November 2020 - Growing Up in Santa Cruz

Distance Learning

growingupsc — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 20:27:47 +0000

Distance Learning What Students are Saying by nick morris Schools remain nearly empty as class continues virtually. Let us not waste the experiences from last spring and instead use them to learn how to improve the quality of distance learning this year. As part of a project to record this moment in history I have had the privilege of interviewing graduates of Santa Cruz High’s class of 2020 and listening to what they have to say about distance learning. Three themes that ran through every conversation include communication, structure, and flexibility. Communication Communication provides the foundation for learning both academically and in the social-emotional sense. Teachers’ communication with students should be proactive, not reactive. This means teachers should reach out to students, and counselors, when they notice absences from class meetings online or missing work because these behaviors could signal that a student either does not understand the material or may need support dealing with a personal issue. One student I interviewed admitted the pandemic caused her to experience situational depression that she didn’t overcome until after her government teacher emailed her, her parents, and her counselor expressing concern and iterating his expectations of her. That teacher’s simple act of showing concern via email helped this student realize how to pull herself out of a low point and back into a position to pass her class and graduate. Communication on the student’s part also plays an important role in successful learning in the virtual world and Trey Williams has advice for students. “My advice I give to students is to stay determined and communicate. Make sure you communicate to your teachers what’s going on. I’m not saying you have to spill your whole life to them, but communicate with them, I say at least once a week.” Students can start conversations with teachers by providing feedback on lessons and assignments or explaining how they’re having either a good or a bad week. Equally important as student-to-teacher communication is student-to-student communication. Learning occurs socially and allowing students to learn from their peers, who they most easily relate to, has many benefits. Student Mia Formente talked about the social aspect of learning and explained how she liked when her teachers “…would do things such as make a group chat for students so that we could all be connected even if we weren’t on a Zoom. And doing that without the students having to make one themselves. That way everybody’s included.” Many apps, like the one called Remind, facilitate communication between teachers, students, and parents. Communication takes little effort compared to the gains and benefits it offers to every party involved. Teachers, take a moment to reach out to your students and create a safe space where your students also feel comfortable initiating a conversation with you. Structure Structure gives students a sense of normalcy during this time of constant unknowns. Routines help physical classrooms run efficiently by establishing norms and expectations and continue to serve the same important purpose in the virtual classroom. Students I interviewed said after a few weeks they eventually settled into a routine that allowed them to balance schoolwork, home life, work, and hobbies. Not all students can effectively budget their time in a way to accomplish both short-term and long-term goals so incorporating some instructional scaffolds and a little practice will help set up students for success. One teacher I learned about created videos explaining all the work due over the course of the following week and outlined a suggested schedule of how she expected students to use their time to accomplish all the assigned work by the due date. A student I interviewed who had this teacher said this kind of instructional scaffolding helped them budget their time efficiently even if their own plan didn’t exactly follow what their teacher advised. Mia’s strategy for structuring time involved buying and using a planner for the first time. Similarly, Aria Brauner would start each day by making two lists: the first list included the things that she needed to get done and the second list was all the things she wanted to do. Allowing herself to do something on the second list only if she completed something on the first list motivated her and kept her focused throughout quarantine. With students realizing how little control they have over things, providing some structure in class can ease some of this pandemic-induced anxiety from so many unknowns. Flexibility Flexibility in balance with structure allows students to avoid unnecessary additional stress. Because the pandemic has burdened students and their families with immense pressure like we haven’t experienced before flexibility and empathy can also help prevent students from feeling overwhelmed. For teachers this might mean slowing down or not overworking students. Isaiah Brouse-Jones explained, “We might have a lot of time on our hands during distance learning, but don’t just throw a bunch of homework at kids thinking they’re going to do it. Once you start throwing a bunch of homework at kids, that’s when they start not caring because you’re showing that you don’t care about their time. Care about their time and they’ll care about your time.” Also, students may not have the ideal learning environment at home so when a teacher gives students a little flexibility it shows to students that they understand no one has ideal conditions in quarantine. Bella Birkhofer best sums this up in her experience, “It took away a little bit of stress when teachers were more flexible with due dates and stuff, when they understand that we’re using Wi-Fi at home, and I have siblings who are in my house too, and it’s a completely different environment than anything we’re used to at school.” Aria echoed Bella’s thoughts and said the physical environment of campus gets her in the mindset to learn compared to in her room where it takes far more effort to have a learning mindset. For students flexibility means learning in new ways and actively finding resources to help you learn because as Bella said, “You’re gonna have to not depend on the teacher as much as you normally would.” Finding new resources also gives students an opportunity to contribute to class and take ownership of their own learning. Flexibility continues to play an important role in distance learning as the pandemic’s uncertainty burdens students, families, and teachers. The pandemic has changed life for everyone and as class continues in the virtual world we should strive to make the experience as good as we can. There is no reason to rest or throw our hands up when we have things we can do to improve distance learning. Santa Cruz High School’s graduates of the class of 2020 have been both generous with their time and thoughtful in their feedback and listening to what they have to say will improve the distance learning experience a little better going forward. If you are, or know of, a SCHS graduate from the Class of 2020 who would like to participate please email nickolaidmorris@gmail.com to schedule a phone interview.

