On May 4th we had the honor of hosting Congresswoman Maxine Waters and her staff her at CCEO YouthBuild.  We thank her for her continued support of YouthBuild and our programs nationwide.

We were delighted that Assemblymember Tony Mendoza, whom our young people met in Sacramento during Government Education Days, paid us a visit.

On April 26^th Dodgers Dream Foundation, LA84 Foundation and the LA Department of Parks and Recreation presented a brand new baseball field at Lennox Park.  Students from Bufford Elementary, Huerta Elementary, Jefferson Elementary, Lennox Middle School and Moffett Elementary were present in dodger jerseys and hats.  Following the dedication Dodger alumni Kenny Landreaux, Wes Parker, Derrel Thomas and Fernando Valenzuela provided the youth from these schools with a baseball clinic on various fields of expertise including pitching, batting and catching.  The new field will give the up and coming generation the opportunity to practice and play on the best available facilities.  This renovation to Lennox Park is truly a dream come true.

In the spirit of bringing healthier food options into the community of Lennox, our youth decided to do a joint mural/garden project here at our facility on Global Youth Service Day. Over the last year we’ve been encouraging our members (both academy and construction) to live healthier lives through access to fresh fruits and veggies. To assist them in this, we have developed a school garden at our facility which we are confident will yield a ton of great produce for our young people and their families to take home. In addition to the spring planting we did on Monday, we also mulched and painted murals depicting revolutionary leaders in art and social justice.  Additionally we had live music provided by our CCEO Music Elective Class.   We would like to specially thank our local and national partners who donated money and supplies to make this event possible:  Home Depot, The International Garden  Center, Granger, and State Farm.

April 14th was the official grand opening of the Lennox Community Garden located at the corner of 112^th and Inglewood blvd.  CCEO YouthBuild was proud to be there to show support and help out with this momentous event.  Our good friends at the L.A. Conservation Corps and Supervisor Mark Riddley-Thomas were happy to present this green space to the Lennox Community

Government Education Days(GED) is a trip that the California YouthBuild Coalition and it’s respective members embark upon every year to advocate to legislators on behalf of the YouthBuild movement.  April 10^th-11^th CCEO YouthBuild sent 10 members to represent us this year.  12 YouthBuild programs across the state of California participated and 130 young people were involved in what was our largest GED event yet.  The first day consisted of leadership training and preparation by two YouthBuild alums, Bea Sweet and Noe Orgaz.  The second day we were addressed by several state legislators including our very own Assemblymember Steven Bradford.  Then the YouthBuilder’s  split up and were able to visit their individual legislators and share their personal stories and request support on Assembly Bill 2414 (Solorio), a bill that  extends the sunset of the California Youth Offender Reentry (Cal-YOR) program, a competitive grant program that provides reentry services to juvenile offenders as they leave local and state facilities.

March 19^th through 22^nd Evelyn Velasco, one of our very own YouthBuild, traveled to Washington D.C. to the 24th Annual YouthBuild USA Conference of Young Leaders.  Evelyn joined YouthBuilder’s from all across the country for three days of leadership activites based around the goal of becoming more responsible and making positive changes to their respective communities.  While there she even had the opportunity to meet with legislators and discuss how YouthBuild has made a change in her life.  Evelyn was also one of sixteen youth elected to the National Young Leaders Council (YLC).  The YLC is a group of YouthBuild participants and graduates that act as a national voice for youth in the YouthBuild movement.  We are very proud that Evelyn represented CCEO YouthBuild so well at the conference and will be a national representative for the next two years.

CCEO’s very own James Amaya has been selected to receive a $500 Jimmy Melton scholarship from the California YouthBuild Coalition.  James works at both CCEO YouthBuild and as a security gurad.  Additionally he is going to school right now to become and electrician.  We really appreciate him for being such an exemplary CCEO YouthBuild graduate and for his continued dedication to this organization.