Abel Guillén, MPP

30/11/2022

Learning about federal funding oversight responsibilities to ensure our CA school districts stay in compliance. U.S. Department of Education California Department of Education

21/11/2022

Schools play an important role in prevention and awareness of the fentanyl crisis – CSBA Blog

Fentanyl related deaths are growing in an alarming rate in California. Everyone, especially those that work in schools and with youth has a role in raising awareness and preventing deaths from the opioid crisis. Here are some resources you can use for your LEAs/schools.

Headlines involving young people overdosing on opioids, sometimes while on school campuses, have become all too frequent. On Nov. 15, the California Department of Education hosted a webinar with guidance for schools regarding the opioid crisis. An example shared by CDE’s Deputy Superintendent of O...

15/11/2022

Guidance for Schools Related to the Opioid Crisis

Listen in, especially if you work with young people or have kids. https://fb.watch/gPAmbckFHa/

09/11/2022

Congrats to all the candidates that put themselves out there. Today is November 9th and America is divided as ever.

What actions can we take individually, collectively to bridge the divide and safeguard democracy? People who choose to enter politics and get elected to serve as mayors, councilmembers, legislators, even school board members are supposed to govern for everyone they represent- even the minority that may not have voted for them. Is that still the case? I'd like to think so.

As constituents we put a great deal on electeds. Our work as voters doesn't stop at voting- we have to continue to be engaged in the hard work of democracy which in my mind includes listening to "the other side" and trying to find and support public policy solutions that provide the greatest good. This also means continuing to work with those we voted for to help them govern because they as elected officials will not be able to do it alone.

Democracy requires consistent engagement and not just when you are against something but it means showing up in support of policies and your elected reps as well.

Happy Wednesday!

08/09/2022

Join us and the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) for a free, seven-part, expert webinar series on understanding dyslexia and literacy. Attendees will learn about identifying risk factors, setting up effective school systems to prevent reading difficulties, and delivering research-based instruction to support and remediate struggling learners and students with dyslexia. The first virtual webinar in this series is tomorrow at 3 p.m.

Register here: https://scoe.gosignmeup.com/public/Course/browse?courseid=12236

07/09/2022

Luna knows the way to San José!

Luna Mexicana is coming to San Jose! We are thrilled to bring this amazing performance to the Hammer Theatre October 22nd and 23rd. Tickets on sale soon!

Photo by John Hefti

***os

06/09/2022

Important updates regarding HeatRisk Index for Schools.

HOT! HOT! Keeping Schools Safe

Today, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond shared how the CDE is partnering with the California Department of Public Health to provide guidance for schools on sports and strenuous outdoor activities during this period of intense heat.

Specifically, schools should know the local “HeatRisk” level, and cancel all outdoor and un-conditioned indoor activities when the HeatRisk level is Red or Magenta during the heat of the day. Find your HeatRisk level HeatRisk charts: https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/wrh/heatrisk/

Read the full letter and CDPH guidelines at: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/EPO/Pages/Extreme%20Heat%20Pages/extreme-heat-guidance-for-schools.aspx

26/08/2022

Get the latest on what's going on at the California Department of Education!

Welcome to a new school year and to a new and improved issue of our weekly publication, CDE Today! To subscribe, visit the CDE Today subscription page: https://tinyurl.com/cdetodaysubscribe.

05/08/2022

This week, my staff and I joined Green Schoolyards America on a tour to see the great work Berkeley Unified School District is doing, to deliver schoolyard forest systems to fight climate change and provide outdoor learning for students. Thank you Berkeley for leading the way!

12/07/2022

So great to see so many friends and colegas at Calsa - California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators in the heart of Silicon Valley!

Over the weekend, Deputy Superintendent Abel Guillén joined district superintendents, administrators, and tech leaders from the Silicon Valley at the Calsa - California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators summer conference to discuss the historic investments California is making so students can heal, recover and thrive. From the U.S. Department of Education to our local school leaders, we all agree that our students are what gives us esperanza (hope), for a better future!

10/07/2022

To my friends observing, may this pious day brings you immense joy, happiness, peace and prosperity. Eid Mubarak!

28/06/2022

My team at the School Fiscal Services Division at the California Department of Education is hiring Education Fiscal Services Consultants (EFSC)/Assistants. Check it out and please share! We also have many other positions to fill including an Executive Assistant for my office.

