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2010: August 24, 2010 Scholarships Awarded to 13 Hoover Seniors

Stephen Effron and Dorothy and Joe Goldberg Scholarships were awarded to 13 Hoover High School graduating seniors. The Effron Scholarships were established to honor the memory of Robert Price's cousin, Stephen Effron, a 1959 graduate of Hoover High School. The Dorothy and Joe Goldberg Scholarships were established to honor the memory of the Goldbergs, friends of Sol Price.

Nine of the scholarship recipients will be attending four year universities and will each receive up to $20,000 in scholarship funds. Four recipients will be attending community colleges and receive $4,000 each.; August 24, 2010 Aprender Y Crecer Now Serves Dominican Republic

The month of August marks the introduction of Aprender y Crecer (Learning and Growing) in the Dominican Republic, the first Caribbean country to participate in the program.

Nearly 2,500 children at four public elementary schools in the cities of Santo Domingo and Santiago will receive a package of supplies including everything they need for the school year like notebooks, pencils, pencil sharpeners, scissors, glue, tempera paints, geometry sets, and dictionaries, among others.

In addition to supplies for the students, each of the 69 teachers at these schools receive materials for use in the classroom, with everything from dry-erase markers and copy paper to construction paper and paint refills. Each school also receives an assortment of cleaning items like bleach, disinfectant, toilet paper, and hand soap.

Founded by Price Charities in 2006, the mission of Aprender y Crecer is to improve educational and life opportunities for students by forming partnerships with public elementary schools so that principals, teachers, parents and students can focus on quality teaching and learning. Aprender y Crecer currently serves more than 27,000 students and more than 1,100 teachers at 57 elementary schools in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

Price Charities is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and believes it has a social obligation to provide opportunities for the poor. For more information about Aprender y Crecer please visit www.aprenderycrecer.org.; August 24, 2010 Two Cardinals Receive Coveted Gates Millennium Scholarships

Two 2010 Hoover High students participating in the Cardinal Interact Program operated by Price Charities, received Gates Millennium scholarships. Both students have GPA's exceeding 4.0 and one is the class valedictorian. Only 1,000 students nationwide are selected for the scholarships each year.

The 2010 Hoover Salutatorian is also a Cardinal Interact Program participant and received scholarships from Cox Communications and the San Diego Chargers. Each student completing the Cardinal Interact Program receives a $1,500 scholarship to attend a university or $1,000 to attend community college. In total, the Cardinal Interact class of 2010 received $313,900 in scholarships.

Cardinal Interact participants learn about engineering

The Cardinal Interact Program is operated by Price Charities with the goal of improving academic performance. Each year 40 incoming Hoover sophomores are selected to participate in the three year program which provides after school academic support, job shadowing, mentoring, and monthly programs to businesses, government or nonprofits.; August 20, 2010 Ideas Considered for former Pearson Site

The iconic Pearson Ford dealership that stood at the corner of Fairmount and El Cajon Boulevard for 43 years is now just a dirt lot and parking structure. Price Charities bought the five acre property in 2009 with the intention of making it a community asset for Talmadge, Kensington, and City Heights. The property sits in a unique location and serves as a gateway to the three communities depending on which way you're headed.

Price Charities appreciates the community's input over the past year and continues to welcome ideas. Up to this point the needs most identified are for retail, a food market, housing, and community space.

During the first week of August, three architectural design firms presented design concepts for a mixed use development incorporating these elements. Each firm offered unique ideas and spurred conversations.

In the future Price Charities will hold formal community meetings to gather more input and help Price Charities continue its mission of improving the lives of families living in urban communities. The goal for this project is to create a space all three communities will be drawn to. For more information please contact Matthew Hervey at mhervey@pricecharities.com.; August 19, 2010 City Heights Square Update

The City Heights Square project is on schedule to open by October 1, 2011. The latest addition to the Urban Village will contain 21,000 square feet of retail space, 92 rental living units, and three levels of covered parking.

City Heights Square as of August 19, 2010

The Price Charities project is the continuation of Sol Price's vision to improve the lives of residents living in City Heights. The 92 apartments will be one, two, and three bedroom units ranging in size from 915 to 1,276 square feet. Each unit will come equipped with washers and dryers, covered balconies or patios, covered parking, and ceiling fans. The design incorporates a 10,000 square foot courtyard in the middle of the facility, creating natural light and outside entertaining options. The top floor will have an outdoor barbecue and seating area. The third floor will contain a 600 square foot sundeck. On the second floor a 2,600 square foot activity room will house a learning kitchen for cooking lessons and games for youth.

Artist's rendering of City Heights Square
as viewed from University Avenue looking north.

The retail center on the ground floor will be anchored by a 10,000 square foot Walgreens, the only non-free standing Walgreens in Southern California. Price Charities is currently pursuing tenants for the rest of the retail space which could contain as many as eight additional businesses.

The development will also be home to a community park which should open in the spring of 2012.

For more information please contact
Commercial: John Pedroarena @ 619-501-8654.
Residential: Pat Calloway @ 619-795-2018; Aprender y Crecer launches web site

This year marks the fourth anniversary of the Aprender y Crecer (Learning & Growing) program. A new web site (www.aprenderycrecer.org) was recently launched to offer more information about the program.

Presented in Spanish and English, site visitors can learn how the program began, where it operates, and stay updated on recent events through our News and Events page. The site also features a portal of activities for teachers at schools participating in the Aprender y Crecer program. The portal allows teachers to share ideas for using the materials donated by the program to create innovative learning activities.

At a cost of $50 per student per year, Aprender y Crecer donates a package of school supplies to each student at selected public schools in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Each teacher also receives a package of materials for use in the classroom and each school receives an assortment of cleaning and paper products. In exchange for the donation participating schools commit to utilizing the supplies to improve five key areas: student engagement, parent participation, teacher collaboration and innovation, school leadership, and school cleanliness and safety.