The post Distance Learning first appeared on Growing Up in Santa Cruz.

Local Artist Emma Gilbert

growingupsc — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 20:17:24 +0000

Emma Gilbert Local Artist AGE 10 | Fourth Grade Hi, I’m Emma! I am ten years old, as of Halloween! I like things like riding my bike around our driveway and down in our cul-de-sac, and I also love playing soccer and softball. I also really enjoy playing with my friends and siblings! I love animals, can you guess my favorite animal? It’s a Cat! However, my very favorite thing to do is art!! And that is what I’m here to talk about! My favorite type of art is drawing. Here are a few drawing styles that I like:CARTOON DRAWINGSI like drawing cartoon types of drawings because it’s fun, and interesting to make. For example, the different head shapes and faces are always fun to make! The next type of drawing is:REALISTICI like drawing realistic things because, they always look like something I would see in real life. But my personal favorite type is:ANIME/MANGAI love drawing anime because, I like that they look semi realistic and cartoony all in one! Do you ever get artist block? Here is one way to get rid of art block- go on a nature walk and look at the things around you, when you do this you can see different things and shapes. It helps me get new ideas. I’m so thankful to get to show you all my art!

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Buying a Home in Santa Cruz

growingupsc — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 20:12:53 +0000

What to Know About Buying a Home in Santa Cruz by Seb Frey One of the most popular pieces I’ve written in 17+ years selling real estate in Santa Cruz county is one where I take buyers through the whole process of buying a house in Santa Cruz, from start to finish. But with prices surging to astronomical heights, this real estate market feels so much different than anything I’ve seen before. But what, exactly, is so different about today’s Santa Cruz real estate market? To get a perspective, the median sale price for single family homes in the third quarter of 2020 was $1,050,000 – that compares with a median Q3 sale price in 2019 of $855,000 and $900K in Q3 2018. These pricing levels are obviously putting the hurt on the vast majority of would-be homebuyers. With 20 percent down on a $1,050,000 sale price, you’d be paying on a $840,000 mortgage, requiring a household income in the neighborhood of $168,000 per year (pre-tax, assuming you have minimal-to-no other debt payments). The median price, though, can be a misleading figure. That’s because different houses sell in different months and years. Recently, we’ve seen a greater number of larger homes on larger lots selling. We can thank out-of-town Silicon Valley buyers for that. These buyers are looking for more spacious homes they can live in and work from, with a generous amount of outdoor space. If you want proof, take a look at today’s market (Q3 2020) versus the two years which preceded it. Q3 2020 581 homes sold Avg. lot size 74,730sf Avg. home size: 1,892sf Avg. $/sf: 673 Days on Market: 27 Listed Homes: 556 Q3 2019 487 homes sold Avg. lot size: 55,603sf Avg. home size: 1,789sf Avg. $/sf: 593 Days on Market: 39 Listed Homes: 652 Q3 2018 509 homes sold Avg. lot size: 52,191sf Avg. home size: 1,786sf Avg $/sf: 604 Days on Market: 34 Listed Homes: 706 As you can see, homes sold in the third quarter of this year tended to have been on larger, more expensive lots (nearly 30 percent larger), and the homes themselves are nearly 6 percent