Year in Review
Volunteers Help Get the Job Done
Your helping hands make a daily difference at the City.
With your help, we are able to recruit volunteers and provide additional quality programs and activities.
Volunteers helped with the Sesquicentennial commemoration, Make a Difference Day, Care and Share Day and the California Preservation Conference.
In addition, 33 young people joined our new summer volunteer program for youth age 12 to 16. Volunteens contributed more than 2,000 hours during the 8-week program.
Volunteers and volunteer hours have increased by more than 15% since last year.
In addition, volunteers keep coming back.
More community members are contributing more hours than before. Our active volunteer list has more than 1,000 members. In the Police Department alone, the number of volunteers grew from 27 to 80. From performing vacation house checks, to crime analysis and foot patrol, volunteers provide a variety of services.
What’s the bottom line? 27,362 hours of volunteer time worth $362,273 (calculated at $13.24 per hour).
To get involved, call our Volunteer Program at 646.3719 (sammon@ci.monterey.ca.us)

Community TV Needs You!
Become a member of Access Monterey Peninsula, a new community nonprofit facilitating access to our community cable system! Members must live in Monterey or be employed by a business, nonprofit organization, government agency or education institution located in or serving Monterey.
AMP members and producers can create their own TV programs for broadcast on local cable channels. Thanks to our partnership with AMP, you can check out video equipment, use AMP’s media center and receive training on how to produce your own show. For more info, call 333.1267 or visit www.ampmedia.org. Stay tuned.

Library Homework Pals
The Library’s Homework Pals program has expanded to Larkin and Del Monte Elementary Schools. It is now in place in all MPUSD schools in Monterey.
Homework Pals continues to generate positive results – students get their homework done; parents know their children are receiving one-on-one assistance and support with a trained helper; and volunteers reap the rich rewards of community service.

Looking Ahead
Programs, Activities Aim to Meet Changing Needs of Youth and Families
As the needs of our youth and families evolve, we continue to evaluate existing resources and programs to ensure that community needs are being met. Sometimes they are met through City services and other times by cooperative efforts with local organizations, such as Community of Caring Monterey Peninsula.
Here are some of the ways the City works to address community needs:

• Affordable childcare - The Monterey Center for Children and Families opened this fall on the Presidio of Monterey. Operated by ARAMARK Educational Resources, the Center provides children with a long-awaited and much-needed quality childcare program focusing on the health and welfare of both children and families.
• Daylong youth programs - In response to community requests, operating hours of our most popular school-age programs have been extended. To more effectively accommodate working parents’ schedules, activity hours are expanded for the Fall, Winter and Spring School Holiday break programs, Sports Camps hosted by the Sports Center as well as the Summer Playground Program. Afterschool Playground programs located at Hilltop Park Center, Archer Park Center and Casanova Oak Knoll Park Center are also being revamped to provide additional activity hours.
• Reading to tots - Responding to studies which show that words and language introduced at a very early age provide the basis for strong verbal, reading and writing skills, the Library has developed the “Born to Read” project. The Library will be expanding the existing “Baby and Me Rhymetime” sessions during which librarians share songs, rhymes, and stories with infants and their siblings. Also, the project will feature more special guests and provide informational brochures, recommended reading lists and free books for families who attend programs.
• Computer access -
  1. Computer labs in several Community Centers provide basic word processing capabilities, numerous game opportunities and Internet access for community teens. Computers are scheduled to go in at all of the Centers this year.
  2. Public access computers will also be available for adults in the Senior Center. Staff is currently in the planning stages for an intergenerational program that will link area teens and seniors in a program that utilizes the computer labs at Community Centers.
  3. Public Internet access to all age groups is also available at the Monterey Public Library.
• Community input - Our Community Connections public forum this fall focused on youth and families. Organizations throughout the Peninsula area as well as community members of all ages were invited to discuss local concerns and make suggestions.
• Recreation & Community Services 646.3866
• Library Youth Services 646.3934

Getting Involved with Your City
Fill out the enclosed survey. Tour the City. Get answers to your questions at Community Connections public forums.
Read the City Focus.
Attend City Council and/or commission meetings. Be a volunteer. Watch for City info on AMP cable Channel 44.
We work to provide diverse opportunities for citizen involvement. We want to keep you up-to-date and informed about your City.
Watch for activity info in upcoming editions of the City Focus, on our Web site, on cable Channel 44 and in the local media.

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