ORANGE COUNTY CHILDREN'S THERAPEUTIC ARTS CENTER 14 - 2009

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WIA Grant 2009-2010 OCCTAC Narrative The Center has had a tremendous impact on Santa Ana youths and their families. It is a catalyst for change and provides students and families access to new opportunities, and community leadership! As stated before, OCCTAC is committed to empowering youth to reach their fullest potential academically, emotionally and artistically. Through our innovative approach which combines the arts, academics, and creative therapies, participants are engaged and involved in a variety of programs at OCCTAC. Parent involvement and participation is a key mission at our Center. Since our inception, OCCTAC has had a Parent Committee. Every year our parent committee is very active at our center, and meets regularly with the Executive Director to discuss educational programs offered to our students and parents, as well as to develop social & cultural events at our Center. The parents have organized events and activities to unite with the community and attract even more parent involvement with the school and local businesses. They have initiated fundraisers to support the school and to further add to the educational resources at OCCTAC. They also participate in the community education seminars and many are involved in receiving parent education classes. The OCCTAC staff participates in on-going training during the year. All related OCCTAC and Academy staff receives monthly training which covers, but is not limited to, implementing the HOSTS Learning curriculum and materials, documenting student growth, and teaching specially designed academic instruction in English to English Language Learners. Other trainings have included: Child Abuse identification and reporting, discipline strategies, lesson planning, collaborative teams, working with special needs students, interacting with parents and operational issues relevant to a successful after- school program. Regular site visits also take place by the Instructional Specialist and Chief Operating Officer to monitor learning academies and after-school programs. OCCTAC's Administrative Staff provides ongoing feedback on effective teaching, academic support and mentoring strategies as well as class room management techniques to classroom teachers, teaching assistants and staff. B. Experience 1. Briefly outline all youth programs that your agency has operated during the last 2 years. Include discussion of past performance as related to WIA performance goals. Organizations with no experience in providing WIA services should explain unique advantages or value associated with their proposal. 2. What kind of experience do you have in incorporating parents, youth and employers into your programs? 3. Describe how staff will receive training and ongoing staff development to increase staff capacity and expertise in the field of youth development and employment. 4. List the positions dedicated to this proposal. Include a description of duties and time allocation for each responsibility. Executive Director-Dr. Ana Jimenez-Hami is the Founder and Executive Director of OCCTAC. She earned a doctoral degree in the fields of Educational Psychology and Special Education with an emphasis on the language and literacy skills of children and youth with special needs. She is also a part-time faculty member at Chapman University in the School of Education. During the past 20 years, Dr. Jimenez has prioritized on researching and implementing educational creative interventions/methods that empower youth and the Latino community to succeed in the academic world, and reach for higher educational goals. Dr. Jimenez has been recognized continuously in the community for her contributions. Last year, she was a recipient of the National Hispanic Business Women Association award for organizational entrepreneurship (May, 2007); a National award by the Heartspring Foundation for creativity in Special Education (July, 2007), and a faculty award from Chapman University (June, 2007). Previous awards include City of Santa Ana Community Building Award (2006), and others.