30/05/2022

Reflecting on the significance of this day, Memorial Day, there is no higher duty citizens have than to fill out your ballot and vote for the officials you deem will help lead our cities, state and nation towards a more just and peaceful world. Voting is the least we can do to honor the ultimate sacrifice paid by those who served to protect this right. If you haven't voted yet, today is a good day to do the deed. Happy Memorial Day!

25/05/2022

A Message from California’s Homeland Security Advisor & State Superintendent of Public Instruction | Cal OES News

Please see this letter from State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and Homeland Security Advisor and Mark Ghilarducci. California Department of Education

State of California

24/02/2022

The 2021 Child Tax Credit | Information About Payments & Eligibility

Have you signed up and received this year's expanded Child Tax Credit? Make sure to file your taxes before April 18, 2022. Check your eligibility:

The Child Tax Credit provides monthly payments to families, even those who do not file taxes or earn an income. Determine if you are eligible and how to get paid.

30/12/2021

Join the Food Revolution- support Community Kitchens.

https://fb.watch/adAKw_M1ul/

26/12/2021

Abel Guillén, MPP updated their business hours.

Abel Guillén, MPP updated their business hours.

05/11/2021

Luna Mexicana

Excited for the Oakland Ballet Company's Luna Mexicana celebrating ***os at the Paramount Theater. We have beautiful ofrendas, dance, music and more! This year, we will also pay special tribute to honor loved ones lost to COVID- as the Latinx community has especially been hit hard.

Tickets are still available for Friday night and Saturday's matinee.

I hope you will join us as we celebrate our bonds of humanity through cultura and art!

https://oaklandballet.org/performances-events/luna-mexicana/

Visit the post for more.

29/10/2021

Oakland Ballet's 'Luna Mexicana' Returns To Paramount Theatre

“I think it’s a way of expressing our beautiful culture and it’s a gift to the rest of the community,” he said. “We really share the bonds of humanity with one another. This is really a production that binds our community together.”

Oakland Ballet Company

Oakland Ballet Company is putting on 'Luna Mexicana' at the Paramount Theatre on Nov. 5-6. -- just in time to celebrate Dia De Los Mu***os.

07/07/2021

When I attended SF public schools, we never qualified for free or reduced lunch- mostly because both my parents worked several jobs.

When they were underemployed from time to time, it didn't coincide with the enrollment period and I couldn't eat the hot meals prepared in our schools cafeteria.

The Education Trailer Bill by Nancy Skinner State Senator Nancy Skinner provides free meals to all CA public school students. Period.

No means test. No crazy applications. No looking for tax returns. Feeding schoolkids should not be that complicated but for many like my family it was not so straightforward.

This new law provides breakfast and lunches to all public school students free of charge and will make a world of difference as 20% of CA kids live in poverty.

The California Universal School Meal Program will remove lengthy bureaucratic application processes and eligibility determinations. This is something we should all applaud! Please help me and thank our Senator Nancy Skinner for her leadership.

29/06/2021

Post-Covid California state budget with record spending on education heads to Gov. Newsom

Post-Covid CA state budget makes historic investments for TK/K-14 and UC/CSU - includes a record $21,000 per student funding (all in); $10 million to assist Oakland Unified School District
with operating deficit. Lots of good investments for education to cheer in this budget! Thank you Budget Chairs Phil Ting State Senator Nancy Skinner and Governor Gavin Newsom. https://edsource.org/2021/post-covid-california-state-budget-with-record-spending-on-education-heads-to-gov-newsom/657090

College savings accounts, universal transitional kindergarten, new community schools, teacher recruitment incentives are a signature away.

21/04/2021

Next time you think about opting out or skipping jury service, don't. Justice may literally be in your hands.

24/03/2021

Oakland Resilient Families

Universal Basic Income Pilot Program Comes to Oakland - Six hundred Oakland families will get $500 a month for 1 1/2 years — no strings attached — through a pilot program that aims to spawn a nationwide model of guaranteed cash assistance to low-income families. Oakland Resilient Families es una iniciativa histórica que proporcionará a 600 familias negras, indígenas y de color (BIPOC, por sus siglas en inglés) de Oakland con bajos ingresos un
ingreso garantizado de USD 500 al mes durante al menos 18 meses a partir de esta primavera.
For more information/para más información: www.oaklandresilientfamilies.org.

