…Connecting Communities ArroyoFest Bulletin # 12 March 30, 2003

Upcoming Meetings: Monday, March 31st - Outreach Meeting, 6:30 -8:30 p.m (details below) Wednesday, April 2nd - Teacher's Workshop Planning Group, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. (details below) News: ArroyoFest in Final Fundraising Push - ArroyoFest has been very successful this winter in raising money and getting in-kind donations to cover almost 75% of our total budget. We now need your help to finish the job! For our final fundraising push, we're working to raise $50,000 in the next 2 ˝ months to take care of all of our needs. You can help by putting us in touch with potential sponsors, helping with our small business drive, getting people to register for the bike ride or making a donation. Tax-deductible donations should be made payable to ArroyoFest - Occidental College. We also have several in-kind needs that individuals or businesses can help with, including: banners, signs, sound equipment, medical supplies, trucks and vans, advertising space, radio and T.V. air time and some food. Registration Coming Next Week - The day is almost here when you can register to ride on the freeway. On-line registration will be available next week at www.arroyofest.org. DoIT Sports has been working with us to set up an on-line registration system. Be the first on your block to register for ArroyoFest!! Thanks to the help of On the Dot Designs and the Operating Engineers Local 419, 150,000 ArroyoFest entry forms will be available in the next 7-10 days. Entry forms will be available at locations around the community. In the next week we also hope to have 6,000 posters to put up at locations throughout the Arroyo. ArroyoFest Attracts New Sponsors - Several companies and agencies have signed on as sponsors of ArroyoFest. The Southern California Gas Company has donated $10,000 to ArroyoFest. The City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has also contributed $10,000 and Avery-Dennison Corporation, at the edge of the Arroyo, has donated $2500 to the cause. We have also gotten substantial in-kind donations from the Operating Engineers Local 419 and Oralia Michel Marketing and Public Relations. Thanks to all our sponsors for the leading the way toward June 15th. 1000 ArroyoFest T-shirts Coming Soon - As described in our last bulletin, ArroyoFest has teamed with Sweat X, a worker-owned cooperative in Los Angeles to produce our event t-shirts. We have received an additional contribution from American Union Financial that will allow us to double our initial run of t-shirts. This exciting partnership links the goals of social and environmental justice and will help both Sweat-X and ArroyoFest gain greater visibility. T-shirts will be $10 and profits from pre-event sales will finance a second printing of shirts closer to the event. If you or your group would like to order t-shirts contact Michelle Ashley or Alesandro Morosin at 323-341-5090. ArroyoFest Organization Takes Flight - ArroyoFest has been a true grassroots effort from its inception almost two years ago, most of the work accomplished by an informal committee of volunteers representing several different community organizations. ArroyoFest has now succeeded in creating its own 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to connecting the communities of the Arroyo Seco in order to improve the area's quality of life. The new organization plans to accomplish this through the ArroyoFest event and other educational activities. Creating our own organization is important for ArroyoFest to continue beyond June 15th so the event can become an annual or bi-annual activity and we're really pleased to have been able to accomplish before our first event. ArroyoFest in the L.A. Times - ArroyoFest made it into last week's L.A. Times California Section. Reporter Cara Di Massa wrote a fantastic article on research by Bob Gottlieb from Occidental College and Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris from UCLA on the past, present and potential future of the Historic Arroyo Seco Parkway. The article summarized other activities happening in the Arroyo, including ArroyoFest and the restoration study of North East Trees and the Arroyo Seco Foundation. Bob and Anastasia's research was published in the journal Access from the University of California Transportation Center. Read the article on-line at http://departments.oxy.edu/uepi/ or read the full research report at http://www.arroyofest.org. Friends of ArroyoFest Outreach Campaign Growing - The Friends of ArroyoFest outreach campaign is making progress. So far, almost 45 community groups and organizations have signed up as Friends of ArroyoFest. Friends help publicize the event through their newsletter, e-mails to their members and