Visit visitventuraca.com/contact/staff to learn more about the Visit Ventura team.

The Pacific Coast Business Times has once again honored Visit Ventura with their “Central Coast Best Place to Work” award.

This marks the fourth year in a row that Visit Ventura has been selected as a “Best Place to Work,” but, suffice to say, 2020 was not a conventional work year.

“It was a year of adjusting and readjusting, again and again,” said Marlyss Auster, Visit Ventura President & CEO. “There were some stressful times, but through it all our team maintained the same upbeat attitude they’ve always had. And we never lost sight of our overall mission to do the next right thing to help our community. Thank you, Pacific Coast Business Times, for kindly honoring us. And thank you, wonderful Ventura, for working alongside us to do that next right thing.”

Through creative thinking and various award-winning campaigns, Visit Ventura helps spearhead a tourism effort that generates close to $300 million in annual visitor spending and, equally important, creates roughly 2,600 jobs in Ventura. Perhaps less known, tourism’s dollars help bolster Ventura’s General Fund, which, among other things, helps fund the city’s fire and police forces, build the city’s roads, and finance the city’s schools. Now more than ever, tourism will play a critical role in the recovery of the economy — from the national front to local hometowns.

“We all know how hard the pandemic has been on Ventura’s economy,” said Auster. “And tourism will be the economic driver that not only sees Ventura to its feet, but sees Ventura thrive. Our amazing team will continue to work hard to see that happen.”

The “Best Place to Work” awards began in 2016. They represent feedback across an organizational structure and were quickly embraced by the community thus increasing their prestige. Workplace factors such as compensation, paid time off, community involvement, and overall corporate culture are considered.

Aurora Loss with scholarship winner Vanessa Apodaca.

Ventura College Foundation, which provides financial support to students and programs of Ventura College, received $184,105 from the estate of long-time Ventura College supporter Aurora Loss who passed away in April 2020 at age 102. Loss has a 20-year history of giving to Ventura College Foundation to fund scholarships for Ventura College nursing students. 

Loss’ donation is divided equally with $92,052 designated for the establishment of the Aurora Loss Scholarship Fund endowment and $92,052 to the college’s nursing department for the purchase of medical training equipment. The scholarships will be managed and awarded through the Ventura College Foundation. 

Loss grew up on a farm in a mining town in Montana. An independent and career-driven woman, she attended Billings Business College and soon was employed in the engineering industry and as a government administrator during WWII.

Her career included working at the Pentagon. While in Washington D.C., she became ill and was hospitalized. Doctors minimalized her symptoms but she received the support of a nurse who advocated for her. Loss believed the nurse helped save her life. She never forgot the nurse’s kindness. When Loss eventually relocated to California, she found an opportunity to reciprocate by supporting Ventura College’s nursing students with scholarships and program support.

Dr. Sandra Melton, director of the college’s School of Nursing & Allied Health, had the opportunity to have lunch with Loss on several occasions and to take her on a tour of the nursing school.

Currently, 151 students are enrolled in the Ventura College two-year nursing program. The program normally enrolls up to 200 students, but the pandemic temporarily limited the number of enrollments. The students use life-like manikins (also known as patient simulators) in the learning process. These manikins are computer controlled and simulate breathing, life-like sounds, heartbeats, pulse and other bodily functions. As a tribute to Loss’ generosity, one of the manikins is being named, “Auntie LaLa” in her memory. 

“The manikins allow students to use their critical thinking skills to perform patient assessments and administer patient interventions in a safe environment,” says Melton. 

Melton says her department currently uses three high fidelity adult, pediatric and birthing simulators and is considering adding a more advanced wireless child simulator with Loss’ donation. The department will also purchase additional medical equipment with the funds. “It’s important that students have access to practice with the same equipment that they will use in local hospitals,” she says. “We’re always updating our program with the latest technology.” 

The nursing program is one of the most expensive on campus. Students must purchase textbooks, uniforms and medical supplies such as stethoscopes, and pay for drug testing, CPR certification and licensing exams. “Scholarships help offset some of these costs,” says Anne Paul King, Ventura College Foundation executive director. 

