Back-to-School is Forever

The last few weeks, one campus after another has been welcoming its students in for a new year. The scramble has kept many of you busy, whether it’s getting your kindergartners their first little backpacks, moving kids into their dorms, or anything in between.  

The back-to-school buzz is in the air. It’s hard to leave the beach and long days behind, but the chance to learn new things is pretty exciting.

And it’s not just exciting, but essential at the County. We talk a lot here about continuous improvement. Pushing ourselves to the next level. We can’t do that unless we’re constantly learning. New skills, new strategies. From our co-workers, from other agencies.

Because we know how important it is to keep absorbing knowledge, the County makes quite a variety of opportunities available to employees.  

The big one is the Learning Management System, our own online County university of sorts. If you’ve only visited when you have to, you may not be aware of just how much you can do there. There are thousands of modules on everything from Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint to career advancement topics like interviewing skills and resume writing to tips on handling stress. There are even some of the TED Talk videos I’ve invited employees to watch with me.

Scroll down the LMS home page, and you’ll see a catalog of topics you can browse. Some are specific to your department. New modules are being added all the time.

One thing you always ask people in school: What’s your favorite subject? One that’s near and dear to me is financial literacy. We work here because we want to make the County a better place. There are so many things we want to do, but we have to operate within the limits of our finances. You can’t really understand why the organization does what it does without knowing where the money comes from and where it goes.

That’s why we’ve launched a Financial Literacy course, open to any employee. It gives a basic overview of our finances and budget, and it’s designed for non-financial staff. I was delighted to see our first few were very popular. Another one is planned for this fall, and an online version is in the works so that even more employees can take it.

Then there are some things I wish we didn’t have to spend time on, but it’s important that we do. There is no room for sexual harassment here at the County, and we need to make sure that lesson is clear. As part of our overall harassment prevention efforts, we recently upgraded our training for supervisors. Human Resources staff took some inspiration from TV news magazines and came up with a really engaging training, full of real-world scenarios. It took a lot of work to put together, but the subject is worth every bit of it.

We want to make sure we’re providing all the resources we can to creating the best leaders in the future. For the first time ever, the California State Association of Counties (CSAC) took its Institute for Excellence on the road, bringing a series of trainings to the COC. More than 100 employees took courses that got them deep into policy and strategy topics, with 10 employees completing the entire series.  

You’re not limited to what we teach here. The County has two ways to help you pursue education at the college level. Employees can request tuition reimbursement for taking college courses that would help them in their duties here at the County. Make sure you review all the details and check whether your department has funding available before enrolling (Link for DA, Sheriff, SDCERA). And with our Education Partnerships, you can get tuition discounts at National University, University of Phoenix, Ashford University and DeVry University.

I’m mentioning just a little of what’s out there. With all the options, there really is something for everyone. If you’re like me, few things are more satisfying than picking up new knowledge or skills. It’s how we each grow as a person. And it’s how we grow as an organization. If taking advantage of these opportunities can both help your career and help us serve people better, that’s really a win-win.   

I’ll let the wise words of Dr. Suess wrap it up.

County Employee Helps Little Leaguers Achieve Dreams

District 42 Administrator Ernie Lucero (red) stands with Sweetwater Valley Little League players Braiz Ramirez, Levi Mendez and Dante Schmid.

Ernie Lucero and 13 players from Sweetwater Valley Little League (along with a handful of coaches and plenty of family members) just got back from the Little League World Series, where the team of young sluggers took its thrilling run to the competition’s semifinals. Their valiant efforts may not have had them power their way into first place, but Lucero, the District 42 Administrator, is extremely proud nonetheless.

“Even though [they] lost against a good Texas team, in my view, they’re winners. They made it all the way to Williamsport, which is a dream to those who don’t go there. The experience the Sweetwater Valley kids lived in Pennsylvania will forever be etched in their memories,” said Lucero, a supervising investigator with the County Office of Public Defender.

Lucero is the district’s administrator – a volunteer position that oversees nine little leagues in south county and ensures all rules and regulations are followed.

“I have a staff of eight individuals who volunteer their time to help me run the district. These are dedicated people who all share our commitment to better the community through Little League baseball and who also love working with kids,” he said.

Lucero served as President of Eastlake Little League in 2000 and has been in his current volunteer position for about seven years. This is his third time in six years going to Williamsport for the World Series with District 42.

“Each of the three times at Williamsport has been extraordinarily exciting. It all started with the 2009 Park View team. Making it to Williamsport for the Little League World Series wasn’t just a distant dream; they made it a reality. The 2013 Eastlake Little League team reinforced that Williamsport was not out of reach. They became the U.S. champions that year, making us very proud for being the best Little League team in the United States,” Lucero said.

But this past team that made it to the semifinals, the Sweetwater Valley Little League, is the best hitting club Lucero said he’s ever seen.

