Become a Mentor

To be a mentor, you don't need special skills, just an ability to listen and to offer friendship, guidance and encouragement to a young person. And you'll be amazed by how much you'll get out of the experience. Mentoring happens in a number of settings:  

• The community.
• Schools.
• The faith-based community.
• Business.
• Through the Internet.

1. Learn more about mentoring and become a mentor in your community. 
2. Share stories about mentoring in your community on social media using #MentoringWorks!
3. Thank your mentor on January 16, during "Thank Your Mentor Day!" Think about the mentors in your life, send them a thank you card and tell them thank you on social media using #SomeoneWhoMatters. 
4. Read the latest research and find resources on mentoring.
5. Serve your community on MLK Day of Service, January 20, by looking for a mentoring opportunity in your area.
6. Make a donation to a mentoring organization in your community.
7. Download and use all of the National Mentoring Month marketing and video materials to raise awareness and recruit volunteers.

8. Explore ways to help children succeed academically through mentoring.

For more information, please click here.  

Staff from Sunnyvale and Santa Clara conducted a comprehensive test of a new digital radio system being implemented in Santa Clara County. The cities of Sunnyvale and Santa Clara will be the first subscribers going live on the system. Motorola, the system vendor, and the Silicon Valley Regional Interoperability Authority (SVRIA), designed a grid system which identified nearly 800 testing points within the two cities. Teams from each city moved from point to point throughout the area testing the radio system's coverage for signal clarity and volume, communicating with a third team working at a fixed point in Santa Clara.  

The event lasted several days, with teams performing specific transmission and receiving scripts, which were analyzed by users and the vendor alike. The new radio system performed very well, exceeding expectations and putting both cities on track for going live in a few months. This marks the beginning of a new chapter in interoperable communications throughout Santa Clara County, as more cities will be joining the system in years ahead. The system promises to enhance our ability to communicate with neighboring jurisdictions far beyond what we have today.

The Department of Public Safety has recently promoted one of their cadets into the position of Crime Prevention Assistant (CPA), a position that has been vacant for several years due to budget constraints. The CPA position is fast becoming a popular outreach tool for our community. Currently, the CPA is reaching out to victims of burglaries and offering services to help better secure their homes by doing a home security survey. The focus is on giving back the feeling of security to a homeowner who has been a victim of a burglary.

The home security survey is an opportunity for the homeowner to have a one-on-one consultation with a trained Crime Prevention Assistant on how to best secure their home and protect their property. The home security survey will offer suggestions on ways to secure doors, windows, gates and any other unusual openings or problem areas. 

The home security survey focuses on Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) and preventing the homeowner from being a victim before the crime occurs. Future plans include hiring another CPA and starting the program city-wide to all residents, not just those that have already been victimized.

The Office of Emergency Services (OES) started its 36th SNAP (Sunnyvale Neighbors Actively Prepared) class on January 9, 2014. Approximately 30 Sunnyvale residents joined this proven method of community emergency response training. The skills learned during SNAP are used by trained citizens during and/or immediately following a disaster. The program guides and encourages residents to prepare for a disaster so they can help themselves, their families, and the community as a whole.   

The most valuable resource related to this program is the people that help organize it. SNAP is coordinated by a cadre of volunteers guided by OES staff and supported by other Department of Public Safety personnel. The Office of Emergency Services recognized the individual contributions of a couple of organizing committee members during the last Santa Clara County Emergency Managers Association (EMA) volunteer luncheon this past December. Volunteers from across the county were honored by their respective city staff. Committee members Peggy Ludwico and Robert Locke received the 2013 Mick McDonald Volunteer of the Year award on behalf of the City of Sunnyvale recognizing their contributions.

The SNAP committee is organized using the Incident Command System in order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the volunteers. Peggy joined the organizing committee in 2008. She has assisted the committee by assuming the role of the Finance/Administration Section leader. She has volunteered numerous hours organizing student lists with contact information, performing some of the outreach for new students, and taking care of many of the administrative tasks that allow the program to run effectively. She has served alongside her husband, Eugene, during classes for every section since she joined the team. You could usually find Peggy in the back of the room during classes making sure that we were all organized!

Robert has been an active member of the organizing committee since 2002. He has recently served as the Incident Commander and the main contact with the Office of Emergency Services. He has taught at every single session we have had - that is 35 sessions!! He was an integral part of the citywide emergency preparedness drill that occurred in October 2013. He reached out to Oakland OES and obtained permission to use some of their material. He spent countless hours adapting the material and organizing the volunteers that would help the day of the drill. The main focus of the drill was communications between SNAP volunteers in the field and SARES (Sunnyvale Amateur Radio Emergency Services) volunteers.  

The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety takes the opportunity to thank Peggy Ludwico and Robert Locke for their dedication, commitment and years of service to the SNAP program, to the department, and to the City of Sunnyvale.

From 2006 to 2012, staff from Neighborhood Preservation (NP), Building, and Public Safety endured reoccurring problems associated with a single-family home on West Remington. The violations were significant: unpermitted construction of a second story addition that included two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen; unpermitted construction in most of the rooms on the first floor; a lack of heat, water, and garbage services due to non-payment; outside storage of junk and debris; nuisance vehicles; and criminal activities. NP staff made numerous attempts to work collaboratively with the property owners to bring the house up to code; however, they were uncooperative and unwilling to remedy the violations. In 2006, Building posted the home "Unsafe for Human Habitation." NP issued over $50,000 in administrative citations to the property owners from 2006 through 2011 because they continued to occupy the home and did not remedy the violations.

In 2011, the Office of the City Attorney prepared a civil injunction and initiation of litigation against the owners. Shortly thereafter, the owners sold the property. The new owners had difficulties getting the former owners to move out of the house but were eventually successful. In mid-2012, the new owners began a major renovation and transformed it into an award-winning "Green Build" Eichler home. In November 2013, the home sold for $1,625,000 and is now a beautiful addition to the neighborhood.

Before

After