Jen Rodriguez, Nursery Manager and employee Laurie Cash were hard at work at the nursery.

by Jill Forman

Growing Works is a non-profit wholesale nursery in Camarillo, and much more. It is a training ground for Behavioral Health clients, a partnership with Turning Point Foundation, an opportunity for local businesses and organizations to be involved, and a state-of-the-art facility with native and drought-tolerant plants.

And it is a dream come true for many. “There is a place for everybody,” says Nursery Manager Jen Rodriguez as she works swiftly, filling “…our biggest orders ever.” Employees and volunteers water, select and trim plants. These workers have experienced mental health challenges, and have been through classes on life and work skills as well as hours of volunteering at the nursery.

Jason Meek, Executive Director of Turning Point, emphasizes the benefits, “One can easily see that Growing Works provides individuals experiencing mental illness with an opportunity to attain employment in an environment rich in support, care, and free from stigmatization.” It is part of their journey, he says “… to wellness and self-empowerment.”

Supervisor Linda Parks was the driving force behind this project, from the concept to finding the site, pitching the project to organizations and government, obtaining funding, even getting down and dirty cleaning out the on-site structure. As she says, “It was a multi-year labor of love.”

Dennis Perry, the Nursery Director recruited by Parks, laughs as he tells how he got involved. “Come to a meeting, they said…” Perry is a volunteer active with NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) and “…grew up in the nursery business.” So, he was a natural fit for this task.

Perry says there were a number of challenges on the site, from sick trees to a warehouse full of furniture. He set up workdays with local students, the Carpenters’ Union, employees from companies such as Home Depot, and citizens who wanted to help. Everybody donated their time.

Parks gave the County a list of essential repairs to make the location functional and safe, and they set up a budget. She also organized donations of materials such as gravel, fencing, concrete blocks, etc.

Growing Works opened in 2019. In the first three months, 30-40 Behavioral Health clients came through for training and work. Tom Hayduk, Production Manager, chats while rooting plant cuttings; he says half of his job is to work with employees and members (trainees from Behavioral Health who may become employees.)

“Sales are good,” Hayduk says. “We need to cover our own expenses.” He wants to grow 75% of the plants from their own cuttings. Growing Works’ goal is to be self-sustaining both financially and environmentally.

Production is currently limited by water quality, but there is a brand-new water treatment apparatus on site, proudly shown off by Perry, that will soon be installed and functional so the nursery can expand. It was obtained through a grant from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

Georgia, a NAMI activist who had a son with mental illness, talks about how important it was to him to have a job. “I am proud of Growing Works; it is a positive force. Employees are proud of themselves, are a part of society, have dignity, and find strengths. They get support on a hard day.” It is a success because of “…strong skills with strong partners.”

Growing Works is not open to the public. For information, to donate or volunteer go to www.GrowingWorks.org.

ECTV Crew Front row Ruby Intner, Jessica Llamas, and Sarah Enriquez. Back row – Hector Guerrero (El Camino Principal), Phil Taggart (ECTV Mentor), Lily Abbitt, Jacob Summer, Patrick Davidson (CAPS Media Executive Director), Olivia Roth, Matthew Bragulla, Anna Berezouskiy and Tera Shrum (El Camino Admin Assistant).

CAPS Media and ECTV crews were big winners at the recent Alliance for Community Media Western Conference in Monterey, CA with five W.A.V.E. Awards (Western Access Video Excellence). CAPS Media won in the ACM professional category for productions of the Central Ventura County Fire Safe Council promotional video (community event category), a Thomas Fire Stories episode featuring Vista Del Mar and Hawaiian Village (community issues category) and a Thomas Fire Stories episode featuring featuring Ventura Chiefs Scott Quirarte, Michael Weisenberg and Todd Leake (magazine show category)

Ventura Producer and CAPS Media member Lea Welles took home an award for “Travel Today with Lea”: Scotsfest Highland Games,” in the sports coverage/community producer category.

ECTV Crews, members of the El Camino High School/CAPS Media career pathways program, won awards for “Healing Through the Arts,” in the best arts and entertainment youth category, for a program featuring in-depth profiles with Ojai artist Gayel Childress, Afghanistan graffiti artist Shamsia Hassani and musician Jab Dlamini. The ECTV team won a second W.A.V.E award for a bi-lingual program focusing on Gracie Perkal’s socially aware art, and Michael O’Kelly’s historic mural at the Ventura Mission in the talk show youth category.

ECTV “grads” Eleana Newton, now attending UC Santa Cruz, and Josh Brooks, now attending Cal State Monterey Bay, along with ECTV mentor Phil Taggart attended the ceremony and accepted the awards for the ECTV Crew. This is the fourth year in a row that the ECTV crew has won W.A.V.E awards at the annual ACM West conference.