“If you can believe it, each of the 13 players on the team hit a home run during their run to the World Series. This is incredible!”

One of those players is Lucero’s nephew.

“I’m just happy he was able to experience the magic of playing in Williamsport and being part of the team.”

The three teams that have gone to Williamsport are only about nine miles apart from each other, which Lucero says is unprecedented for teams in the playoffs.

“People ask me how this can be. I tell them it’s the magic of the carne asada fries!”

As for his next trip to Pennsylvania, Lucero thinks it might be sooner rather than later.

“There is another team coming up through the ranks. There might possibly be a fourth District 42 team that makes it to Williamsport.­­­”

A “Welcome Home” celebration is being held for the Sweetwater sluggers at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 1 at 3321 Conduit Road in Bonita. Representatives from the County of San Diego and City of Chula Vista will be in attendance as well as Channel 93.3, the Eastlake and Bonita Vista Cheer Squads and the San Diego Padres Pad Squad.

Mark Your Calendar for Free Flu Shots

Linda Feeley with Agriculture, Weights and Measures getting the flu shot in 2014.

Roll up your sleeves—it’s time to fight the flu!

The County will offer free flu shots to all employees starting this week. Shots will be offered at various worksites beginning Sept. 2 at the County Operations Center.

Your supervisor may approve reasonable County time for you to receive the flu shot. No appointment or pre-registration is necessary.  Just show up with your employee ID!

Immunization is the most effective way to fight influenza, according to Wilma J. Wooten, M.D., M.P.H., County public health officer. Everyone 6 months and older should get the vaccine every year. It is safe and effective.

The 2015 Flu Shot Schedule is available on the Benefits Division’s website.

Employee’s Hobby Dresses Up Life

Roberta Nichols in her costume entry at the Disney D23 Fan EXPO in August.

It all started with “Star Trek” in 1979.

“If you wore a costume to the movie premiere, you could get in for free… so I found the pattern in a “Star Trek” manual book, blew it up to full size and started creating.”

Roberta Nichols said she was still hemming the iconic Nurse Chapel short blue dress in the car on the way to the premiere.

The Multiple Conflicts Office employee has been stitching and sewing ever since, boasting memberships in the San Diego Costume Guild (the Guild) and Costumer’s Guild West (CGW) based in Los Angeles.

Roberta Nichols in her Miss Havisham costume at the Riverside Dickens Festival.“I do movie and TV recreations, and have also been a model in historical fashion shows and fundraising events and teas, including the Riverside Dickens Festival, Gaslight Gathering (a steampunk convention) and the Alpine Women’s Club,” Nichols said. 

Most recently, the talented seamstress competed at the Disney D23 Fan EXPO held at the Anaheim Convention Center Aug. 14-16.

“I had never competed in a costume contest like that before. I read the notice for Disney’s Mousequerade and thought, ‘why not give it a try, you never know.’ I mailed in a photo of the outfit and necklace I created a few months earlier for the ‘Cinderella’ movie premiere and never thought I would even be considered,” she said.

Nichols ended up being one of eleven finalists in the “Once Upon A Costume” category with her Lady Tremaine (sometimes known better as the Wicked Stepmother from “Cinderella”) costume. Her competing category was one of five categories with 60 contestants in all, performing on stage to an audience of 7,500 Disney fans. She didn’t win the category – Ursula the Sea Witch grabbed first prize - but was honored to be among the final group.

“It was an amazing experience sharing stories with talented costumers from all over the U.S.” 

Finalists in the "Once Upon a Time" category at the Disney D23 Fan EXPO.

Nichols said she continues to expand her sewing skills by attending CGW’s Costume College, but that also means making extra room in her house for all her supplies and accessories, including hats, gloves, shoes, jewelry, reticules or purses, fans, umbrellas, flowers and even wigs. 

Roberta Nichols (L) in her Lady Tremaine costume.

“My husband Gary, a retired County Public Defender, is very supportive of my hobby and has allowed it to take over two large closets in our home,” she said. “Creating a costume, especially a historically based one, is not just the garments on the outside.  To obtain the proper silhouette, you must first create from within with proper era undergarments (wired bustle, corset, petticoat, chemise).”

Nichols said the San Diego Costume Guild has been invited to attend and be “eye candy” by many local organizations including the San Diego History Center, the USS Midway, the House of England in Balboa Park, and the Museum of Man. She’s even hosted some events, like the USS Midway Flag Day celebration. 

And if you’re wondering if that “Star Trek” costume that started it all 36 years ago got her into the movie premiere for free – it did.

Get Moving with the Employee Wellness Program Champions’ Playlist

A good beat can help you during a workout. Studies have shown that music increases concentration and lowers perception of effort during exercise. So pump up your playlist!

Several of our County Employee Wellness Program Champions shared the gym jams and aerobics anthems that get them moving.