help recruit volunteers. Friends can also make or collect donations for the event. If your organization would like to become a Friend of ArroyoFest, contact Alexis Moreno at lexmoreno@aol.com or Edgar Garcia at egarciathewall@earthlink.net. Teachers Can Earn Credits by Studying the Arroyo - The ArroyoFest Teachers Workshop is fast approaching. This workshop will count for salary point credit for LAUSD, PUSD and other districts. Teachers will also be able to get professional course credit from UCLA. The workshop will be Friday and Saturday, April 25th and 26th and Friday and Saturday, May 2nd and 3rd. Teachers are welcome to sign up for just the first weekend. The workshop will take place at various locations around the Arroyo and focus on integrating study of the Arroyo's environment, history and community into K-12 curriculum. We need people to distribute fliers advertising this exciting opportunity to schools in the Arroyo area. Please pass this on to friends who might be interested. For registration information, click on the Teacher's link on the ArroyoFest home page or call 323-341-5093. Opportunities to Get Involved: ArroyoFest Needs Links - ArroyoFest's great web site www.arroyofest.org is adding new features all the time. And we want people to see it. If you or your organization has a web site, please add a link to our page. Several groups have done this so far and it's been really helpful. Thanks!! Illustrator Wanted for Arroyo Map - ArroyoFest is looking for an illustrator to draw its souvenir map of the Arroyo Seco. The map will be a bird's eye view of canyon and the communities that ArroyoFest is working to bring together. We expect 100 of these poster-size maps to be sold at the Arroyo Festival. If you or someone you know might be interested in the fame and notoriety that will come with be associated with this collector's item call Marcus at 323-341-5093. Point of Purchase Displays - This is our most immediate need!! Our entry forms for the Freeway Walk and Bike Ride are about to hit the streets but we need something to put them in. We're looking for 200 to 500 "point of purchase" cardboard pockets to hold our forms upright on the counters of libraries, businesses and community centers around the Arroyo. Leftovers from bookstores, office supply outlets, or other businesses are welcome. If you have a talent for origami and can help us figure out how to make these on our own out of cardstock, let us know. Adopt-a-School - ArroyoFest would like to identify a teacher, administrator, student or parent to serve as an ArroyoFest coordinator at each of the 100 or so schools in the Arroyo corridor. This person would receive e-mail updates about the event and through our office coordinate the participation of the school in the event, whether through making banners to carry or decorate the freeway, hosting an ArroyoFest speaker or assembly, organizing a performing group for the festival or simply coordinating car pools and buses to have representation from the school at the event. You can help identify this person by taking our materials to your local school's principal and/or PTA president. We also have the special teacher's workshop at the end of April to announce. Let us know if you can help get schools involved!! Small Business Outreach - Let us know if you'd be interested in helping outreach to small businesses in the Arroyo area. We are asking businesses to carry our entry forms and posters and, if they would like, become part of our Small Business Circle of contributors. Specifically, we need volunteers to go to the following businesses in the Pasadena area: Barnes & Noble, Vromans, various Trader Joes stores, Burkhard Nursery, Patagonia, Run with Us, Folk Tree, Kelly Gallery. Of course if you frequent any business and would like to talk with them about ArroyoFest, we have materials you can give them in the office. Contact Julie Uehara if you'd like to help with our small business drive or drop by our office at 2106 Colorado Blvd. Outreach to Community Groups - In the last two months before the event, we need a large number of volunteers to help with outreach to religious institutions, schools, community organizations and informal groups and clubs. Contact Alexis Moreno at lexmoreno@aol.com or Edgar Garcia at egarciathewall@earthlink.net if you can help do outreach to community groups and organizations. We especially need volunteers that are willing to pass out information at community events leading up to June 15th. Get Your Event on the ArroyoFest Calendar - ArroyoFest is looking for groups and organizations that would like to host their own event in the days leading up to June 15th or on the event day itself. Get your event on the ArroyoFest calendar. We have a short application available if your organization