larger. The price-per-square-foot is up about 15 percent compared to the previous two years, but much of that is because the price per square foot does not account for the additional value of the 30 percent larger lots. Another characteristic of today’s real estate market is that homes are selling about 26 percent faster this year than in the previous two years. This is explained to some degree by the fact that about 12 percent fewer homes were listed for sale in Q3 2020 as compared with Q3 in the previous two years, while the number of homes sold was about 15 percent higher this year. Fewer homes for sale plus more homes selling = a wonderful experience for a home seller, but something akin to misery for buyers. If you’re actively trying to buy a home right now, let me assure you: you’re not imagining it. There are few homes for sale, and homes are selling very quickly. In fact, in Q3 2020, more homes were sold than were listed in the quarter, in a marked departure from the two years prior. But in terms of pricing and affordability? If you’re not looking for a monster home on a monster lot, you’ll probably find that prices aren’t up nearly so much as the median price would indicate. And don’t forget that one thing driving these prices is cheap money. The 30-year fixed mortgage is averaging about 2.5 percent at the time of writing – but in October 2019 that same mortgage averaged 3.69 percent. That means that $500,000 worth of mortgage today costs $1,975 a month – but a year ago, that same money cost you $2,299. In other words, you can borrow $580,000 today for roughly the same monthly cost as $500,000 a year ago. But in the coastal flat lands, even a small home is still likely to run north of $800,000. For a house that price, you’d need $160,000 cash (plus another $15K or so for closing costs) to have 20 percent down – and who has that kind of liquidity? Obviously, few first-time home buyers will have that saved up, what with the ridiculous cost of rent. I’m going to let you in on a couple of secrets here: First, many first-time home buyers get gifted cash from family. Many others take a tax hit and liquidate a portion of an IRA or 401K – but little of it is coming from money folks have just saved up from their day job wages. The other “secret” is that many buyers – most, probably – will simply come in with less than 20 percent down. It’s not uncommon for a first-time homebuyer to have only 5-10 percent down for their first home. You might think you’d have a hard time getting an offer accepted with a smaller down payment, but what matters more to most sellers is the offer price, not a buyer’s down payment. Yes, it’s a challenge to buy a home in Santa Cruz, especially in this market. But having been a part of many home-buying journeys with my clients over the past 17 years, I can’t think of when it’s ever been easy. But if Santa Cruz is where you want to be for the long term, it’s going to cost you a lot more to be a renter over time than to be a homeowner. Next month, I’ll share some more tips and insights into buying a home in Santa Cruz which may help you make the jump from renter to owner! Realtor Seb Frey is the author of the book Get It Sold! Besides selling houses, he gives seminars on important issues for homeowners and does a podcast, and has TV Channels, on Instagram and Facebook. Learn more on his website and reach him at sebfrey@sebfrey.com

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Fighting an Invisible Invader

growingupsc — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 20:05:36 +0000

