully employed community members
Better awareness of health issues in community
A community give-back campaign where community contributes to the success of APCH
All programs "certified" as "model or ideal" for after school programming
Community activists who fight for their rights in housing, jobs and other issues
A community with more technological access, learning ability and success
Thousands more children reaching their academic, creative and social potential through APCH programs

Child Uniting Nations
http://www.childrenunitingnations.org/

Founded to protect the children who have no voice, whose fragile lives are being abused and lost by the millions due to uncertainties out of their control.

Sadly, children are the main victims of adult difficulties-whether it's financial or political problems, war, lack of education, malnutrition, or carelessness. Adults can perpetuate the cycle of pain and neglect for more than a BILLION children. We must break the cycle and give our future, peace and security in this millennium! There is so much potential in our children and our future. Each generation has the ability to create a new society. If we continue to inflict suffering and intolerance upon our children the world will continue in its increase in violence and despair. We have the ability to break-the-cycle now and create compassionate and loving children for the future. Children Uniting Nations (CUN) is one organization that is taking the initiative. CUN is committed to help EVERY child find a way out of cruelty, neglect, and anger. This organization is dedicated to help children find their way to fulfill their dreams. Children Uniting Nations' mission is to create loving, tolerant, and capable world citizens.

CUN is a proactive organization created to bring attention to the plight of at-risk and foster youth. The goal is to reach as many children in out-of-home care by offering role-model support, guidance, a sense of community and promote the importance of an education. Inspired by the Day of the Child, CUN wanted mentoring to be more accessible to children living in foster care and therefore created a mentoring program to be administered in every city nationwide.

Pioneered in Los Angeles, CUN's central mentoring program known as the Mentoring Partnership for Los Angeles Youth (mPLAY) has become the model program for the rest of the country. Children Uniting Nations continues to support and make possible the efforts of mPLAY by providing advocacy, funding, producing large- scale recruitment events and serving as the fiscal agent to the partnership. mPLAY is dedicated to providing children in the foster care system with highly trained mentors that are compassionate, steadfast and have an unconditional desire to give of themselves in order to make a positive difference in the lives of our most vulnerable children.

Library Foundation Council
http://www.libraryfoundationla.org

The Los Angeles Public Library meets a full spectrum of needs -- informational, cultural, recreational and educational. There is no other institution that can reach a greater number of people and so positively affect their lives.

The Los Angeles Public Library:

• Was established in 1872 and is one of the oldest educational and cultural institutions in the city of Los Angeles

• Is composed of the Richard J. Riordan Central Library and 71 branch libraries

• Serves the largest and most diverse population of any public library in the United States in a service area that spans nearly 500 square miles, from Venice to Eagle Rock, San Pedro to Chatsworth.

Los Angeles Public Libraries

• Had a record of more than 14 million visits by patrons this past year who checked out over 15 million items.

• Offers an array of resources that attracts users from surrounding communities and throughout the state, and its website (www.lapl.org) extends library services to a national and global audience.

• Provides innovative reading and learning enrichment programs for children, teens, and adults, many of which have been replicated across the country.

• Maintains a collection of more than 6 million books in hundreds of different languages and dialects that represent the diversity of Southern California.

• Offers free public access to more than 2,200 computer workstations that feature hundreds of electronic databases and the Internet to bring global electronic information to every neighborhood.

• Provides free wireless Internet access at all 72 libraries.

• Recently completed a monumental branch construction project - the largest in the nation. More than 90 percent of the libraries citywide were rebuilt or expanded, and four new libraries were built.

• Offers comprehensive adult literacy training services at 16 branch libraries and the Singleton Literacy Center at the Central Library.

• Strives to inform, enrich and empower every person by offering free access to information, and by supporting life-long learning in a welcoming environment.

Library programs and services are offered free of charge. Many are enhanced -- or made possible -- by donors to the Library Foundation of Los Angeles.

The Nancy Davis Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis
http://www.erasems.org/

The Nancy Davis Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis is dedicated to the treatment and ultimate cure of MS. Funding research is the core focus of the Foundation and significant strides have been made to find the cause and the cure of this devastating disease. All funds raised through our Race to Erase MS event support The Nancy Davis Center Without Walls program, a selected network of the nation's top seven MS research centers. This nationwide collaboration of physicians, scientists and clinicians is on the cutting-edge of innovative research programs and therapeutic approaches to eradicate MS. It is the hope of the Foundation that in addition to combating MS through research in a clinical environment, an increased awareness will be created by educating the public about this mystifying disease.

Our History

The Nancy Davis Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis was founded by Nancy Davis in 1993 after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. After her diagnosis, she was determined to devote her time and resources to finding a cure. Nancy's hope, courage and strength continue to inspire her to maintain a vibrant quality of life despite this chronic disease, but most of all, she remains positive, continues to live her life to the fullest and is tireless in her efforts to finding the cure for MS.

In the process of learning all she could about multiple sclerosis, she discovered that MS affects close to two million Americans primarily between the ages of 20 and 40, and three times as many women as men, Nancy Davis made it her deep personal commitment to help find the cause and ultimately the cure of this disease. In 1993 she founded The Nancy Davis Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis and held the first Race to Erase MS event – an intimate ski getaway weekend in Aspen, Colorado – that pulled in over $1.3 million for the Foundation. Since its inception, the Race to Erase MS has become an exciting star-studded gala. The foundation has gained the support of many key individuals in the fashion and entertainment worlds, including Tommy Hilfiger who has been a major sponsor since 1997 and who has a sister living with MS. The annual Race to Erase MS event has raised over $30 million for multiple sclerosis research to date.

All proceeds directly fund the foundation's Center Without Walls program, a selected network of the nation's top seven MS research centers. This nationwide collaboration of physicians, scientists and clinicians are on the cutting-edge of innovative research programs and therapeutic approaches to eradicate MS. The Centers work as a team constantly communicating, never duplicating. It was the goal of Nancy Davis to build a winning team and the Foundation sought out the best and the brightest MS research facilities throughout the world. It is the hope of her Foundation that in addition to combating MS through research in a clinical environment, that an increased awareness will be created by educating the public about this devastating disease.

"While there's no cure for MS yet, we have broken so much new ground in a very short time and we will not stop until we cross the finish line and find a cure for MS," Nancy explains. It's amazing how the landscape has significantly changed over the years. At the time Nancy was diagnosed is 1993, there were no drugs on the market to help stop the progression of this disease. Miraculously, there are now six with FDA approval with a seventh very near approval and others to be approved in the very near future. We are now so much closer to finding a cure.