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selves, they lose out on developing social skills and “social anxiety increases.” Another new problem school counselors are dealing with is “cyber bullying.” With the help of the Internet and sites including Facebook, bullying is no longer something that only happens to the unpopular kids. It is also happening to those at the top of the social hierarchy, Kane said. And with domestic violence on the rise, “it’s usually because of the bullying that’s going on at home.” CHAC counselors have come to know that there are growing numbers of kids in local schools that are homeless, living in cars with their parents. CHAC has helped some with new school supples and trips to Kohl’s for new clothes. The problems aren’t always economic. CHAC’s counselors recently counseled a child who was having meltdowns in class because his father was dying of cancer, Kane said. And counselors have noticed more kids in the area are smoking marijuana. Some use it to “self medicate” in response to stress, Kane said, and some have started in response to peer pressure. Trying to help young people deal with these sorts of problems usually involves developing their own identity that they feel good about. That way they aren’t “swept up by circumstance,” said development director Paul Schutz. A growing organization As social stress weighs heavily on the city’s families during the recession, CHAC’s services are in high demand. Parents who would have paid a private therapist before are now looking to CHAC for more affordable services, Kane said. CHAC’s affordability comes from its army of college interns that do the bulk of the counseling. CHAC has 80 student interns this year, up from 60-70 previously. They are training towards their therapy licenses or doctoral
degrees. And the intern positions are highly sought after. Kiritz said he had over 140 applications for 16 slots for his doctoral training program this year. All the activity has CHAC outgrowing its small building at 711 Church Street, where it provides walk-in counseling to anyone, with fees on a sliding scale. Sometime over the next few years CHAC will soon be moving into a larger building in a property swap. A developer wants to use the property in a project that will redevelop much of the block, which sits along Castro Street. Just a few blocks away, CHAC is set to begin offering expanded services for parents of young children. A space at Trinity United Methodist Church at Hope and Mercy streets will be renovated and opened up by CHAC in partnership with First Five Santa Clara County as the “Parent Place.” CHAC’s school counseling may also be expanding soon as well, as Sunnyvale has signed CHAC on to provide counseling at three of its school sites this year and may contract with CHAC for all of its schools in the future, Schutz said. While many non-profits are losing money during the recession, CHAC has been able to grow its revenues slightly over the last three years from $2.36 million to $2.69 million this year. Kane believes that is because the community has come to value the services CHAC has provided since 1973. The number of people served by CHAC has more than doubled since 2008, with 7,752 served last year. That’s partly because of a new program for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth in local schools that served 3,951 students last year. And a new partnership with the police department that counsels families of at-risk youth using a “best practices” counseling model served 114 last year. Contributions to the Voice’s Holiday Fund will help CHAC further expand its services to help even more families and individuals through tough times. V
Holiday Fund Donations Anonymous Anonymous (3) ..........................1,800 Name Greg Fowler & Julie Lovins ...........** Wakerly Family Foundation ....11,000 Ed & Harriet Yu ............................500
TOTALS: As of December 1, 2010, a total of 8 donors have given $13,300 to the Mountain View Voice Holiday Fund. ** The asterisk designates that the donor did not want to publish the amount of the gift
In memory of Evan Rauch .....................................** Henry C. Hennings, Jr. ...................**
How to Give
Your gift helps children and others in need
C
ontributions to the Holiday Fund will be matched dollar for dollar to the extent possible, and will go directly to the nonprofit agencies that serve Mountain View residents. Last year Voice readers contributed nearly $49,000, up significantly from the prior year. With an additional $20,000 from the Wakerly Family Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, the total raised was almost $69,000, or nearly $10,000 for each of the seven participating nonprofit agencies supported by the Holiday Fund. No administrative costs are deducted from the
gifts, which are tax-deductible as permitted by law. All donations will be shared equally with the seven recipient agencies listed here.
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This year, the following agencies will be supported by the Holiday Fund: ■ PARTNERS FOR NEW GENERATIONS
■ THE SUPPORT NETWORK FOR BATTERED WOMEN
Trains volunteer mentors who work with local youth in education and community programs.
Operates a 24-hour bilingual hotline, a safe shelter for women and their children, and offers counseling and other services for families facing this problem.
■ THE COMMUNITY HEALTH AWARENESS COUNCIL Serves Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and seven school districts. Offers schoolbased programs to protect students from highrisk behaviors, such as drug and alcohol abuse.
■ COMMUNITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND ARTS Provides hands-on arts and music projects in the elementary classrooms of the Mountain View-Whisman School District. Nearly 40 percent of the students are low-income and 28 percent have limited English proficiency.
■ MOUNTAIN VIEW ROTACARE CLINIC Provides uninsured community residents with medical care and medications, and is frequently the last resort for this under-served clientele.
■ DAY WORKER CENTER OF MOUNTAIN VIEW
■ COMMUNITY SERVICES AGENCY OF MOUNTAIN VIEW AND LOS ALTOS
Provides a secure place for workers and employers to negotiate wages. Serves 50 or more workers per day with job-matching, English lessons and guidance.
Assists working poor families, homeless and seniors with short-term housing and medical care and other services.
Name of donor ______________________________________________ Amount $ ____________ Street address ___________________________________________________________________ City _______________________________________________ State _____ Zip _______________ ❏ I wish to contribute anonymously.
❏ Don’t publish the amount of my contribution.
❏ I wish to designate my contribution as follows: ❏ In honor of: ❏ In memory of: ________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________
TO DONATE ONLINE: mv-voice.com/holiday_fund PLEASE MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO: THE HOLIDAY FUND Enclose this coupon and send to: The Voice Holiday Fund C/O Silicon Valley Community Foundation 2440 W. El Camino Real, Suite 300, Mountain View, CA 94040 By Credit Card: ❏ Visa or ❏ MasterCard
No. ______________________________________
Exp. Date ________________________________________________________ Signature ________________________________________________________
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■ MOUNTAIN VIEW VOICE ■ DECEMBER 3, 2010