ACM – the Alliance for Community Media, is a network of more than 3000 community media centers throughout the country. The common mission is to promote free speech and greater civic engagement through community media. In order for democracy to flourish, people must be active participants in their government, educated to think critically and free to express themselves.

CAPS Media (Community Access Partners of San Buenaventura) has been a member of ACM since CAPS’ inception in 2001. CAPS is Ventura’s public access television and radio center that fulfills a fundamental right guaranteed by the First Amendment. As a free society, the public has the right to have personal opinions published in the newspaper and on the airwaves. CAPS Media provides Member/Producers the vehicles to express themselves on television, radio and online. Some people refer to CAPS Media as Ventura’s electronic soapbox.

The highly professional and extremely friendly CAPS Media staff train members how to master the use of video cameras, editing equipment, production studio and radio station to produce their own story. Video production and training services are provided for an annual membership fee of only $40. Training and use of the CAPS Radio facility (KPPQ 104.1 FM) requires an additional annual DJ fee of $50.

New member orientation meetings are held the first Thursday of every month at 6pm at the CAPS Media Center at 65 Day Road in Ventura. Video camera, editing and radio classes are held on Thursday’s throughout the month. Go to capsmedia.org/events or all 805-658-0500 to learn how to register for upcoming classes and become a CAPS Media Member/Producer.

The dedication crests an ambitious period of growth through the past decade.

Riding a never-ending swell of expansion for the religion, the Church of Scientology cut the ribbon on a new Ideal Organization (Org), Saturday, February 22, along this slice of surfing paradise. The first Ideal Org devoted to Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties opened before an exuberant audience of some 4,000 Scientologists, guests and federal, state and local dignitaries.

For the 100,000 daily commuters motoring on the 101, the glass-encased, new Church gleams as an unmistakable beacon of freedom just minutes from Downtown Ventura and Surfers Point, and but 500 yards from the San Buenaventura State Beach. At 66,000 square feet, the expansive and striking structure provides the capacity to immediately multiply many fold the Church’s outreach and services to the hundreds of thousands who call this stretch of coastline home.

Leading the grand celebration was Mr. David Miscavige, the ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion. In recognition of Ventura and Santa Barbara’s longstanding partnership with Church-sponsored social betterment and humanitarian programs, a series of luminaries from Port Hueneme to Montecito converged to lend a passionate welcome at the new Ideal Org’s inauguration.

Joining the Scientology parishioners and Church officials were Councilman Steven Gama, from the City of Port Hueneme, Ventura County; Sharon Byrne, Advisor to the 4th District of Santa Barbara County; John Chavez, Voluntary Agency Liaison, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); and Barbara Gaughen-Muller, President of the Tri-County United Nations Association.

In highlighting the Church’s work toward environmental responsibility, Councilman Gama described L. Ron Hubbard’s nonreligious moral guide, The Way to Happiness, as having “the power to get people into action.” He went on to state: “Your Way to Happiness volunteers have already been out with us all along Ormond Beach at our cleanups. From early morning until we’re done for the day, you are there taking care of our precious environment and helping it to thrive.… So not only will this new Church help preserve all that is good about our incredible home, it will be a beacon inspiring an even better environment, better neighbors and a better community for us all.”

The striking new facility provides the region with an introduction to Dianetics and Scientology, beginning with the Public Information Center. Its displays, containing more than 500 films, present the beliefs and practices of the Scientology religion and the life and legacy of Founder L. Ron Hubbard.

The Information Center also offers a detailed overview of the many Church-sponsored humanitarian programs—including a worldwide human rights education initiative, far-reaching drug education, prevention and rehabilitation programs; a global network of literacy and learning centers; and the Scientology Volunteer Minister program, which has become one of the world’s largest independent relief forces. The Center is open morning to night for visitors to tour at their leisure and return as often as they wish.

This past decade has seen the opening of new Ideal Orgs across the US, including New York City, Harlem, Buffalo, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Tampa, Orlando, Miami, Nashville, Cincinnati, Columbus, Detroit, Twin Cities, Kansas City, Dallas, Denver, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Portland and Seattle. The opening of Ventura’s new Ideal Org marks the 12th to open in the state of California—Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Gatos, San Jose, Silicon Valley, San Fernando Valley, Pasadena, Inglewood, Orange County and San Diego.

To disseminate Scientology’s message still further and answer the interest about the religion, the Church launched its own satellite TV channel, Scientology Network, on DIRECTV Channel 320, which also live streams at scientology.tv, as well as on multiple platforms in 17 languages across 24 time zones.