Page 5 - Dinuba Sentinel 8-30-18 E-edition

The Dinuba Sentinel News Thursday, August 30, 2018 | A5 Guest Column
EWnding Generational Poverty
e refer to it as our “Work”, our programs for students moral imperative to help students in grades 1-8. Mentors build healthy relationships, included police officers
find perspective, embrace learning, gain knowledge of the world, and the inspiration to change it into something better. We know it simply as our district vision which is to, “End generational poverty through education.”
Why generational poverty? According to the latest US Census information, Dinuba remains located in one of the most impoverished counties in the state because it is the most difficult poverty to escape.
According to author Dr. Ruby Payne, generational poverty is defined as having lived in poverty for more than two generations
and is characterized by housing instability, violence, food insecurity, unemployment and underemployment, unaddressed health issues, homelessness and ultimately hopelessness.
Recently, part of our district team had the privilege of traveling to Washington, D.C.
to receive an academic award. During some sightseeing, the most striking of monuments was a 30’ tall sculpture of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. whose figure emerges from the face of a large slab of rock. The statue is unfinished, symbolic because the work he championed remains unfinished. A compelling quote is etched on one of the monument walls. Dr. King said, “I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits.”
Our Governing Board and the Dinuba Unified staff are invested in that kind of audacity. The audacity to believe it’s possible to lead future generations of students from the limits of generational poverty to having hopes of succeeding in college, acquiring a skill that enables them to sustain themselves economically, and to contribute to their respective communities.
We have established systems of support in addressing the needs of the whole child. Last year we provided mentors to almost 350 students through our partnerships with Campus Life and Big Brothers, Big Sisters
Dr. Joe Hernandez
from our City of Dinuba. DUSD’s Learning and Guidance Student Support Center logged nearly 500 referrals last year.
District wide, academic achievement has steadily improved every year. All
schools are experiencing growth in math and in English Language Arts. At the high school, students in English are achieving at high levels. In grades K through 8, the percentage of students reading on grade level has significantly increased.
DUSD is utilizing Project Based Learning in our Nationally Distinguished Medical Academy and in our Construction/Engineering Academy which designed and built a single family residence. We are also working collaboratively with Reedley College by providing dual enrollment. Last year this allowed over
690 DHS school students to be enrolled in community college classes, which means
an increased likelihood they will get college degrees and save themselves hundreds of dollars in tuition and fees. Additionally, nearly 2,000 DUSD students in grades 6-9 toured different colleges and universities to get a taste of the college experience through the Central Valley Promise; which is funded through an endowment by longtime Dinuba resident Dorothy Mitsuoka.
Looking to the future, we will be moving to
a brand new Dinuba High School. This is a significant event in our community’s history. Having quality facilities for our students makes a difference. While there is much work to be done, collectively, we can transform
our community from the board room to the classroom; in partnership with our parent
and civic community, a future of hope is being forged.
Dr. Joe Hernandez is the Superintendent of Schools for the Dinuba Unified School District.
Contributed
Dinuba FFA to hold Pre-Fair Event tomorrow
Contributed
On August 31st Dinuba FFA will be hosting its annual Pre- Fair event. The event will be
located at the Dinuba High These projects started in the animal is fed throughout the have their market show the market class Friday the School farm from 5-7:30pm. beginning of June, being cared day, monitoring the animal’s Wednesday the 12th starting 14th in the morning at 8am
Members from Dinuba FFA will show their animals, including goats, sheep, pigs, and a steer.
for throughout the summer. An animal project consists of the owner making sure the
health, meeting with their advisors weekly for practice, and working individually. The Pre-Fair is open to the public, so please come by and support the members or view the animals if interested in purchasing.
Starting September 10th, animals will begin to be hauled into the fair to be weighed, awaiting to be showed. Hogs
at 8am with the showmanship for swine the following day at 2pm. Goats will kick off their market show Wednesday morning beginning at 9am with showmanship following suit. Sheep exhibitors will compete in showmanship at 3pm on Wednesday the 12th, then completing their market classes Thursday at 9am. Our beef exhibitor will compete in
and showmanship later in the afternoon. The beef auction will be the Saturday of fair starting at pm. The hog, goat, and sheep auction will be Sunday morning starting at 10 am. Dinuba FFA wishes the best of luck to all of the exhibitors showing at the 2018 Tulare County Fair. We hope to see supporters at the Pre-Fair and fair.
Pastor Mark Wallace, left, has joined forces with Roger Neufeld in an effort to help save
Saving Open Gate Ministries
the operation, and it remains open.
An appeal was made to the Dinuba Christian
Ministerial Association, under the leadership of Pastor Mark Wallace. Interested persons were ready to join the process of reorganizing.
After prayer, interviews, and proper board action, six new board members were voted in. Evaluations of the facilities and the program are under review. Donations are coming in, and God is sending the right staff members and volunteers and the shelter will return to full operation before October 1.
Out of the ashes, God is raising new life. This is His work, and He will build it as we work together. All the Christian Churches from Dinuba working together, and hundreds of donations from concerned citizens, are needed to make this possible.
By Roger Neufeld
Special to the Sentinel
F
families have been sheltered and 15,000 people fed over the years with donated food by volunteers, churches, board members, business and staff.
Now when the ministry is needed most in our community, it is limping and needs resuscitation due to lack of funds.
or over forty years, Open Gate Ministries has been saving others; not it is in need of being saved itself. Approximately 1,500
Roger Neufeld came out of retirement to lead the board. By the 19th of May, the last shelter residents were transferred out. Since that time, a skeleton crew has kept the shelter open for limited tenants, and the food distribution is continuing. Changes at the thrift store have resulted in improvements of
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