Gilbert Jimenez, a social work supervisor, lets his instructor select the playlist during fitness classes or he “zens out” to the sounds of waves crashing at yoga.

Francisco Puentes runs Pandora or Digitally Imported radio to cue up playlists curated for his activities—cardio followed by resistance training.

And a handful more of the champs have specific tracks that really get them amped up for exercise. Check out the tunes and get fit:

Jennifer Winfrey, Recycling Specialist II, Public Works

1. “Hooked on a Feeling” - Blue Swede
2. “Just Dance” – Lady Gaga
3. “Crazy in Love” – Beyoncé
4. “We Found Love ft. Calvin Harris” - Rihanna
5. “Pray to God ft. HAIM” - Calvin Harris

Venus Zayas, Administrative Analyst II, Public Health Services

1. “La Vida Es Un Carnival” - Celia Cruz
2. “Timber” - Pitbull ft Ke$ha
3. “Tangerine Speedo” - Caviar
4. “GDFR” - Flo Rida
5. “I Love It”  - Icona Pop 

Eileen Espinoza, Criminal Legal Secretary, District Attorney’s Office

1. “Miss Jackson Ft. Lolo” – Panic at the Disco
2. “Wrecking Ball (Nicolas Costa Remix)” – Miley Cyrus
3. “Proper Education” – Eric Prydz vs Pink Floyd

Curley R. Palmer, Health Information Specialist II, HHSA

1. “We Are Family” - Sister Sledge
2. “Happy” - Pharrell Williams
3. “I’m So Excited” - Pointer Sisters
4. “I Got You (I Feel Good)” - James Brown
5. “Celebration” - Kool & The Gang

Terri Foster, Analyst II, Community Action Partnership, OSI

1. “Oh Carolina” - Shaggy
2. “Rastaman Wheel Out” - Chronixx
3. “Here Comes Trouble” - Chronixx
4. “I Like to Move It” - Crazy Frog
5. “Don’t Stop the Party” - Pitbull
6. “Shake Senora” – Pitbull

Feeling inspired? Stream a sample of the Wellness Champions’ playlist on Spotify from the gym or trail.

Animal Services is Top Dog for Work on App

 

Dan DeSousa, deputy director for the Department of Animal Services, picked up an award for the department's work with the dog facial recognition app Finding Rover.

The folks at Animal Services are all smiles after winning a Best of California 2015 Award from the Center for Digital Government for its work with the Finding Rover app. It uses facial recognition to reunite lost dogs with their owners. Animal Services became the first animal sheltering organization in the nation to use the app in May 2014.

Award winners are selected for innovative use of technology, economic benefits and improving public services. Deputy Director Dan DeSousa picked up the award for “Best Mobile/Wireless Project” during an awards presentation Thursday in Sacramento.  

“We’ve had a number of success stories with the Finding Rover app. Owners who have been reunited with their lost dogs couldn’t be more grateful,” said Animal Services Director Dawn Danielson. “A lot of credit goes to Kim Hatfield for recognizing an opportunity when she saw one.”

Hatfield is IT Manager for the Community Services Group. She saw the app and came up with the idea for Animal Services to partner with Finding Rover. The app uses snapshots of lost dogs to match the faces of those that have been found. She worked to make sure Animal Services database of lost and adoptable dogs was linked with Finding Rover’s registry of some 60,000 dogs. It’s updated several times a day to remain current. 

The Finding Rover app also prompted a change in the way Animal Services takes photographs of lost pets. Photos of lost animals were entered into the departmental computer system before but now staff takes special care to focus on the face so the Finding Rover facial recognition can work its magic. Anyone with a smartphone or computer can use the free app to look for their lost animals. The technology shows possible matches within seconds. 

Animal Services recommends all dog owners register their pets with Finding Rover along with getting ID tags, licenses and microchips.

Emergency Preparedness Winners Announced

Anthony Do, In Home Support Services

Many of you answered the call to prepare for an emergency, and for five lucky employees, preparedness came with added benefits. Each won a deluxe emergency survival kit for their efforts in the month-long preparedness campaign, which is especially critical here in San Diego with the threat of wildfires and other disasters.

The winners of the opportunity drawing were Maribel Cuadras-Manriquez with Family Resource Center - South Bay, Anthony Do with Aging & Independence Services, Tanya Kunz with the Public Defender, Cesar Ortega with HHSA’s Tuberculosis Control program and Arturo Torres with the Family Resource Center – Southeast.

Tanya Kunz, Office of the Public Defender

The prize included a tent, two sleeping bags, lantern, hand crank and solar powered radio with USB charger for cellphones, first aid kit and more.

While the drawing is over, there is still time to win by making sure you and your family are ready for a disaster.

