From St. Helena Star: UVFC provides free bilingual tax services
February 7, 2017, St. Helena Star UpValley Family Centers (UVFC) is providing free tax preparation services at its offices in St. Helena and Calistoga, evenings and weekends from now to April 18, through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. New this year, thanks to support from Citibank, the UVFC […]
From WineBusiness.com: Napa Valley Community Foundation announces scholarships for Napa County High School seniors and Napa Valley College transfer students
December 06, 2016 Fruit of the Vine Scholarship gives preference to the children of winery and vineyard employees. The following scholarships for Napa County High School seniors and Napa Valley College transfer students are administered by the Napa Valley Community Foundation. Note that the Fruit of the Vine Scholarship gives preference […]
From Napa Valley Register: Napa nonprofits join Giving Tuesday charity campaign
November 30, 2016, Howard Yune A variety of nonprofit and service groups in Napa County are taking part in Giving Tuesday, an online and social media drive to boost fundraising and publicize the work of some 40,000 community groups worldwide. Local groups including Mentis, OLE Health, and Napa branches of […]
From Napa Valley Register: Napa supervisors honor new citizens
November 8, 2016, Register Staff Twelve new local United States citizens were honored Tuesday by the Napa County Board of Supervisors. “What a special day, to recognize new citizens on Election Day,” said Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, who attended the morning ceremony. The honorees benefited from the One Napa […]
From St. Helena Star: Local nonprofits help Napa Countians become U.S. citizens
Sep 12, 2016, David Stoneberg Third in an occasional series Even though answering 10 questions on the government, history and laws of the United States wasn’t hard, I still got two wrong. I had studied the 100 questions and answers – or rather I had read over them a couple […]
From Napa Valley Patch: Legislature Passes Classroom Earthquake Safety Bill 2 Years After Napa Quake
Also, an update on the $7.8 distributions from the Disaster Relief Fund August 25, 2016, Patch Staff On the second anniversary of the 6.0-magnitude South Napa earthquake, the state Legislature on Wednesday passed a bill authored by a local assemblyman requiring school districts in seismically active areas to safely secure […]
From KRON 4: Legislature passes classroom earthquake safety bill 2 years after Napa quake
August 24, 2016, Bay City News NAPA COUNTY (BCN)—On the second anniversary of the 6.0-magnitude South Napa earthquake, the state Legislature today passed a bill authored by a local assemblyman requiring school districts in seismically active areas to safely secure heavy furniture and fixtures in their classrooms. The bill authored by […]
From Napa Register: Two years after the earthquake, the Community Foundation is planning for Napa’s next disaster
August 24, 2016, Kevin Courtney On the second anniversary of the South Napa earthquake, the Napa Valley Community Foundation released a report detailing what became of nearly $11 million in recovery donations and ongoing efforts to prepare for the next disaster. The Foundation reports making cash payments totaling $5.4 million to […]
From St. Helena Star: Working with the UpValley Family Centers to become a citizen
August 8, 2016, David Stoneberg Second in an occasional series In 1994, Elsa Cairo Carlos, her husband and daughter left their native land of Peru and emigrated to the United States. Carlos is one of nearly 9,000 Lawful Permanent Residents living in Napa County who wishes to become a U.S. citizen […]
From Napa Valley Register: Napan Lomeli goes from battlefield to courtroom
August 7, 2016, Jennifer Huffman Bonifacio Lomeli of Napa spent seven years in the Army working as a combat medic, helping fight for his country. Today, he’s working toward learning a different form of “combat” – the kind waged in courtrooms or at mediation table. Thanks to the George and Gwendolyn […]
From St. Helena Star: Help on becoming a U.S. citizen
July 19, 2016, David Stoneberg First in a series Blanca Dixon asked me some tough and personal questions recently and I had to answer them. All 32 of them.The UpValley Family Centers employee asked about my life, my travels and whether I owe taxes (which I don’t), and whether I have […]
From The Aspen Institute blog: Getting to Know the New “Us”
July 14, 2016, Elise Hernandez For over a decade, the Community Strategies Group (CSG) has advanced practices and policies that help hard-working rural families earn more, keep more of what they earn, and grow what they have into assets over time. As more immigrants move to rural America, practitioners need new […]
From Napa Valley Register: Earthquake victims receive help from Habitat for Humanity
June 24, 2016, Register Staff Nearly two years after the magnitude-6.0 earthquake hit Napa County, Damian Uriarte’s family is just now beginning to recover from the damage. The Uriartes, along with several other families in Napa County, are receiving critical repairs to their home, including a damaged chimney box that left […]
From Napa Valley Register: New American citizens minted at Napa Valley College
Maria Sestito, April 1, 2016 Twenty-one people from 12 countries became U.S. citizens in Napa on Thursday — a day that also honors Mexican-American activist Cesar Chavez. The new citizens, who included four Napans, two people from St. Helena and a Calistoga man, read the Oath of Allegiance and waved […]
From Napa Valley Register: New U.S. citizens to take oath of allegiance next week
Register staff, March 24, 2016 Civic leaders and local residents are expected to attend a naturalization ceremony in Napa next week at Napa Valley College. In the last two years, 394 Napa County residents have become U.S. citizens through a nonprofit program called the One Napa Valley Initiative, but they have […]
From Napa Valley Register: Businesses rate SBA performance following Napa earthquake
February 18, 2016 • By Jennifer Huffman In the 18 months since the August 2014 Napa earthquake, the U.S. Small Business Administration has approved 982 loans totaling $37.2 million to Napa County businesses and residents. The data was presented at a round table discussion at Napa Valley College on Thursday morning […]
From Lake County Record-Bee: Thompson hosts SBA administrator
By Record-Bee Staff February 18, 2016 Due to its location, the roundtable discussion focused on the 2014 South Napa Earthquake and how SBA disaster loans were used to help small businesses, non-profits and others rebuild after the earthquake. Participants in the roundtable included officials from the SBA, the City and […]
From The Weekly Calistogan: Free bilingual tax preparation service
February 10, 2016 Getting anxious about filing your income tax returns? Don’t know where to turn for help? Well, here is some sound advice: Don’t ask Sherlock Holmes for deductions; go to the UpValley Family Centers (UVFC) in Calistoga and St. Helena, where trained volunteers prepare state and federal tax […]
From Forbes: Management Training In The Vineyard: Professional Development For Farmworkers
Note: Today’s post completes the series about quality-of-life topics that help define what makes Napa Napa, from healthcare to housing to transportation, in the daily lives of that region’s workers and residents. Farmworkers in Napa, as we described in the last post, are the best-paid agricultural workers locally, regionally, and nationally. […]
From Los Angeles Times: Obama administration is starting in L.A. to help immigrants become citizens
January 29, 2016 Sarah D. Wire Obama administration officials are scheduled to meet in Los Angeles on Friday with Mayor Eric Garcetti, local nonprofits and business owners to discuss ways to encourage immigrants to become U.S. citizens. The meeting is part of a multi-city tour by the White House’s […]