Oakland’s Guaranteed Income PilotLaunching one of the largest guaranteed income pilots in the country rooted in eliminating racial wealth inequalities. Guiding Principles  Invest in JusticeAdvance strategies to eliminate racial disparities in economic stability, mobility, and assets through a gua...

27/02/2021

Small Businesses Get a Boost From a $15 Minimum Wage - Center for American Progress

"For the United States to achieve a meaningful economic recovery that lifts up all families, Congress must raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, including for tipped workers and workers with disabilities. Raising the minimum wage would benefit small businesses and the economy at large. While critics of a fair wage argue that a $15 minimum wage would put a heavy burden on small businesses, economic literature demonstrates that these concerns are not borne out by the facts."

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2021/02/25/496355/small-businesses-get-boost-15-minimum-wage/

Raising the minimum wage is a win for workers and small businesses.

20/02/2021

Please be on the look out for this young man, Antoine Whittley. His family needs him safe at home. https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/02/19/missing-east-bay-teen-likely-jumped-or-fell-from-bridge-police-say/?fbclid=IwAR3zgynWJCcamKhsIDC1OWJFJoC5lisPmk7XvjI_xvzp9C26OZZVVxETF58

21/01/2021

Amanda Gorman’s POEM on this historic inauguration day!

THE HILL WE CLIMB

"Mr. President, Dr. Biden, Madam Vice President, Mr. Emhoff, Americans and the world:

When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry, a sea we must wade. We've braved the belly of the beast. We've learned that quiet isn't always peace, and the norms and notions of what just is isn't always justice.
And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it. Somehow, we do it, somehow, we've weathered and witnessed a nation that isn't broken, but simply unfinished.
We, the successors of a country and the time where a skinny black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president only to find herself reciting for one.
And yes, we are far from polished far from pristine, but that doesn't mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect.
We are striving to forge our union with purpose to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man.
And so we lift our gaze not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another. We seek harm to none and harmony for all.
Let the globe, if nothing else say, this is true. That even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped. That even as we tired, we tried. That we'll forever be tied together victorious. Not because we will never, again, no defeat, but because we will never, again, sow division.
Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree and no one shall make them afraid.
If we're to live up to her own time, then victory won't lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we've made, that is the promise to Glade, the hill we climb, if only we dare, it's because being American is more than a pride we inherit, it's the past we step into and how we repair it.
We've seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it, would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy, and this effort very nearly succeeded. But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated.
In this truth, in this faith, we trust. For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.
This is the era of just redemption. We feared in its inception, we did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour, but within it we found the power to author a new chapter to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.
So while once we asked, 'How could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?' Now we assert: 'How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be: a country that is bruised, but whole, benevolent, but bold, fierce, and free.
We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation.
Our blunders become their burdens, but one thing is certain: If we merge mercy with might and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children's birthright.
So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left, with every breath my bronze-pounded chest. We will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
We will rise through the golden hills of the West. We will rise from the windswept Northeast, where our forefathers first realized revolution. We will rise from the lake-run cities of the Midwestern states. Will rise from the sun-baked South. We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover.
In every known nook of our nation, in every corner called our country, our people, diverse and beautiful, will emerge, battered and beautiful.
When day comes we step out of the shade of flame and unafraid. The new dawn blooms as we free it, for there was always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it."

30/12/2020

COVID is killing Latinos at a disproportionate rate. Nearly 48% of all -19 deaths are Latinos and we make up only 39% of California's population. This New Year's Eve . Save your loved ones. Data as of 12/28. ://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/Race-Ethnicity.aspx

09/11/2020

Latino voters overwhelmingly supported Biden in the election. Here's why

https://www.sfchronicle.com/local-politics/article/Latino-voters-overwhelmingly-supported-Biden-in-15705786.php

"The data paint the picture of a voter bloc that is deeply complex and often misunderstood. The nation’s 61 million Latinos come from more than 20 nations, each with vastly different cultures. While some immigrated to the U.S. in recent years, others have been here for generations and carry differing viewpoints on key issues like immigration and racism. The same applies to different age groups, with younger, second-generation Latinos largely leaning left on issues like abortion. A 60-year-old Honduran immigrant in California won’t necessarily vote the same as a 25-year-old, fifth-generation Latino born in North Carolina."

The support that Trump got from Latino voters in Florida had many people buzzing on Twitter. But an election poll shows Latinos nationwide overwhelmingly voted for Biden and helped flip a key state blue.