would like to host its own ArroyoFest event. Performers Needed for Arroyo Festival in Sycamore Grove Park - We are accepting applications for bands, dance groups, poets, and workshop leaders to be a part of the Arroyo Festival in Sycamore Grove Park. Send an e-mail to arroyofestival@hotmail.com if you know someone who might be interested in performing. You can also visit our website at www.arroyofest.org for more information on how to apply to perform. Help Needed in Marketing ArroyoFest - ArroyoFest will be having a meeting in the next 1-2 weeks to brainstorm marketing and promotional strategies for the last two months before the event. If you have a background in this area and would like to lend your expertise, call our office at 323-341-5093 or e-mail arroyo@oxy.edu. Researchers, Facilitators & Naturalists Needed for Arroyo Teacher's Workshop - It's less than a month to ArroyoFest Teacher's Workshop. There is still a lot to accomplish. We need facilitators for small group discussions, naturalists for Saturday morning hike in Hahamongna and help outlining how our long list of Arroyo educational activities connect to the California State Standards. If you have a background in teaching and would like to help out, this opportunity is for you! Capture the Arroyo on Film- In preparation for any television interviews generated by ArroyoFest we are looking for someone to do some filming in the Arroyo. These clips could be edited into newscasts or feature stories about the Arroyo. Film needs to be broadcast quality. Farmer's Market/Food Coordinator -- ArroyoFest would like to offer healthy food and refreshments in Sycamore Grove Park to walkers, cyclists and festival goers. Let us know if you'd be interested in helping organize a small farmer's market or Taste of the Arroyo food court for local businesses. Most of the profits from food vendors would be retained by the coordinator. Contact Claudine Chen at ming@caltech.edu Upcoming Meetings Standing ArroyoFest Meeting Every Monday Drop by our office every Monday after work until June 15th. This is the time to learn the latest, find out how you can help and pick up materials to take out into the community. We specifically need people to take materials to businesses, schools and community groups. Date: Mondays Time: Drop-in -- 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. Location: Center for Food and Justice. 2106 Colorado Blvd. in Eagle Rock. The Center for Food and Justice is located one and a half blocks east (toward Pasadena) from the corner of Colorado and Eagle Rock Blvd. Storefront office is located on the south side of the street between Caspar and Mayflower. Free street parking is available after 6 p.m. Community Outreach Subcommittee Meeting Come to this meeting as we rally outreach volunteers and strategize for the next two months about the best way to get the word out on the street about the event. Date: Monday, March 31st Time: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Location: Center for Food and Justice. 2106 Colorado Blvd. in Eagle Rock. The Center for Food and Justice is located one and a half blocks east (toward Pasadena) from the corner of Colorado and Eagle Rock Blvd. Storefront office is located on the south side of the street between Caspar and Mayflower. Free street parking is available after 6 p.m. ArroyoFest Teacher Training Planning Group Help plan a special workshop on the Arroyo for area teachers. The workshop will be held on April 25th & 26th and May 2nd & 3rd at various locations around the Arroyo. Help us bring the community into the classroom Date: Wednesday, April 2 Time: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Location: Urban and Environmental Policy Institute, 1882 Campus Road, Eagle Rock. The Institute is located on the edge of the Occidental Campus. Turn east on Westdale from Eagle Rock Blvd. Go two blocks to Campus Road. Take a left and go up the hill. UEPI's office is to the right at the top of the hill. Look for a dirt parking area under some oak trees. Go to http://departments.oxy.edu/uepi/about/directions.htm for more detailed directions, a map and a photo of the office. ArroyoFest is sponsored by: Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, The Gas Company, Avery-Dennison, Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College, Amalgamated Bank, American Union Financial and Oralia Michel Marketing and Public Relations, Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts. ArroyoFest is also supported by generous grants and donations from: Environment NOW, The Metropolitan Water District Community Partners Program, The Ford Foundation, City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, City of Pasadena Department of Water and Power, City of Pasadena Department of Public Works.