Aprender y Crecer began in 2006 with 6 schools in Costa Rica, comprising around 2,200 students. In 2010 the program will operate in 6 countries at 55 schools, serving over 27,000 students and 1,100 teachers. For more information please visit our web site www.aprenderycrecer.org; Fundraising campaign raises $435,984 for Aprender y Crecer

The "Juntos Por La Educación" (Together for Education) fundraising campaign brought in just under $250,000 in donations from members of PriceSmart shopping clubs for the Aprender y Crecer (Learning & Growing) program. With matching donation from Price Charities, the total amount contributed to the program is $435,984.

Similar to the annual fundraising campaign Costco operates to benefit Children's Hospital, PriceSmart members in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama made donations at the cash registers during the 8-week campaign.

At a cost of $50 per student per year, Aprender y Crecer donates a package of school supplies to each student at selected public schools in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Each teacher also receives a package of materials for use in the classroom and each school receives an assortment of cleaning and paper products. In exchange for the donation participating schools commit to utilizing the supplies to improve five key areas: student engagement, parent participation, teacher collaboration and innovation, school leadership, and school cleanliness and safety.

Aprender y Crecer began in 2006 with 6 schools in Costa Rica, comprising around 2,200 students. In 2010 the program will operate in 6 countries at 55 schools, serving over 27,000 students and 1,100 teachers. For more information please visit our web site www.aprenderycrecer.org or contact Jennifer Barron at jbarron@pricecharities.org.
2009: Immigrants grow piece of home in garden plots
After three years, community effort takes root

By Leslie Berestein
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. September 10, 2009

Garrett Low, who recently graduated from high school in Carlsbad and will attend UC Davis this fall, is a volunteer at the New Roots Community Farm in City Heights. Immigrants and refugees from many countries tend plots there.

(Sean M. Haffey / Union-Tribune)

SAN DIEGO - On a city-owned lot in San Diego's Chollas Creek neighborhood, urban farmers from around the world are re-connecting with the agrarian roots they left behind.

Yesterday afternoon, Lucia Lokoyen tended to her small plot of chard, spinach, kale, amaranth, tomatoes and onions on one of the 80 plots making up the recently opened New Roots Community Farm. It felt good to have her hands in the soil, said Lokoyen, a lifelong farmer who arrived from from Uganda 10 months ago.

"I'm so happy here," said Lokoyen, 33, who lives with her family in a City Heights apartment. "I come here and see all these greens, and I feel like I'm home."

It took about three years for the farm to take root in this community where several modest neighborhoods converge at 54th Street. The farm is a project of the International Rescue Committee, an international organization that provides assistance, including relocation aid, to refugees fleeing violent conflict.

The process began when the committee was trying to address nutrition needs among recent refugees from Somalia, said Ellee Igoe, an official with the organization in San Diego. Former farmers who grew only enough for their families were navigating modern grocery stores, where they didn't recognize much of the produce. Payment methods only added to the mystery.

"Imagine coming to the United States for the first time, and you're a subsistence farmer," Igoe said. "You walk into a grocery store and you have to learn how to shop. It's a whole different foodscape."

The committee gathered comments from Somali Bantu refugees, members of a minority, largely agrarian ethnic group. Suggestions also were solicited from Asian and Latino members of City Heights' polyglot mix of residents.

The arduous permitting process took about two years and included biological studies mandated because the vacant 2.3-acre parcel sits next to a creek.

Igoe estimates the farm has cost about $120,000 to set up. It was paid for with a combination of private and public funding, she said. A grand opening ceremony is scheduled for this afternoon.

After ground was broken on the farm last fall, farmers from Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Mexico and Guatemala began preparing the soil. Planting began in June. Starting mostly from seeds, they planted corn, tomatoes, basil, squash, chiles and other crops.

The bounty is a testament to the community farm's international nature. Lemongrass and basil, planted by farmers from Southeast Asia, grows next to amaranth and kunde , an edible green, planted by farmers from Somalia. Corn, popular around the world, grows throughout the farm.

The plot farmed by Bilali Muya, a Bantu refugee who also serves as the committee's farm educator, is surrounded by plots farmed by immigrants from Cambodia, Guatemala and Mexico. Muya has learned that in Spanish, the corn he grows is called maiz , the sunflowers girasoles .

"It brings people together," said Muya, who has been in the United States five years and, born without a birth certificate, estimates he is in his mid-20s. "We learn a lot from each other."

Union-Tribune
Leslie Berestein: (619) 542-4579; Hoover High School Choir and Advanced Band go on Annual Spring Trip to Universal Studios in Hollywood

As reported by the music coach, Brian Cameron at Hoover High School, the Hoover Choir and Advanced Band went on its annual spring trip to Universal Studios in Hollywood. We performed at nearby Burbank High School in the morning before spending the day having fun at the park, and we are happy to announce the results.

This performance was a competitive festival just like our earlier one and the rating system was the same (lowest to highest: poor, fair, good, excellent and superior). The Choir received a rating of "Excellent" and the Advanced Band kept their rating the same as the previous competitive performance, which was a unanimous "Superior". In addition, the company that puts on the competition gives out an award at each festival called the "Espirit de Corps" award, which is given to a school (whether or not they had one group or multiple groups) that displayed the best teamwork, professionalism, character, and "intangibles" outside of the musical performance. The recipient of this award is decided on by the company's coordinator, the host school's director, student volunteers, parent volunteers, and the competition judges. We won that, too.

This festival concluded the Music Department's competitive season for 2009, and we could not be happier for the honors our students achieved. Hoover is on its way to becoming one of San Diego County's premier music programs.