Transcendence Celebrates 26 Years of Services
Transcendence Celebrates 26 Years of Services
By Naomi Bonman
IVN Staff Writer
Rancho Cucamonga, CA- Business professionals and community leaders joined Transcendence Children & Family Services at their spring mixer on Friday, March 30 at the sophisticated Ra Pour Restaurant located in the heart of Victoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga.
The mixer was a networking event and also an event to acknowledge the former Executive Director, La Quetta Bush-Simmons. Simmons is continuing her career in ministry full time. “When I reflect upon my experiences at Transcendence, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. For every foster child, parent, staff and board member has left an indelible footprint on my heart and I will be forever transformed,” Simmons said.
The program started and ended with a mixer that was hosted by the sounds of Ra Pour’s live band. The wait staff also served a variety of succulent food and drinks. As everyone was acquainted and settled into the restaurant, the president of Transcendence, Michael Lacy, welcomed everyone to the event before opening up in prayer. .
Transcendence believes that community based partnerships are the most effective mechanism to building stronger communities. Their mission calls them to engage in community partnerships that lead to the development and delivery of services that revitalize and stimulate intellectual, economic and social development in urban communities.
“We share with you our 2012 programs and our roadmap for the future. As we honor La Quetta, we hope you find today’s program inspiring. We also look to you. The community, for collaboration to expand the scope, power and effectiveness of our mission. Together we will build a stronger community,” Lacy said.
Each program that was recognized that the event focused on those three things, which included the Reintegration Academy, Sacred Sistah’s Math & Science Fair and Journalism Boot Camp (One Nation Media Inc).
Renford Resse, Professor of Political Science and Founder of the Reintegration Academy, gave a brief overview of what the Academy’s purpose is. The program brought twenty 18-25 year old, non-violent and non-sex offender males to Cal Poly Pomona’s campus for 10 weeks during the Spring Quarter 2009. The parolees were screened by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: Region III and they were immersed in academic, life skills and personal development modules. During the eighth week of the academy the participants were registered into Mt. Sac Community College. During the ninth week, the program hosted a mini-job fair for the participants where 10 local businesses attended. They interviewed the participants and were poised to hire the young men. At the program’s graduation banquet, each participant received a new laptop computer to begin a new phase of their life. This program was sponsored by a generous grant from Pomona Transcendence Children and Family Services and Leeba Lessin.
Tonia Bush, President of Sacred Sistah’s, introduced her program. Sacred Sistah’s Inc empowers, serves and improves the overall health and well-being of women and children. Since 2004, they have conducted rites of passage programs and provided mentorship to young women within the Inland Empire to inspire and promote self-esteem, self-concept and well-being, perceptions of beauty, relationships and valuing the body through an ongoing process of nourishing and elevating the spirit, mind and body.
Sheri L. Stuart, Executive Director of OneNation Media Inc., introduced Journalism Boot Camp. OneNation Media Services is a nonprofit dedicated to developing positive media content. They have been actively engaged in the development of informative and inspirational content since 2006. Each program and activity that they host serves youth and adults in underserved communities of Southern California. Journalism Boot Camp is an extra-circular learning program centered on providing youth and young adults with hands-on training in print journalism, photography, radio and television production. Participants are taught the basic principles of news gathering, writing and editing. This program provides a superb opportunity for youth to express their creativity and have their values and voices heard through the Art of Journalism.
In conclusion of the mixer, Lacy mentioned on how the community can participate in continuing to help Transcendence on fulfilling its mission, which is by volunteering, creating new ideas on transforming the community and donating monetary sources.
For more information on Transcendence or any of the above programs, please visit the following websites: www.transcendingfamilies.org, www.csupomona.edu/~rrreese/nonfla/Reintegration.html, http://www.sacredsistahsinc.org/ and http://www.onenationmedia.org.
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