How the Office of Education Fights an Invisible Invader By Suki Wessling Jennifer Buesing is a mom who really hopes that her two kids can go back to school soon. She’s also one of the people in charge of deciding when that will happen. “Things always seem easier on paper,” admits Buesing, Director of School Safety for Santa Cruz County Office of Education (COE). “You think you have a great plan, but until you actually go to the school and you walk through your day, then we realize that we have some pieces to work out.” Until March of this year, Buesing had a very different job. “All of the schools were prepared for a critical incident,” she remembers. “All of our teachers and students were prepared [with] a good safety plan: active shooter trainings, prevention work.” “And then Covid came.” One statistic stands out when looking at how quickly the definition of ‘school safety’ changed: March was the first month without a school shooting in the US since 2002. The most feared visitor to a school campus is now an invisible virus. School safety in the era of Covid Buesing uses the word ‘pivot’ a lot when speaking about what it’s been like to work on safety in our schools since March. “Since Covid came I have taken on the liaison position with our health providers,” Buesing explains. “A lot of focus is on children’s social and emotional health during distance learning. We’re trying to make sure that we can reach all of our students either who were at risk before or who are at risk now.” The COE’s first pivot was when the ‘temporary’ school closure in March became longer-term and then extended through the end of the school year. Plans were made and then revised. Eventually, once schools were declared closed through the rest of the school year, they could focus on fall. The COE and districts had to put together plans for three possibilities for fall: full distance learning, a hybrid model, or full-time in-person learning. Three plans for each school and for each program within those schools. It was a lot to process. “We’ve been really getting good as a community at pivoting,” Buesing says. “At the SCCOE, we put together a framework for reopening for all schools—public, private, and charter. We had a team of people and we would go to each school with our checklist to see what the plan is, and of course our three different options. Then we’d provide feedback and necessary changes.” As her team ‘walked through’ a typical day at each school, they were faced with mountains of details to sort through. Multiple entrances to one school would be logistically difficult, so they had to choose one entrance and figure out how to close off the others. They had to look at how children were arriving at school—walking, in private cars, or in busses. Parents of new kindergarteners would have to drop them at the entrance rather than walking them in, as is typical. They had to look at the accessibility of hand-washing facilities and supplies. They had to look at each and every classroom to see how many children could be seated safely for in-person instruction. With desks facing forward and six feet apart, “Class sizes will have to be smaller, which is a tricky piece. At the same time that this is happening the state has requested that all school districts reduce their budget. It would be great if we could hire a lot more staff and teachers, but instead we have to be very creative about how it is going to work.” The crystal ball: back to school for some Buesing says that now that Santa Cruz County is in the state’s “red” zone, many schools have already started one-on-one and small group instruction for at-risk students. Those students may be struggling emotionally, living in unsafe conditions, or unable to access the Internet for distance learning. “We’re going to start small and see if we can do it in a safe manner for our students and teachers and the community,” Buesing explains. “We’re dealing with small groups, baby steps first, working out all the kinks, then it will be easier for us to open for full in-person instruction.” A big piece of the puzzle recently fell into place when the county reached an agreement with Stanford Labs to provide the surveillance testing required by state law. All staff will be tested at least every two months, and anytime on demand. But there’s still planning to do as the programs ramp up. For example, what will each school do if a child gets sick during the school day? “We don’t want to send a sick kid to just sit in the front office,” Buesing says. “There needs to be a concrete plan for who would be the person with an increased level of personal protective equipment.” Buesing says that her own children ask her and she answers that she doesn’t have a crystal ball. “What I have told my children is when they’re having a hard time with distance learning, my estimate might realistically be after the holidays.” But she admits that even then, many families might not be ready to send their students back. The county will most certainly finish out this school year with a mix of in-person, hybrid, and distance learning. Plenty to do right now In the meantime, Buesing says that even though campus violence is no longer a huge issue in her daily work, students are keeping her plenty busy. First of all, because teachers are not trained to work with students at a distance, safety training has taken on a new look. “There is training specific on recognition for signs of abuse or trauma, neglect, what it might look like, ways to report it.” And even though students are not in school, the schools are still looking out for their emotional health. “The students are not engaging academically as perhaps we’d like, but the bigger focus is being able to connect with them on an emotional and a social level,” she explains. “My concern is when we’re on the other side of Covid, what is it going to look like for our students? If they weren’t getting support at home, school was a place for them where they could get support.” As for Jennifer Buesing herself, at the end of a long day of trying to keep all the students in Santa Cruz County safe, she takes refuge in baking. “Maybe it’s not the healthiest thing,” she admits. But like all of us, the people working to keep our community’s kids safe and well-educated are doing what they can to pivot, over and over again, as Covid demands new ideas and flexibility. Podcast! Interested in hearing the full conversation? Check out our podcast of this interview at tinyurl.com/GUISCPivot2020. Suki Wessling is a local writer and teacher and the mother of two college students. Read more at SukiWessling.com.

The post Fighting an Invisible Invader first appeared on Growing Up in Santa Cruz.