The Ventura College nursing program enjoys a 100% hiring rate for those graduates seeking employment with the majority of graduating students accepting positions locally. “The generous donations from Aurora Loss will support the degree completion of our nursing students,” says Ventura College President Kim Hoffmans who is also a registered nurse. 

For more information about scholarships and other support services provided by the Ventura College Foundation, go to www.VenturaCollegeFoundation.org.

Kids & Families Together on the campus of Ventura Charter School

June 7, 2021, was the culmination of a year-long project by the 3rd grade classes at Ventura Charter School of Arts & Global Education (VCS). Teachers, Flow Hansmeier and Emily Noel worked with their students on a year-long “Peace Project”. During the first half of the year, students interviewed (via Zoom) various individuals from organizations within the community asking the question, “How do you bring peace into the world?”

As part of this project, the students interviewed Kids & Families Together (K&FT)’s Co-Founder Faith Friedlander, LMFT in October of last year. Faith, an adoptee herself, explained how K&FT helps children, many who are adopted or in foster care, along with their families, though counseling programs and support services and various resource events during the year.

As a way to wrap up the school year, the students wanted to find a way to give back and help others in the community so they selected one of the individuals/organizations they had interviewed during the year. The students chose to support K&FT’s annual school supply event hosted for Ventura County Foster/Resource, Kinship and Adoptive Families who are working in programs with K&FT.

During the month of May, the 3rd graders at VCS established a “School Supply Drive” and promoted the event throughout the entire K – 8 campus by making posters and talking with the other classes. On Monday June 7th, Carrie McAuliffe, Heart 2 Heart Program Manager, and Amy Huot, Outreach Manager, with K&FT paid a visit to the school’s campus, to thank them and celebrate their amazing success! Students helped to load all the school supplies that were collected into vehicles to be taken back to the K&FT offices in preparation for the annual August “School Supply Gift Away Event”. Their school supply drive was such a success that the amount of supplies collected filled up two entire cars! Kids & Families Together would like to sincerely thank the students, staff and families of Ventura Charter School for their wonderful and generous support. And we hope they all have a fun and fantastic summer!

Kids & Families Together (K&FT) is a nonprofit that has been serving foster/resource, adoptive, kinship, and birth families throughout Ventura County since 2000. K&FT works with children who have experienced trauma, abuse, neglect, loss, and multiple placements. K&FT also works with caregivers who need specialized education, support, and strategies to help raise safe, healthy, nurtured children that thrive.

“Modern dance is an investigation of movement from the inside out.”

On Saturday, July 10, and Tuesday, July 13, danah bella (it’s spelled this way), Director of the BFA Dance program at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University will teach master classes for both dancers and dance teachers at NAMBA Performing Arts Space.

“Modern dance is an investigation of movement from the inside out,” states bella. “This class encourages efficient use of alignment and technique while exploring full bodied movement with an emphasis on strength, breath and dynamics.” danah was named one of Baltimore Sun’s 25 Women to Watch in 2018 and just recently received the Maryland Dance Education Association’s 2021 Higher Education Dance Educator of the Year Award.

“We are thrilled to be able to offer this level of dance education to our local community,” said Cathy Butter, Dance Liaison at NAMBA Performing Arts Space.

In addition, on July 18 danah will teach a master class for local dance teachers utilizing Functional Awareness® (FA); an approach to embodied anatomy through reflective practice to enhance our understanding of movement function, facilitate ease in body action, and improve movement skills.  For more information about FA: https://functionalawareness.org/

Classes will be held at NAMBA Performing Arts Space, 47 S Oak St. in Historic Downtown Ventura. Cost for individual classes is $25. To sign up visit NambaArts.com or call (805) 648-9250.

danah bella, is the artistic director of d a n a h b e l l a DanceWorks, a modern dance company focused on reclaiming evocative movement as social practice. She is an award-winning choreographer who has performed & presented her work throughout the country and abroad. danah has taught workshops and has been artist in residence in festivals and universities throughout the United States.

NAMBA Performing Arts Space is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in historic Downtown Ventura with a mission to provide an intimate venue to inspire and develop interdisciplinary art projects with a creative emphasis on dance, music, theater, writing and audio-visual arts.