Modesto Event Honors Community Service Award Winner
AARP California volunteer leader Mary Van Loon was presented with the AARP Andrus Award for Community Service at a ceremony in Modesto on January 12. As AARP California’s Volunteer Manager of State Operations, Mary has worked tirelessly to recruit and sustain AARP volunteers throughout California.
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San Diego Members Learn to Fight Fraud at Consumer Protection Day
AARP California was a co-sponsor of Consumer Protection Day on February 4 in San Diego. More than 1,000 people, many of them AARP members, attended the event, where they were joined by San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and Supervisors Bill Horn and Pam Slater-Price. The district attorney and supervisors helped to organize the second annual gathering, which was designed to educate and inform local residents on ways to protect their finances from con artists. Consumers who attended the free event collected information from more than 40 exhibitors, including non-profits, government, and private agencies. The daylong affair also featured a morning panel on identity theft and an afternoon panel on financial elder abuse. The keynote speaker was Barry Minkow, a former con artist who now helps others avoid being fraud victims. Additional sponsors for the event included San Diego County's Aging & Independence Services, Elder Law & Advocacy, and the California Department of Consumer Affairs. The event was covered by several local television stations, and AARP volunteer Hoagy Carmichael was interviewed on the local evening news.  

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AARP Letter Rejects California Telecommunications Consumers’ Bill of Rights
On behalf of more than three million members in California, AARP urged the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to reject a proposed decision on the Telecommunications Consumers’ Bill of Rights. In a February letter, AARP asked the Commission to instead design regulations that would offer effective protections for California consumers. The letter also expressed AARP’s concerns about the erosion of consumer protections within the proposed Bill of Rights. The proposed decision argues there is no need for consumer protections beyond current levels and that industry competition should induce telecommunications agencies to treat customers fairly. AARP disagrees, as it represents a population that is often the target of fraudulent and abusive schemes. Basic consumer protections and effective enforcement are necessary to protect our members. AARP has recommended some changes to the proposed decision that would clearly communicate contract contents before they are signed.

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Bay Area Media Pioneer Honored at New California Media Award
Lillian Lincoln Howell, founder of San Francisco’s multi-ethnic television station KTSF, was honored with the AARP California Lifetime Achievement Award for New California Media on January 26 in San Jose. AARP California Manager of Communications Ann Reed presented the award during the 10th anniversary celebration of New California Media, a statewide coalition of ethnic media outlets.

Founded in 1976, KTSF today offers news and entertainment programming in 14 languages, reaching an audience of 1.4 million viewers. One of the nation’s first multi-ethnic stations, KTSF offers news in Cantonese, Vietnamese, Mandarin, and Japanese and is the only station to broadcast nightly live news programming in both Cantonese and Mandarin, as well as soap operas and syndicated shows, such as China Crosstalk.

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California State President Addresses Media at Governor’s Press Conference
AARP CA State President Helen Russ participated at a press conference called by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on January 17 to introduce legislation designed to ensure immediate coverage of prescription drug costs during the transition to Medicare D. Helen praised the bipartisan efforts to make certain that the people of California have access to the vital medicines that they need. She also emphasized that AARP will continue to work with state leaders to assure an affordable prescription drug program for Californians, especially the most vulnerable.

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AARP Taps Former California Residents as Next-Generation Thought Leaders
El Camino Real High School graduate Michal Engelman, now a master’s student at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and San Clemente High School graduate Gretchen Alkema, now a University of Southern California doctoral student in gerontology, have been named 2005-2006 AARP Scholars. Engelman and Alkema were among 30 scholars selected from a pool of 170 applicants, which included students from across the country studying gerontology, aging, or public policy. Each will receive a $10,000 scholarship to advance in their respective field of study.

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AARP California Hosts Medicare
Part D Awareness Fair
Nearly 300 seniors attended a seminar Friday, December 16 in Palm Desert to learn more about Medicare Part D. AARP California and the Riverside County Office on Aging sponsored the event. Also on hand to present and answer questions were representatives from the Social Security Administration, the Health Insurance Counseling Advocacy Program, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Attendees spent the first part of the afternoon listening to presentations on the new Medicare benefit, including a taped message from U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein.

The event, which was held at the Palm Desert Campus of California State University, San Bernardino, included an “awareness fair,” where attendees could speak with representatives of several health insurance companies offering new drug benefit plans. The fair was part of an ongoing effort by AARP California to inform and educate Californians about the new Medicare Part D plan. A similar event in Orange County drew more than 600 seniors to the Leisure World community.

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Bailando por su Salud Heats up December in Pasadena
Caliente is the Spanish word for “hot,” and no other word so quite sums up the atmosphere at AARP’s second annual “Bailando por su Salud” (Dancing for Your Health!), held in Pasadena last December. More than 1,200 50-plus residents of the San Gabriel Valley responded to invitations to attend the bailando, a night of salsa dancing that promotes health and fitness among the 50-plus set.
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Fair Housing Conference Educates in San Diego
AARP California offered three workshops at the 13th Annual Fair Housing Conference on February 17, 2006 in San Diego, in partnership with the San Diego Fair Housing Council and sponsorship with Housing and Economics Rights Activists (HERA). The event provides legal information on a variety of issues affecting advocates, attorneys, housing providers, property managers and others in the housing industry. The three workshops also provided information about housing issues and how they affect the older community. AARP California and HERA designed the workshops to help professionals identify and prevent predatory lending abuses and educate about fair lending practices. Barbara Jones, AARP Foundation attorney based in Pasadena, spoke at the third workshop on fair housing issues that specifically impact grandparents. This workshop was funding in part by AARP California’s “Grandparents Rights Project.”

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Associate State Director Honored as Influential Latina
Associate State Director Adriana Mendoza, has been selected by Latino Today monthly magazine as one of 50 most influential Latinos in California’s Central Coast area. Mendoza was notified Tuesday, February 21 that she had been selected for the honor in part for her outreach to and support of the local Hispanic community. Mendoza, along with other Latino leaders, will be officially honored at a luncheon and awards ceremony in mid-March. She will also be part of a special March issue of Latino Today featuring stories and photos of all honorees. Latino Today is one of the largest monthly Hispanic newspapers in the Central Coast area. Mendoza has represented AARP on the Central Coast since the region’s creation in early 2005. The, recently expanded to include Santa Cruz County, has 229,250 AARP members.

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California Members Elected to Leadership on Aging Commission
AARP California Executive Council Member Jorge Lambrinos and Associate State Director for Community Outreach Celia J. Esquivel were recently elected Chair and Vice Chair of the California Commission on Aging. Both are currently serving three-year appointments on the Commission, an honor granted by the Governor and California State Legislature. As members of the Commission, Lambrinos and Esquivel, along with 23 other members, act as the principal advisory body to the Governor, State Legislature, and State, Federal and local departments and agencies on issues affecting older Californians. In addition to his position on AARP’s Executive Council, Lambrinos also serves as director for the Edward R. Roybal Institute for Applied Gerontology, a position he has held since 1993. Esquivel has been an employee of AARP since 1988, working on both sides of the country. She is currently Associate State Director for the Northern California Region, where she coordinates strategies, activities, issues and volunteers across twenty-five counties. In recognition of their commitment to the field of aging, Lambrinos and Esquivel were also appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as delegates to the White House Conference on Aging in December 2005.

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Celebrating Holidays with AARP’s Chinese-American Members
More than 80 members of AARP’s Chinatown Los Angeles Chapter (GLACC #5282) filled the Rosemead Community Center on Garvey Avenue with laughter and gifts on December 21, 2005.
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