Inside Ed November

growingupsc — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 20:00:51 +0000

Inside Education Monthly This month two teachers of young children presented about the joys and challenges of teaching online courses for our youngest TK-12 students. Alicia Romero teaches in Live Oak’s dual immersion Spanish/English program, which is a new program this year. It’s quite a challenge, she says, not only to teach the youngest children but to try to develop a new program at the same time. Her students are online for 180 minutes a day, and she is focused on trying to make second language acquisition fun and interactive. Kelly Liebenthal teaches transitional kindergarten for the youngest set at Santa Cruz Gardens. She points out that the adults are more anxious about the online learning environment than the students are. “They show up to the meetings smiling. This is school for them and they are ready to learn.” The students are online 40 minutes a day, and come once a week to the school campus to pick up materials and pick up books from the library that they have ordered online. Sita Moon, Maria Castro, and Erendira Guerrero gave a wonderful presentation about the Head Start program. Head Start in stretches to both ends of Santa Cruz County, with the majority in Watsonville. Because most Head Start is through home providers, the pandemic has had an outsized effect on the program, with current enrollment at about half what it was before. Watch these pages next month for an in-depth article! Amity Sandage, Environmental Literacy Coordinator at Santa Cruz County Office of Education, and Heather Molloy, Director of the Santa Cruz County Outdoor Science School have found their expertise suddenly of great value in the age of education during a pandemic. Sandage and Molloy have been advocates for the many benefits of outdoor learning for years, and are now in the process of helping schools develop more outdoor learning that can last through the cold winter months. They point out that during this pandemic, inequities that already exist in education are augmented. Although they applaud the use of any outdoor space, they are focusing on helping schools identify onsite spaces to develop. “There are beautiful outdoor spaces where we might be able to support [student] learning. Schoolyards are the most equitable location because that’s where families are used to dropping off their children.” Are you a community member who would be interested in getting an in-depth look at our local education system? Contact Les Forster at lforster@santacruzcoe.org to join Inside Education’s next round.

The post Inside Ed November first appeared on Growing Up in Santa Cruz.

Wanderlust Family

growingupsc — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 19:47:06 +0000

Wanderlust Family Carolyn Kelley and her family split their time between Santa Cruz and Nayarit, Mexico. They live aboard their 50ft sailboat in the Santa Cruz Harbor and are members of the local yacht club. Carolyn is a wedding and portrait photographer and runs a studio in Live Oak. You can see her work at SoilandSeaPhotography.com by carolyn kelley To this day, I’m amazed that we didn’t give up. In January of 2018, we sold our house and moved with our three daughters onto a big ol’ 70s cruising boat with the goal of renovating her and sailing to Mexico. Naturally, almost everything on our bargain boat was broken before we moved aboard, and, through our own incompetence, we quickly managed to finish off the few things that weren’t. Within a month, just as we were in the trenches of potty training our youngest, the toilet pump “pooped” out. Soon after, all of the lights began to flicker and, one by one, succumb to a slow corrosion-induced death. The engine stalled in the middle of the harbor, the sail tracks began to slowly and ominously detach from the mast, and the girls enjoyed their nightly game of running around with bowls to catch the water that leaked from every bolt, window, and hatch. It was, to put it kindly, not the paradise that my husband and I had dreamed of. For two years, we just kept going. We plumbed and potty trained, hammered and homeschooled, drilled and disciplined, until our family routines and the daily projects on the boat became indistinguishable. In fact, I admit that I hardly remember the first two years at all. I had dreams of blogging and taking happy photos out on the big blue. Instead, I was covered in sweat and eating a can of olives in the engine room. And then, something happened. It’s like we reached a tipping point of hilariously poorly done projects and unexpectedly entered the realm of having enough experience to start doing them right. Instead of fixing things with chewing gum, we began to meticulously plan and execute. Instead of screaming with panic every time we attempted to dock, my husband and I began to communicate with *gasp* calm words. And instead of fearing the way the boat leans when it sails, we began to actually yearn for more wind. With our newfound confidence came the overwhelming joy of involving the girls more and more, which is when the magic really began to happen. As a family, we ventured out of the harbor and set our new anchor near the Santa Cruz wharf. We could toss the boards off the boat to paddle over to Cowells, or take a dinghy ride to have dinner on the wharf – which involved precariously docking the little boat, wading through the harbor seals, and climbing the old wooden ladder to the restaurants, always crossing our fingers that a brave seal wouldn’t clamber into the dinghy while we were away (it only happened once). The encounters with wildlife were each time more exciting and terrifying. Once, as I was making breakfast with my daughter, we looked up just as three dolphins dove under the keel. We raced to the other side just in time to see them surface and continue on. We exchanged a look and ran to save the burning eggs. After that, weeks later, as we made the daily commute from the boat to the harbor, we saw a whale off in the distance curving to the surface every few seconds. Whale sightings were becoming a common occurrence, but we still stopped every single time. This one distracted us just long enough that we didn’t notice a second one cresting about forty feet from our little boat. The wake stunned me and I accidentally shut off the engine. I grabbed the belts of the girls’ life jackets and yanked them toward me in case of a capsize. The whale continued to surface around us over and over for several minutes. With tears streaming down my cheeks, I droned on about the beauty while the girls attempted to squirm out of my grasp. They were, unsurprisingly, more concerned with my reaction than the actual whale. As I look back, I realize that my mountains of parental guilt are as unfounded on the boat as they were in a house. As we do our daily chores, they learn about electricity, engines, the physics of sailing, resource management, and most importantly, they learn about hard work and patience. Surrounded by wildlife, they pass the hours feeding anemones and chasing harbor seals off the docks. Their neighbors are circumnavigators, fishermen, and charter captains from all over the world. At 4, 5, and 7, they can now explore the harbor on their own SUPs and our oldest has sailed around Point Conception twice. I think back to when I worried about whether we made the right choice and all I can do is chuckle.