30/10/2020

Still time to get your tickets for tonight's Stay at Home Soiree in celebration of Dia de Los Mu***os featuring Lalo Alcaraz. Tickets $25 per household. Details here!

Tonight is the night! We can't wait to see you all tonight at Luna Mexicana, our Stay at Home Soiree, as we celebrate this incredible event and the amazing artists who will be performing. We're also grateful to partner with for a delicious menu and can't wait to hear from who will be our guest speaker. Don't have your tickets yet? It's not too late! Get yours now https://bit.ly/2Hnv2Bh

28/10/2020

Oakland Ballet Company's Stay At Home Soiree

Just two days away from Luna Mexican's Stay at Home Soiree. Join us! http://oaklandballet.org/wp/performances/stay-at-home-soiree/?fbclid=IwAR2owt2ifsnQaX1JfSYStiPulqXxTmZzc8kdhn9hJrzS98jIEWHbEq8TZ38

Join us virtually for a cocktail and the premiere of our new dance video by Linda Steele II.

22/10/2020

Oakland Ballet Company's Stay At Home Soiree

Excited to share that award-winning visual/media artist & television/film writer Lalo Alcaraz will be joining the Oakland Ballet's on Friday, Oct. 30 as we celebrate Dia de Los Mu***os!

Join us for what promises to be a fun evening for the entire familia! http://oaklandballet.org/wp/performances/stay-at-home-soiree/

Join us virtually for a cocktail and the premiere of our new dance video by Linda Steele II.

04/09/2020

covid-19.acgov.org

Updates on Alameda County's SIP Order. Have a great Labor Day Weekend!

21/08/2020

We Are the Dream

I may be late to the party, but just watched Oakland Unified's & doc,"We Are the Dream: The Kids of the MLK Oratorical Fest"- & was blown away. I was in tears! It was the antidote to the cynicism and toxicity of the politics of the day. Do yourself a favor, check it out! It gave me a much needed spiritual lift!🙏 Thank you Awele Makeba. https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/we-are-the-dream

Learn more about the HBO documentary We Are the Dream.

15/08/2020

What's in a mispronunciation of a name? Ask Kamala Harris

A friend reminded me that I would use my Starbucks name "Bob" while on the road sometimes because they would always botch my name, mostly innocently.

But when you repeatedly mispronounce someone's name and refuse to pronounce it properly, like in the case US Senator Kamala Harris, folks are "othering" her intentionally making her less than American. Do people mispronounce your name?

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/What-s-in-a-mispronunciation-of-a-name-Ask-15485790.php?utm_campaign=CMS+Sharing+Tools+%28Premium%29&utm_source=UTMSOURCE&utm_medium=UTMMEDIUM#_=_

Within a day of Joe Biden choosing his running mate, it almost became a campaign slogan: “It’s comma-la.” Newspapers swiped the headline. Political commentators tittered. But for people who have long suffered mangled pronunciations of their names, Kamala Harris’ efforts to educate the public...

10/08/2020

AC Transit 'Tempo' Rapid Bus System Opens to Riders

“I wanted to try it out and see how long it takes,” said one transit rider named Abel Guillen. “It took me 11 minutes to get from downtown to Fruitvale. That’s super-quick so I’m excited about that and I think I’m going to be coming down here more often.”

29/07/2020

The promise of community colleges is unique to the Americas. So great to see our local JUCO, Laney College highlighted shining a spotlight on grit, hustle and determination. It's the Oakland way! Congrats to Coach Beam and the entire team.

Highly suggest you take a look at Last Chance U on Netflix.

"Working at Walmart. Minimum wage. I was just checking receipts at the door...big old dude checking receipts.That's when I was like, "Man, I don't wanna keep doing this." That's when I came to . Just showed up one day. So it begins!" Peralta Colleges

18/07/2020

Peralta colleges chancellor resigns after 9 months on the job, blasts board in scathing resignation letter

As a former Trustee, this is disturbing on so many levels. In recent months, three presidents have resigned or are moving on, and now the Chancellor is out. Again.

“This is not an exhaustive list detailing my experience/perspective … but it certainly is a start in detailing the issues that I believe undermine the district’s ability to attract and retain leadership at the executive level.” The resignation is effective Aug. 15.

The move comes after months of contention between the chancellor and the board, according to multiple sources within the college district.