October Award Winners

Fallbrook Library to Receive Excellence in Construction Award

The San Diego Chapter of Associated Builders & Contractors announced October 4 that the Fallbrook Branch Library won an Award of Excellence in this year’s competition, and that the project is a finalist for top project by a general contractor. Those results and the Award of Excellence will be presented at an awards dinner November 17. The $10.3 million, 19,151-square-foot Fallbrook library opened in January and was a design-build project by the team of C.W.Driver, Ferguson Pape Baldwin Architects, and Manuel Oncina Architects. The Fallbrook Library is also a finalist for San Diego Architectural Foundation’s People’s Choice Orchid Award.

Video – Fallbrook Library Grand Openingtion Awards Dinner

It’s Up to Us Campaign Wins Inspiration Media Award  

The It’s Up to Us campaign recently received the Inspiration Media Award from the National Association on Mental Illness San Diego   in recognition of the success of the first six months of the campaign. Data indicates that San Diegans are now more likely to socialize and work closely with someone who has a mental illness.

The social stigma that surrounds mental illness can prevent people from getting the help they need. However, Behavioral Health Services’ It’s Up to Us campaign is working to change that. The campaign reinforces the idea that mental health is just as important to quality of life as physical wellbeing, and also educates people about how to recognize symptoms of suicide and mental health challenges, use local resources, and seek help.

The campaign, which is funded by the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), features radio and TV commercials, billboards and other outdoor media as well as print ads and the website www.Up2SD.org. Mental Health Services Director Alfredo Aguirre and MHSA Coordinator Karen Ventimiglia accepted the award at an awards ceremony October 7.

Award for Innovation

On September 1, Brad Long of the Department of Environmental Health (DEH) was awarded the National 2011 Biowatch Award of Excellence in Field Operations and Environmental Sampling. Over the last few years he has been designing a system of “just in time training” that makes it possible to add additional field personnel to a sampling operation on short notice and has worked diligently to incorporate the military bases in the San Diego region into the Biowatch program. Biowatch gives us an early warning of a bioterrorism attack. It is a network of sensors that detects biological agents. Locally Biowatch is a collaborative effort among U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Marine Corps, DEH and Health and Human Services Agency. 

Child Support Services Wins Two Statewide Awards

The County’s Department of Child Support Services (DCSS) was honored with two statewide awards last month. The department’s “Educating Non-Custodial Parents” video series was selected by the California State Association of Counties for a 2011 Merit Award. The videos were produced in-house by DCSS and posted on the department website in an effort to engage parents owing child support to participate in the process.

DCSS also earned the 2011 Program Awareness Award presented by the Child Support Directors Association of California at its annual conference. The honor was in recognition of the department’s new Spanish website, which mirrors the information and functionality of its English site. Since its debut last April, the DCSS Spanish website has had more than 1500 visits, ranking as the department’s eighth most accessed page.