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The Golden Hour

growingupsc — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 19:38:52 +0000

The Golden Hour By Laura Maxson The first hour after birth is known as the golden hour for good reason. A newborn is at a heightened level of alertness during this time, more alert than it will be again for a few weeks. Babies are born with an internal checklist for survival that attentive parents can observe while marveling over just how smart their little one is. There is no hurry to get the baby to breast and the reality is that the first attachment often goes a little smoother when the baby leads the way. Immediately after birth the baby goes skin-to-skin now on the outside of the baby bump. Tummy-to-tummy, both baby and mother can catch their breath, as there is no agenda but to observe and fall in love. The baby’s body should be gently dried (except the hands) then loosely covered with a dry blanket. It is important not to bathe the baby at this point as the amniotic fluid smell that lingers on the baby’s hands is similar to the smell of the nipple and actually helps the baby to find the breast. Some babies will get right to work squirming their way up toward the breasts, while others will rest for a bit before beginning their breast crawl. Babies can range from quiet-alert to quite vocal. Soft voices and dim lights can help them settle and encourage them to open their eyes and look around. Give them time to get themselves organized. They are safe and warm – tummy-to-tummy and skin-to-skin – until they are ready to get moving. It might look like babies are not doing anything, but they are going through that checklist. The baby will begin to salivate in anticipation of their first meal, often making little bubbles in their mouth. Their mouth will begin to get active, poking their tongue in and out, smacking their lips and licking/sucking on their own hands and fingers. A baby lying skin-to-skin does not need any procedures, including receiving an injection or placing medication in the eyes. There’s no need to weigh or measure the baby at this point and unless the baby needs help to breathe, they should be left alone. The newborn will instinctively begin to make crawling motions with their feet and knees helping to move up the abdomen toward the breasts. It’s a big journey for a new baby and it will likely have several starts and stops. Baby is busy, even when the newborn isn’t actively crawling and squirming their way up to the breast; they may take a rest, but it’s a working rest. Baby will be alternately reaching their hand out and bringing it back to their mouth and tongue as they move to the breast. Eventually they will begin to bob their head about, swiping back and forth, mouthing the skin – looking, feeling, tasting, and smelling to locate the nipple. Baby will often stare hard at the nipple when it is within reach. There is a little dance of hand to mouth, hand to nipple, then sucking on the hand that is still holding on to the nipple and so on. Eventually, the baby gets lined up, lifts its head, opens wide and lunges for the nipple. Success! Or maybe not, maybe that was just another in several attempts as the baby works on feeding skills. Babies will often find themselves suddenly staring into their parents’ faces. Both will be mesmerized and drinking each other in with their eyes. This is important work as well, and a big part of their important survival skills. Those unaware of the value of the golden hour after birth might easily miss this opportunity by taking the lead on attaching the baby or using this time to pass the baby around to other family members to ooh and ahh over. Experience and studies show that giving a baby and parents this time together, undisturbed, for the baby to find its way to the breast helps build breastfeeding success. Of course, parents can only do what they know or circumstances allow. Latching adjustments may still need to be worked on as breastfeeding gets established. Emergency situations or other complications can take precedence to a leisurely golden hour. Babies born by cesarean section can also participate in skin-to-skin with a little help and higher up on the chest. Another person can provide skin-to-skin while waiting for the birthing parent to become available and/or help facilitate the skin-to-skin and breast crawl on a parent not able to fully participate on their own due to anesthesia or exhaustion. The golden hour can also be recreated days or weeks after birth providing an opportunity for healing from a rocky start. Breastfeeding support resources – Birthnet.org Breast Crawl video – globalhealthmedia.org choose “Breastfeeding in the First Hours”

