PerkSpot Alert: Subscription Meal Service

Enjoy a tasty deal—$35 off your first order to Blue Apron through PerkSpot.

Blue Apron is a subscription service that delivers everything you need to make a delicious meal at home. Whether you are a seasoned chef or newbie in the kitchen, cooking is made easy with premeasured ingredients and a wide variety of recipes delivered straight to your front door in a refrigerated box.

Learn more about Blue Apron and the promotion for County employees at PerkSpot.

PerkSpot offers benefits and discounts to County employees through hundreds of service providers and retailers from movie theaters to florists and jewelers. Using PerkSpot is both easy and free! Simply go to SDCounty.PerkSpot.com and shop. If you are new, click on “create an account” to complete the registration process.

Each month, one of the most popular PerkSpot deals will be highlighted on InSite. 

Let's Vacation Vicariously!

What did you do on your vacation or staycation this year?

Email your best photo, along with the location where it was shot and who is pictured to communications@sdcounty.ca.gov. 

See the gallery here!

You've Never Seen Our Budget Like This

Understanding a budget, even a $5 billion budget like the County’s, should be as easy as pie — or a pie chart, bar graph, movable line graph or explanatory video.

And now it will be!

Today, the County’s Office of Financial Planning is rolling out a new online application, “Open Budget,” and a Learning Management System tutorial to explain how it works.

The idea is simple and empowering. Open Budget lets people turn thousands of pages of numbers and text into simple and immediately understandable visuals — like charts and graphs — just by clicking a button. And not just for one budget. Open Budget contains all the information for four fiscal years.

People can manipulate all that data to compare it, without ever having to scroll or leaf back and forth through those documents. It makes our budget — what some people thought of as solely the domain of number-crunchers — usable, clickable and sortable.

Say you want to look at your department’s revenue, or expenses, or staffing for a year, or over four years. Or you want to compare that to another department. Or you want to “drill down” that information for all the departments in your Group. Or compare groups; or even break that information down for individual programs!

Just picture that! Well, now you can — literally — with a click.

But Open Budget is more than just pictures. The application’s About section includes explanatory text and videos that explain what the County does, the differences between the public sector and private sector, how the County’s budget process works and how we manage debt.

It also allows you to access the County’s website, department websites and download information to create spreadsheets.

The goal of Open Budget, like its concept, is simple: increasefinancial literacy and promote civic engagement by making it easy for everyone to access and use County budgets.

Ultimately, Open Budget will be made available to the public as well. But we, as County employees, are getting a first look!

So open it up. Take that LMS training.

You’ll see our budget in a whole new way!

Open Budget Resources:

Website

LMS Training (Editor’s note: to access this link to LMS, use it in Internet Explorer)

LMS for Sheriff, DA, SDCERA

6 Colleges Offer Education Discounts to County Employees

Back to school season is not just for your children; it can be for you too. The County of San Diego formed partnerships with six universities and colleges to offer education discounts to County employees. Continued learning offers a variety of benefits including career development opportunities and greater earning potential.

You don’t need a degree to know that saving money while pursuing higher education is the smart move.

The County’s Education Partnerships include:

• Ashford University: County employees are eligible for a 10 percent tuition grant, technology fee waiver and free required course material for all mandatory courses.

• DeVry University: County employees are eligible for 10 percent off tuition and waiver of application fee. The discount does not apply to Master of Science in Education and graduate certificate programs.

• Excelsior College: County employees and their spouses/domestic partners are eligible for a 20 percent tuition reduction in the associate and bachelor’s degree programs, and a 15 percent reduction on all masters programs.

• National University: County employees are eligible for 15 percent off tuition and waiver of application fee.

• Penn State University: County employees are eligible for a 5 percent tuition reduction when enrolling in any online courses, certificates and degree programs.

• University of Phoenix: County employees are eligible for a 10 percenttuition reduction when enrolling in any degree program, certificate program or individual course.

To be eligible for the education discount, be sure to indicate you work for the "County of San Diego"on your college application or notify your college representative.

 For additional information please visit the Tuition Reimbursement page.

Free Flu Shots for County Employees

Dr. Eric McDonald, medical director of the HHSA Epidemiology and Immunization Services Branch

Seasonal flu vaccinations will be available to County employees starting Sept. 6. All employees are encouraged to take advantage of this free benefit.No appointment is necessary. County employees will only need to present their County ID.