Follow these four simple steps:

• Make a Plan: Complete a family disaster plan.
• Build a Kit: Your preparedness “go kit” should be organized and ready to grab during an emergency such as an earthquake or wildfire. The kit should be sufficient to sustain you, your family and your pets for a minimum of 72 hours.
• Be Informed: Register your cellphone number for AlertSanDiego. Download the SD Emergency app. Bookmark the County’s emergency website. And follow the County on Twitter.
• Get Involved: There are countless ways to get involved. You could find your office’s emergency exits, review your office’s Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP), join the County’s Advanced Recovery Initiative to help during a disaster or volunteer with CERT.

For more information, visit the Office of Emergency Services on InSite.

ECFRC Shows Some Spirit

The El Cajon Family Resource Center celebrated Spirit week last week. Barbara Rathun, human services operations manager, submitted the photos and said the week helps build employee relationships while increasing morale.

Check out the fun photos from the spirited week.

Twin Day

Patriot Day

Black and White Day

Team Jersey Day

Superhero Day

Sharing Our Goals

You’ve probably heard the expression about getting everyone in the boat to row in the same direction. In a huge organization like ours, doing such a wide variety of stuff, it makes an enormous difference. Taking the idea literally for a moment, picture 17,000 or so of us with oars in the water and the wake we’d make pulling together. 

We’re also an organization driven by goals. Every department has them. And they all in some way support our four big strategic initiatives: healthy families, safe communities, sustainable environments and operational excellence.

Now – what if instead of each department having just its own goals, we came up with a set of goals that combined some of the different things departments do? Keeping with that notion of everyone rowing toward the same point.   

That’s exactly what we’ve started doing with this new fiscal year, and we have a name for it: enterprise-wide goals.

The idea is that these goals go across departments. Sometimes a couple departments, sometimes several. They all have a part in achieving one goal.

It’s not like working together is new ground for us. We’ve had numerous successful partnerships between departments, and we’re always cooperating in countless ways.   

What is new is the whole framework for lining up our many efforts and steering us where we want to go. It now sets the structure for, and ties together, everything in our operational plan.

Let’s look at one example. Under Sustainable Environments, one enterprise-wide goal involves finding ways for residents to be civically engaged and work with us on challenges. Multiple departments are taking on facets of that. Health and Human Services will train people to deliver its Resident Leadership Academy, which teaches people how to create positive change in their communities. Parks will build civic responsibility through a series of volunteer activities. The Registrar will work with community organizations to increase voter registration. The Citizens Law Enforcement Review Board will expand awareness of its role through stakeholder outreach.

You see there are different departments, each doing what they do, but working toward that same goal of civic engagement.

That’s just one example. Under each strategic initiative are several enterprise-wide goals. And each of those goals has those cross-departmental objectives feeding into it. Our op plan lays it out quite neatly, and it’s easy to trace how everything connects.

One really great thing about this is how the whole design came together. The Board of Supervisors sets policy. Our executive leadership team translates that into our County vision and came up with the goals. Our strategic planning support team refined that, then pulled together a cross-section of County employees representing every department. They were put into focus groups to work out the departments’ objectives. It’s a plan for the organization – by the organization.        

You know, the variety of operations you get in a local government like ours beats anything you see in the largest corporations. With so many very different kinds of jobs, sometimes it can be hard to see how each one fits in to help us reach our big vision: creating a region that’s healthy, safe and thriving. These enterprise-wide goals make that connection much more clear.

I know you’re all rowing hard. With this new help steering our efforts, I can’t wait to see how far we’ll go in the year ahead.

Don’t Miss Chance to Win Emergency Preparedness Kit

Are You Ready? For the past four weeks, we’ve asked you to better prepare yourself and your family for a disaster with four simple tasks: make a plan, build a kit, be informed and get involved.

If you haven’t taken any of the steps, there’s still time to check at least one off the list and enter the drawing for a deluxe emergency preparedness kit, which includes a two-person tent, two sleeping bags, radio, first aid kit and more. Preparedness is especially critical with dangerous fire conditions here in our county and major wildfires in other parts of the state.

To enter the drawing, you’ll need to complete one or more of the actions below, and then submit your entry online by Aug. 7. Five winners will be selected at random.

• Make a Plan: Complete a family disaster plan.

• Build a Kit: Your preparedness “go kit” should be organized and ready to grab during an emergency such as an earthquake or wildfire. The kit should be sufficient to sustain you, your family and your pets for a minimum of 72 hours.

• Be Informed: Register your cellphone number for AlertSanDiego.Download the SD Emergency app.Bookmark the County’s emergency website.And follow the County on Twitter.

• Get Involved: There are countless ways to get involved. You could find your office’s emergency exits, review your office’s Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP), join the County’s Advanced Recovery Initiative to help during a disaster or volunteer with CERT.

For more information about these steps and the campaign, visit Emergency Preparedness page on InSite.