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Partnering with Habitat for Humanity

growingupsc — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 19:33:39 +0000

Partnering with Habitat for Humanity On Accessory Dwelling Units By Zach Friend, Santa Cruz County Supervisor Throughout California there are discussions about how to address the significant affordable housing crisis. The recent fires also highlight the need for displaced residents to have access to safe and affordable housing. Recent studies done on home affordability have shown that in some coastal communities less than a quarter of people earn enough income to be able to purchase a home in their community and many can’t afford rising rents. Our parents and grandparents also are struggling to stay in the homes they own with a rising cost-of-living. In fact, there are over 15,000 families currently on the Section 8 voucher waiting list locally. Of those who have received housing choice vouchers, over 400 families have been unable to find a landlord willing to accept the fair market rates offered under the program. There isn’t one simple solution to reducing housing costs. But one promising approach is to increase the number of accessory dwelling units (ADUs). The state (and many local communities) have been working to provide incentives for increased ADU construction. Over the last few years the County has significantly streamlined the process for building ADUs making it easier for homeowners to design, permit and construct these units. Additionally, the Board of Supervisors reduced permitting fees, streamlined the permit process and created a forgivable loan program (that could cover the cost of fees and even construction in some cases) for units that are deed restricted affordable housing units. Put simply, it’s now cheaper, easier and faster to build an ADU in the unincorporated area. Even with these changes, cost is still a barrier for many people to build ADUs. Habitat for Humanity, in partnership with the State and County, has some programs that could help. Habitat was awarded CalHOME funds from the state of California, which allows more flexible financing for homeowners interested in building an ADU or JADU (Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit) on their property for increased rental income, and creation of long-term affordable housing units. Habitat offers $100,000 of funding per ADU and doesn’t charge for labor. However, whatever difference there is must be covered by the homeowner, either through savings, equity, or a commercial loan. These funds can cover actual construction costs, as well as predevelopment costs such as architectural, engineering, or legal services; permit or application fees, bonding, site preparation, water or sewer development and more. It is financed as a 30-year low or no-interest loan. To qualify, households must have incomes at the Low Income, Very Low Income, or Extremely Low Income brackets. Households impacted by an event deemed later as a disaster can have incomes up to 120 percent of these levels as well. For example, the 2020 income limits for two, three, and four-person households are $85,000, $95,600, and $106,200 per year, respectively. That’s 80 percent of the area median income, adjusted for family size. The 120 percent figure for two, three, and four-person households are $105,600, $118,800, and $132,000 per year, respectively. The homeowner must live on site, but once the ADU is built, the homeowner can continue to live in their home or move into the ADU. New construction, conversions (of garages for example) as well as rehabilitating, repairing, and reconstructing ADUs are eligible activities. Additionally, these ADUs are not allowed to become short term rentals (vacation rentals). In addition to the CalHome program, the County is making up to $80,000 available at 3 percent simple interest (deferred for 30 years) as a loan to applicants who agree to make their ADU affordable to those making up to 60 percent of area median income for a specific period of time. Through the “My House My Home” program, the County has partnered with Habitat for Humanity Monterey Bay and Senior Network Services to assist low-income seniors interested in building ADUs to create extra income and remain in their homes. The loan is also payable upon sale or transfer. In exchange for participating in the My House My Home Partnership, homeowners will enter into a deed restriction that will require them to rent the ADU or the primary home at a rent affordable to low income households, defined as those whose incomes are at or below 60 percent of Area Median Income adjusted for household size. As always, I appreciate any feedback you may have on this (or any other County issue). You can learn more from Habitat for Humanity about these programs by contacting familyservices@habitatmontereybay.org or by phone at (831) 469-4663 x14. I’m maintaining regular updates on social media at www.facebook.com/supervisorfriend and during the shelter-in-place order I’m hosting regular tele-townhalls with County and community leaders on Tuesday nights from 6-7 pm. The call in information for the town halls is 454-2222 with the Meeting ID: 145384# – you are welcome to speak about this issue during the town halls or you can always call me at 454-2200.