Flu shots will be available at more than 40 County worksites, near and far.

While it may seem early to think about your annual flu shot, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends getting the vaccination as soon as it’s available. Getting vaccinated before the start of the flu season gives the body a chance to build up immunity to the influenza viral strains in the annual vaccine, before they begin to spread in the community.

Find the full schedule on the Department of Human Resources’ Employee Benefits Division page.

Additional Tips to Stay Healthy

In addition to getting vaccinated, people should also do the following to avoid getting sick:

• Wash hands thoroughly and often

• Use hand sanitizers

• Stay away from sick people

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth

• Clean commonly touched surfaces

• If you are sick, stay home, and avoid contact with others

CECO Rocks!

San Diego County Employees’ Charitable Organization marked 60 years of giving with a “Rock Around the (Lunch) Clock” celebration Friday at the County Operations Center. The ‘50s-inspired festivity included a performance by Dona & the Servicemen, a band made entirely of County employees, food and an opportunity drawing. If you missed out on the fun, see some highlights below and consider giving.

Padres Honor Probation Chief as Latino Leader

Probation Chief Adolfo Gonzales accepts his Communidad Award from Tom Seidler, Padres senior vice-president of community & military affairs, at the Aug. 23 game. Photo courtesy of San Diego Padres.

San Diego County Probation Chief Adolfo Gonzales hit a home run with a San Diego Padres Comunidad Award, receiving recognition under the award’s “Serve” category at the Aug. 23 evening game.

Gonzales, the first Latino to serve as Chief Probation Officer for San Diego County, accepted the award on the ballfield. The Hispanic Heritage Comunidad Awards were established to recognize and pay tribute to individuals or organizations whose work makes a positive impact on members of San Diego’s Hispanic community.

“With nearly four decades of law enforcement experience, Gonzales is one the most respected and sought-out leaders in the County for his work and dedication towards making San Diego County one of the safest places in the country,” Eloisa Orozco wrote in her nomination of Chief Gonzales. Orozco is an Area Communications Manager for Waste Management of Southern California.

She noted that Gonzales’ priorities include a heavy focus on reducing recidivism and bolstering partnerships with law enforcement agencies, community-based organizations and other County departments such as the Health and Human Services Agency.

Orozco said she has known Gonzales since his years with the National City Police Department and felt he has a long-standing career of community service and is deeply committed to improving the lives of Latinos and all community members alike. He accomplishes this by continuing to serve as a volunteer for many organizations such as the Jackie Robinson YMCA and Reach One Teach One, a nonprofit with a mission to reduce violence, promote unity, and improve the quality of life in the communities.

Gonzales, who holds a master’s degree in education from San Diego State University and a doctorate of education in leadership science from the University of San Diego, is also known as an advocate for higher education and takes every opportunity to encourage Latino youth to pursue their studies.

Employees Collect Nearly 700 Pounds of Peanut Butter

How many sandwiches can you make with 698 pounds of peanut butter? It’s an inexact science, as some spread it on thicker than others, but the San Diego Food Bank says it will provide hundreds and hundreds of meals to people who otherwise wouldn’t have one.

That was the inspiration behind the peanut butter drive recently headed by Jacqueline Hamed, an analyst in the Health and Human Services Agency’s Office of Business Intelligence.

“During a recent tour, Food Bank President Jim Floros shared stories and facts regarding the Food Bank and the community it serves. He mentioned peanut butter being a highly desirable item that the Food Bank normally doesn’t purchase as it is more expensive than other proteins, but is a great item to give those in need,” she said.

After the tour, Hamed and her colleagues were so in awe of everything the Food Bank does for the community, they wanted to be part of giving back.

“We remembered Jim’s comment about the peanut butter being like ‘gold’ and this motivated our effort to start our peanut butter drive. It started off trying to get everyone to bring in one jar of peanut butter and we collected a decent amount just within our department. “

Then, Hamed and her colleagues reached out to other HHSA departments.

“We ended up collecting a total of 551 jars which weighed in at 698 pounds,” Hamed said. “This will allow the Food Bank to provide 582 meals to those in need.”

The three-year County employee said everyone was shocked at how much they collected.

“We had no idea that it would get this big and are beyond grateful that so many people got involved for such a great cause.”

Hamed and her coworkers took the large donation into the very happy and grateful Food Bank on Aug. 22. She said they plan to make the peanut butter drive an annual event, with the hopes of surpassing this year’s heavy donation.

