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MÁS Community News

Write a winning PSA

The Foundations of Excellence steering committee is looking for help from the students to get the word out about CSUB’s first-year experience with a television public service announcement contest. The committee will select a student-produced PSA and announce the winner at the first Celebrate CSUB Day, a university-wide open house, slated for April 28. As an incentive the winner will receive a $300 book voucher for the Runner Bookstore on campus, according to a CSUB press release.

Each entry must be conceived and produced by CSUB students. PSAs can be submitted by a group or as an individual effort. Entries must be original work. The group or individual submitting the entry must sign the entry form verifying all rules and guidelines have been followed. Entries must be suitable for television, which prohibits profanity, nudity and other lewd content.

Each entry must be accompanied by an entry form. The PSAs must address the first-year experience in student life, In-class interaction with professor(s) and fellow students, student advising, transition from high school to college, transition from junior college to university setting or other school-related themes.

All entries will be judged by the CSUB Foundations of Excellence steering committee. Judging criteria will include ability to capture first-year experience, creativity, writing, editing and overall content.

Entry forms are available in the Admissions and Records or University Advancement offices. Entries must be submitted or postmarked by April 16.

Drop off or send all entries to:
Vikash Lakhani/ PSA Contest
Admissions and Records, 47 SA
California State University, Bakersfield
9001 Stockdale Highway
Bakersfield, CA. 93311-1022
For more information, call Lakhani at 654-3288.

Call for Young Ambassadors

Applications are now available for the 2007 Young Ambassadors, a national leadership program for high school students. High school seniors should to apply at www.latino.si.edu Online applications must be submitted electronically by March 22, and all other required documents and forms must be postmarked no later than March 22.

The Young Ambassadors program includes a weeklong arts enrichment seminar at the Smithsonian Institution and a paid internship at a premier museum or cultural organization in local communities across the country. Upon completion of the program, students will receive $2,000 toward their college education.

Twenty graduating high school seniors with an interest and commitment to film, design, visual, performing or literary arts as it pertains to Hispanic culture will be selected by a panel comprised of museum partners. The selected students will travel to Washington, D.C., to spend a week at the Smithsonian Institution.  After their week at the Smithsonian, they will return to cultural organizations in their communities for a paid, four-week summer internship to gain practical experience in the cultural field and have a hands-on opportunity to promote Latino heritage.

Free tax preparation services for working poor

The Community Action Partnership of Kern’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program will provides free tax preparation for local citizens in Shafter and Bakersfield who have low to moderate incomes. 

VITA uses trained volunteers to prepare income tax returns. Volunteers will help enable low-income working families to claim tax overpayments and claim the Earned Income Tax Credits or Child Care Tax Credits, which can be as much as $4,400 per family, according to a Community Action Partnership of Kern newsletter.

In Bakersfield, services will be provided at 131 So. Chester Ave. from  8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and other times by appointment.

In Shafter, the tax services will be provided at 455 E. Euclid and are available by appointment only.

The program runs through April 1. 

For more information, call Sandi Truman, project manager 706-7798 or e-mail at: helpline@capk.org.

Florez proposes new cell phone rules

State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, announced legislation to save consumers money by allowing cell phone users to continue service on their existing phones when they change carriers.

Under current practices, each cell phone carrier “locks” phones they sell to consumers so that those phones will only work on their network. Consumers often spend a hundred dollars or more for a new phone when they switch carriers, even though the phone they already have — and have already paid for — is in perfectly good working order.

Florez’s legislation would state that once you purchase a cell phone, that phone is your property, and the carrier must “unlock” the phone if you change carriers, so that you can continue to use it on a different network.

Cash for college

The Kern County Cash for College Consortium held a news conference at Bakersfield High School to announce a series of workshops designed to help make financial aid more accessible and affordable for Kern County high school seniors by simplifying the filing process.

Consortium members will help students fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and Grade Point Average (GPA) Verification Form, necessary to apply for Cal Grants and other financial aid.

A new Kern County Scholarship Fund is also available for students. It will provide as many as 60 scholarships in amounts ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 to local graduating seniors who have at least a 2.0 grade point average and demonstrate financial need. The deadline to apply is April 1, and forms are available on the California Student Opportunity and Access Program (Cal-SOAP)   http://learning.kern.org/calSoap/.  

The three remaining workshops are at the following times and places:

Feb. 24, 10 a.m.–12 p.m. Police Activities League, 301 East 4th St., Bakersfield.

Feb. 25, 12– 2 p.m. Nueva High School, Computer Lab, 8600 Palm Ave., Lamont

March 1, 6 - 8 p.m. 2nd floor, University Square, 2000 K St., Bakersfield
 
Costa named to energy subcommittee

Congressman Jim Costa, D-Fresno, was selected as chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources of House Natural Resources Committee.

Costa will continue to serve on the Committee’s Subcommittee on Water and Power. In addition to his membership on the Natural Resources Committee, Costa is member of the House Agriculture Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee.  

As a member of the Agriculture Committee, Costa will serve as a member of two subcommittees, the Subcommittee Livestock, Diary and Poultry and the Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy and Research.

Costa has also been selected for membership on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and two of its subcommittees, the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia and the Subcommittee on Europe. 

Grants available for children with medical needs

The UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation, a non-profit  organization, is accepting applications for financial assistance that will help cover medical costs for eligible families.

Applications can be found online at: http://www.uhccf.org/apply.html.

Each application will be reviewed using guidelines that can also be found online at: http://www.uhccf.org/.

An application must be submitted prior to the child’s 17th birthday.
  
— Community News items compiled by MÁS staffer Isaac Rocha