The post Partnering with Habitat for Humanity first appeared on Growing Up in Santa Cruz.

Minimize Sugar Impact for the Holidays

growingupsc — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 19:29:32 +0000

The Holidays are just around the corner. This year being the challenge presenter it has been, has many of us out of routine, having to think outside the box to recreate workout structure lost by the restriction on gyms during the pandemic. As the holidays approach, it is worth giving them some consideration and having some tools and strategies to keep our sugar consumption to reasonable levels. As delicious and satisfying as sweets are, the effects of sugar on our bodies, brains, and even moods do not go unnoticed.

The post Minimize Sugar Impact for the Holidays first appeared on Growing Up in Santa Cruz.

New Smart Phone

growingupsc — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 19:15:59 +0000

Do you Really Need That New Smart Phone? By Luigi Oppido Apple just released its new iPhone 12 series and if you haven’t noticed, the buzz wasn’t as crazy as it was every other year. Many people didn’t even know that the iPhone 12 had not been released yet and when it did get released, people didn’t seem to care about its features and its updates.When do you buy a new (to you) smart phone?When do you need a new smart phone? My rule of thumb is to not fix something if it isn’t broken. With the way the world is today, it’s smart to save your money when you can and that new iPhone sure is enticing but you probably don’t need it. Apple has a set design for when their devices will fall into obscurity. People call it “planned obsolescence” and Apple has total control over all of their hardware and software. This allows the company to implement this idea series wide across iMacs, iPads, iPhones, and all MacBooks. Currently the iPhone 6 is the last phone to meet this doomed fate. As of last week, the iPhone 6, and 6s are no longer meeting the hardware requirements for updates and will no longer be receiving security updates as of very soon. The new iOS 14 means that some phones are running incredibly slow like yours truly’s iPhone 7+. After I updated my iPhone, I found I needed to plug it in up to four times as often and all of my applications started to run slower than usual. There were lags and hiccups with photos and video. With the new operating system I needed certain pieces of software to run for my business and they would only run with the updated iOS 14. This put me in a pickle with my iPhone 7 Plus which is at the bottom of the list for Apple current-day approved devices. This forces me into a new phone.Do I buy the brand new phone? I did when my iPhone 7 came out and it has lasted me over four years. If I were to buy one step down I might be saving $200 to $300 but in the long run I might be buying a phone up to a year earlier. When it really comes down to it, Apple knows what its doing and they want to sell you a new phone every two years. You don’t need to buy the new phone unless your applications and the things that you do on the phone stop working. At that point I’d recommend asking a tech savvy friend to take a look at your phone to make sure it’s not user error. Otherwise you’ll be diving into a brand new device that might add to landfill waste and environmental woes. Maybe hold off on that smartphone for a bit. Visit Luigi Oppido at 1824 Soquel Ave, Suite B. Call him at (831)464-2220. Email at PleasurePointComputers.com or visit his website at pleasurepointcomputers.com. Listen to his radio show every Tuesday at 7 p.m. on KSQD-FM (90.7) and KSQD.org

The post New Smart Phone first appeared on Growing Up in Santa Cruz.