“Our food drive was focused on peanut butter but there are so many other ways people can support the Food Bank,” Hamed said. “The Food Bank also relies a lot on volunteers, so if anyone is interested in volunteering or getting information on their programs, they can visit their website at www.sandiegofoodbank.org.”

See a Free Movie, Eat Free Food, Save the World!

What if you could make the world a better place — just by eating?

It could happen: less hunger, less disease, better health, economic prosperity.

You can find out how by coming to see a free, cool movie, eating some free, tasty food, and being introduced to the Live Well San Diego Food System Initiative.

County employees are invited to come Tuesday, Aug. 30 to the County Operations Center to watch a free cooking demonstration, eat free food and see a free 50-minute screening of “In Defense of Food.”

The acclaimed documentary film is based upon Michael Pollan’s New York Times best-selling book of the same name, which tackles the question, “what should I eat to be healthy?” The film, which will start about 5:10 p.m., will be followed by a short question and answer period.

Seating is limited. To attend, RSVP by registering online.

The event will be held in the COC’s Conference Center Hearing Room, at 5520 Overland Avenue. The Live Well San Diego Food System Initiative, which was approved by the Board of Supervisors in June and is currently working to create new County nutritional standards, is hosting the event.

Food and refreshments are scheduled to be served from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m. A healthy cooking demonstration sponsored by the Employee Wellness Program will be held at 4:30 p.m.

Supervisor Greg Cox, who along with Board Chairman Ron Roberts recommended the food system initiative to the Board, will welcome everyone and give a brief overview of the initiative at about 5 p.m.

HHSA’s Child Health Medical Officer, Dr. Dean Sidelinger, and Deputy Agriculture Commissioner Karen Melvin from the Land Use and Environment Group, will also talk about the initiative and introduce the film.  So, come! Eat, drink, and find out how we can change the world — just by eating!

Treat Yourself at CECO 60th Celebration

San Diego County Employees’ Charitable Organization will mark 60 years of giving with a “Rock Around the (Lunch) Clock” celebration on Friday, Aug. 26 at the County Operations Center. The ‘50s-inspired festivity, a throwback to when CECO first formed, will include food, a live band, and “fun”-raising!

There’s never been a better excuse to treat yourself! A portion of the food sales will go directly CECO.

Get a Rubio’s taco plate with two tacos, rice, beans and chips, plus a bottle of water and two opportunity drawing tickets for just $10. Gobble up this deal now by RSVP’ing for the event online. A limited number of meal tickets will be available for sale the day of the celebration, but are first come, first served.

After lunch, stay cool with dessert. Pinkberry will be selling cups of their sweet treat. All purchases will be cash only.

The headliner of the summer celebration is a live band. Dona & the Servicemen will perform hits from the ‘50s. All members of the band are veteran musicians with years of stage experience and also happen to be Community Services Group employees.

You may remember Dona & the Servicemen from the County’s 2015 Battle of the Bands, which benefited the March of Dimes. They are Jerry Benson, bass (General Services); Dona Debniak, lead vocals (Department of Animal Services); Brian Hagerty, guitar/vocals (Community Services Group Executive Office); Michael Hoag, drums (General Services ); and Eric Nedelman, guitar/vocals (Purchasing and Contracting).

In addition, you could win big. CECO will sell opportunity drawing tickets for gift cards, Padres tickets and more.

Don’t miss a single bite, note or opportunity drawing! Rubio’s taco plates and sales of Pinkberry will run from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. The band goes on at 12:10 p.m. Come party like it’s 1956!

Through County employee donations, CECO has distributed more than $6.7 million throughout the San Diego region to local non-profit organizations and employees in crisis since its founding in 1956. 

CECO would not be able to celebrate 60 years without its supporters, so please consider contributing. Here are five easy ways to give:

1. Make a one-time donation by emailing your CECO Department Representative or a member of the CECO Executive Committee.

2. Sign up for a biweekly paycheck deduction for as little as $2 per pay period via Employee Self-Service. See CECO Pledge Instructions for details.

3. To help with an upcoming fundraiser event, please contact your CECO Department Representative or a member of the CECO Executive Committee.

4. Shop AmazonSmile and a portion of your purchase will be donated CECO. Learn more.

5. Volunteer your time. Contact your CECO Department Representative or a member of the CECO Executive Committee.