State office holds meeting with Ventura County community groups

This article was originally published by Vida; view the event gallery here.

By David Courtland and Carlos Garcia

On Wednesday, October 29, at the Staybridge Suites in Oxnard, was the site for the 6th of 8 regional meeting of the California Connects regional convenings meeting. It was attended by several individuals from the public, private and nonprofit sector from the tri-county region and Los Angeles County.

“The Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications (OCPSC) is the single state entity coordinating California’s most important statewide public awareness and community engagement initiatives. OCPSC allows the state to realize more inclusive and effective outcomes while preventing equity gaps in outreach,” said to VIDA Newspaper, Aubrie Fong, Acting Executive Director of OCPSC.

At the heart of every public awareness and outreach campaign built by the OCPSC is a structured network of trusted messengers. Through authentic conversations, trusted messengers raise awareness, mobilize public support, and provide valuable insights that inform strategy and messaging.

To accompany the on-the-ground community trusted messengers, the OCPSC also executes integrated media campaigns statewide. Together, these strategies cut through the noise and provide hard-to-reach communities with accurate information the people and media outlets they trust, including hundreds of ethnic media outlets serving communities.

“Bridging Community and Government Action, is very important to fulfil our mission, we use 19 languages to reach and help our community,” said Vanessa Bechtel, President and CEO of the Ventura County Community Foundation and partner of OCPSC.

The meeting was the sixth of eight gatherings launched in San Francisco and designed to spark new connections between state agencies and the community-based organizations.

“We’ve had energy at all the meetings, everything has been great,” said Aubrie Fong, the Acting Executive Director of the Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications (OCPSC), which sponsored the meeting.

“Today is not only about sharing information but listening,” Fong explained.

The meeting’s guest speaker was Oxnard Mayor Luis MacArthur, who said, “for me getting into public service was very purposeful, very intentional.” After retiring from the police department as a commander MacArthur decided to put his degree in public administration to use. “When I got this invitation (to the meeting) it hit home,” MacArthur continued. “I’m big on engagement.”

MacArthur said making connections could not only bring business to Oxnard – he is working on bringing a World Cup soccer team to stay at the hotel next to River Ridge Golf Course – but improve quality of life for residents.

“We don’t know what resources are available and how to connect with people, so I am glad for this opportunity to connect people to resources,” MacArthur said.

Speaking outside of the meeting later, MacArthur used that morning’s raid by ICE agents on a North A Street home to illustrate the need for communication and coordination by public entities.

“So, we are in a time where we’re very divisive, so connection is very important,” MacArthur said. “For me networking is important, I see people here I recognize and those connections are important.”

MacArthur said he recognized the importance of enforcing immigration law, but that it had to be done in a humane fashion.

“You coordinate with other agencies, you always look at the human aspect,” MacArthur said. “But we’re not seeing that – they’re just not seeing our positions that we’re trying to advocate here.”

Other speakers talked to the groups about creating connections across a region, connecting to resources and building stronger connections.

“We want to create partnerships with other organizations that can further our mission,” said Lois Barberio of Conejo Valley Village, a Westlake-based volunteer group that helps elderly people remain independent by providing services like transportation to medical appointments.

“Our goal is to help people stay in their homes as long as it’s safe to do so,” said Barberio. “Sometimes it’s something as simple as getting trash down a steep driveway, or pet walking — anything to help them live in their home.”

Other groups said their goal was improving fundraising efforts.

“The challenge is funding (because of) the complexity of the environment we’re operating in,” said Vanessa Bechtel.

“We’re a community foundation, what we do is make the lives of people in our community better,” said Vanessa Bechtel. “We do that by access to education and other basic needs, we can work on every issue.”

Fong said she was extremely happy with the turnout, adding that OCPSC was only recently established in 2024.

“This (the meetings) were really our first opportunity to bring all of our partners together,” Fong said.