Flexibly Meeting the Dynamic Needs of Our Diverse and Distressed Community

At Bayside Community Center, we take a holistic approach to providing our services and programs to the community. We tend to the critical, immediate needs that require an urgent and dignified response, while simultaneously working to address the underlying root causes of the challenges through our educational and advocacy-based programs.

This pandemic has challenged our diverse communities in new and profound ways. Senior citizens who were coping with the dual challenges of isolation and food insecurity before the pandemic are now threatened by the increased risk of exposure to a deadly virus. Immigrant families who were struggling to academically support their children before local schools closed now face the additional obstacles of distance learning and widening technology gaps. Low-income families who struggled to make ends meet before the economic impact of COVID-19 was fully seen are now in need of support and solutions like never before. In one survey conducted by our staff in May, 89% of program participants experienced a loss of work hours and income.

We understand the immediate need for flexible responses to this still emerging and dynamic crisis. We also believe that deeper, systemic solutions are required to fully address the needs and support the aspirations of our diverse community. Here are three ways we’ve been accomplishing this.

Food Security

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Bayside has distributed over 20,000 lbs. of fresh prodce and 2,140 lbs. of fresh bread to more than 6,600 individuals. In the last two months alone (September and October), we’ve distributed 3,030 lbs. of fresh produce and 660 lbs. of fresh-baked bread to the community. Programs include on-site, walk-up, and drive-through emergency food distributions as well as home deliveries to dozens of Linda Vista seniors.

Additionally, we have developed a number of new partnerships in order to supplement emergency food distributions and deliveries with fresh produce. Associate Director of Communications, Adam Osorio, notes, “We see partnerships with produce farmers as absolutely essential. We’re glad to be able to provide so many shelf-stable emergency food items to our neighbors but the nutritional quality of our various programs is really increased when we can get freshly grown fruits and veggies into the hands of residents as well. Without these important partners we would not be able to address food insecurity and inequities in Linda Vista nearly as well.” For more information contact rose@baysidecc.org.

Avery Cramer, founder of SD Co-Harvest and Bayside partner comments, "Having fresh, local produce distributed alongside shelf stable emergency foods is important for a variety of reasons. Most important is introducing and sustaining nutritional and diverse ingredients so that all members of the community have the opportunity to access high quality produce. We know that in the United States, most food insecure households are not lacking in calories, but in nutritional uptake. This lack of access and division between the food system and public health is leading to disastrous levels of dietary disease and racial/economic inequalities in public health. Co-Harvest's mission to increase access to healthy produce through Bayside's distributions also benefits the environment because offering farm fresh, local produce directly to urban populations drastically cuts out emissions from transportation or storage and increases the ability for the community to build sovereignty and stewardship into the food system."

Academic Support

Since March 2020, Bayside’s after-school literacy support program has moved 100% online and has served 48 students. This school year, new students entered our program reading an average of 2.5 years behind their actual grade level. In order to address this critical need, our team has found new ways to support students and their families including weekly wellness calls, redirecting donations to prioritize the technological needs of our families, and teaching new skills to help families successfully participate in online learning. Regarding these efforts, Academic Club site supervisor, Alexia Mercado says, “We’ve been highly involved in the education of our students since COVID began. We have been supporting our students every way we can to help them adjust to virtual learning. We do a weekly wellness check-in with our families to find out what the needs are and strive to provide every tool, skill, or resource they need. The families have been very grateful for our support during this difficult time.” Rahab Wanjiru, an Academic Club parent, comments, “My student really loves your program, she is upset when she can’t get online for class. Your teachers are like a second set of parents for our kids and we want to make sure that you are well and being taken care of too.”

As a result, after only 9 weeks of student-centered, data-driven instruction English literacy gaps among new students have been reduced by an average 54%! See for yourself how some of our students read on the first day of class compared to several weeks later. For more information contact aosorio@baysidecc.org.

Watch a 2nd grade student read an early Kindergarten level text on September 12 (left video) and a mid-Kindergarten level text on November 6 (right video).

Watch as a 3rd grade student reads the same mid-Kindergarten level of text in the beginning of the school year (left video) and 4 weeks later (right video).

Census 2020

It is estimated that each individual respondent will bring in $1,000-$2,000 per person, per year in government funding for critical needs like hospitals, roadways, and education systems in their communities. That amounts to tens of thousands of dollars generated by a single person filing their Census. Bayside is proud to have been a part of the Count Me 2020 Coalition this year which educated and mobilized our hardest-to-count census tracts. We focused on reaching Vietnamese and Spanish speaking residents, 0-5 and 80+ year old community members, those with no access to internet or working phones, English-language learners, and other hard-to-count populations. In one of Linda Vista’s hardest-to-count census tracts (90.0), we are proud to have played a significant role in the 7.4% increase in self-response rates among residents in 2020 compared to 2010 rates. This increase paralleled numbers throughout Linda Vista and across San Diego.

Regarding the importance of this work, Andrea Ruiz, a Bayside volunteer shares, “Census outreach was crucial this year, as it is every ten years. It is important for our community members to have a well-rounded understanding of what the Census actually is, and why it matters. Once people realize that there is nothing to fear, and that it's actually a quick process, it opens the door for maximum participation. This way, we are accurately represented in Congress and have appropriate federal funding for our most essential community resources." Not even a pandemic could stop us from getting out the count! In addition to being perhaps the most inclusive and representative Census of Linda Vista in our lifetime up until now, we are confident that this work will have positive impacts on our community for many years to come. For more information contact kheinle@baysidecc.org.

We are so proud of our staff, volunteers and community members for rising to meet the many new and, at times, seemingly overwhelming challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. We look forward to continuing to adjust and adapt to the dynamic and ever-changing needs of our community with short-, medium-, and long-term solutions.