This month's spotlight we thank Tommie Lindsey for his dedication to our youth’s education and his commitment to the students of James Logan High School Forensics Team.
  
The James Logan High School Speech and Debate (“Forensics”) team was founded by Tommie Lindsey Jr. in 1984. Since then, Mr. Lindsey has become one of the top coaches in the nation. Despite private and prominent public schools’ success in the activity, James Logan has put the diverse community of Union City on the national map for forensics competition excellence.
  
Mr. Lindsey's dedication to the program has led to an outstanding record of his students being accepted into four-year colleges. At about a 90 percent rate, some of the Forensics Team students have attended Harvard, Yale and University of California, Berkeley. Despite many of the students troubled past, Mr. Lindsey has been a tireless advocate for each student to maximize their potential in the classroom.
  
Mr. Lindsey graduated from the University of San Francisco with a major in Communication Arts and Social Science. He was the first African-American to be valedictorian at USF. In 2004, Mr. Lindsey received the 2004 MacArthur Fellowship for his work with the youth of Union City. When he started teaching 37 years ago, his first forensics’ team consisted of 8 teens from a continuation school. In a PBS special, Mr. Lindsey commented on his first team, “These kids would show up for competition, and people would ask, ‘Where are they from?’ They weren't supposed to succeed and yet they were.” Today the James Logan High School Forensic team surpasses 200 students, and his previous teams have won the California State Forensics Championship in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2001.
  
While Mr. Lindsey has coached the team for 30 years, his true talent is in education. As a teacher since the 1970s, he has taught at various institutions, with the goal of aiding those who are underrepresented. Mr. Lindsey has built his program around a mantra for his students to be a “voice for the voiceless” and “to have service above self.”
  
Mr. Lindsey lives in Union City, is married to Lois Lindsey and has two children, Erica and Terence. 

A big thank you to LIFE ElderCare for taking the initiative to be environmentally friendly and resourceful! In the past couple of months, LIFE has implemented a new program encouraging the homebound seniors and disabled adults they serve, to recycle their batteries through the Meals on Wheels program.
  
LIFE, with the financial support of Cargill, purchased small battery buckets and began collecting batteries from their over 300 Meals on Wheels recipients. Many of those recipients had been collecting batteries for years, knowing batteries should not be disposed of in the regular garbage.
  
As the program has continued, the LIFE nursing students conduct their regular six month home visits, and take the battery buckets to collect any used batteries from the seniors. This has helped reduce the amount of improperly disposed of batteries and is a step towards a greener lifestyle.
  
For more information about LIFE ElderCare or Meals on Wheels please call (510) 574-2090 or visit www.LifeElderCare.org. 

Learn the basic rules of bicycling on the road and how to share the road with cars on busy streets. The Urban Cycling 101 class will teach you how to equip your bicycle, lock your bike, and fit your helmet. It will also provide helpful tips to avoid crashes by riding predictably, visibly, and communicating with other road users by your actions and signals. This fun and interactive presentation is with a certified instructor from the non-profit organization Bike East Bay.
  
The class is for adults and teens, and no bike is needed.
  
When: Monday, August 18 at 6 p.m.
Location:
Fremont Main Library- Fukaya Room
2400 Stevenson Boulevard, Fremont
  
Register for the Fremont Class today! This indoor, 2-hour interactive classroom course is funded by the Alameda County Transportation Commission.
  
Every attendee will receive a free reflective vest for participating!
  
For more information please contact Bike East Bay at (510) 845-7433 ext. 2 or robert@bikeeastbay.org.

SparkPoint Fremont Family Resource Center is happy to announce that the popular Credit Repair class will be offered in Spanish and English at the new satellite location at Kids’ Zone in Union City. Kids’ Zone is located at Barnard White Middle School Campus at 725 Whipple Road in Union City.
  
The classes will be held in English every 1st Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m. and in Spanish every 2nd Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m.
  
This class will cover the basics of credit and how to fix yours, including information on credit bureaus, credit reports and credit scores.  Credit Repair is part of the SparkPoint financial services program. The class is open to the public and free. To reserve your seat, call (510) 574-2020 and press 3. To register please provide your name, phone number and date of the class you wish to attend.

State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board) adopted a drought emergency rulemaking that mandates minimum actions to conserve water supplies both for this year and into 2015. 
  
The regulation will remain in effect for 270 days, unless extended by the Water Board. The Measure follows an Executive Order issued by Governor Brown on April 25 that directed the State Water Board to adopt emergency regulations as it deemed necessary.
  
Mandatory restrictions:

• Stop washing down driveways and sidewalks
• Stop watering outdoor landscapes that cause excess runoff
• Stop using a hose to wash a motor vehicle, unless the hose is fitted with a shut-off nozzle
• Stop using potable water in a fountain or decorative water feature, unless the water is recalculated

There are exceptions for health and safety circumstances

For more information from your local water vendor, please visit their website:
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Alameda County Water District
East Bay Municipal Utilities District 
City of Hayward Department of Public Works

East Bay Connects is a regional campaign organized by the East Bay Broadband Consortium to bridge the digital divide by improving broadband (high speed internet) deployment, access, and adoption in the East Bay.
  
East Bay Connects provides access to low-cost Broadband subscriptions, as low as $10 a month.  New Broadband subscribers can receive:

• A free home computer—a high quality refurbished desk top computer loaded with free software, a flat screen, and all the peripherals
• Free digital literacy training
• A year of free tech support
• Access to many resources for learning about and using broadband

Broadband reconnects can obtain this same computer for $50 along with the free training, tech support, and access to resources.
  
To take advantage of this opportunity, call the East Bay Connects Contact Center at (866) 460-7439 or email at info@eastbayconnects.com.
  
Broadband access is important for succeeding in school, searching for employment, maintaining a business, accessing safety-net services, and much more. However, there continues to be a digital divide in the East Bay, with more than 20% of the people in the East Bay without access to broadband. 
  
East Bay Connects will present a 2 ½ hour workshop in which participants can receive digital literacy training, sign up for low cost broadband, and receive a voucher for the free home computer and the year of free tech support.
  
For more information, call the East Bay Connects Contact Center at (866) 460-7439, or contact James Nixon at (510) 377-7224 or jameshurdnixon@gmail.com.

The Board of Supervisors encourage citizen involvement and expertise through a variety of boards and commissions, to advise them on a wide range of issues affecting their constituencies and to assure they are responsive to community needs. District Two currently has a vacancy on the following Commissions:
  
Housing and Community Development Citizen’s Advisory Committee
The Housing and Community Development Citizen’s Advisory Committee (HCDAC) advises the Community Development Agency’s Housing and Community Development Department on housing and community development matters. The Committee has a particular focus on matters relating to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) in the Unincorporated County and the entire Urban County (the Cities of Albany, Dublin, Emeryville, Newark and Piedmont and the Unincorporated County), as well as advising on other programs and issues.
  
The nine HCDAC members are expected to attend six regular meetings per year (January, March, May, July, September, and November) and additional specially scheduled meetings, if any. The meetings are held at 7:00 p.m. at 224 West Winton Avenue in Room 160 in Hayward. Members are paid a stipend of $25 per meeting for every meeting they attend.
  
To Apply:
To apply to serve as a District Two appointee, please submit a cover letter explaining why you are interested in the position, and include a copy of your resume.  Please forward the information to Ginny DeMartini at Ginny.DeMartini@acgov.org or call (510) 259-1097. 
  
Alameda County Transportation Commission- Citizen Watchdog Committee
The mission of the Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC) is to plan, fund and deliver transportation programs and projects that expand access and improve mobility to foster a vibrant and livable Alameda County. The Citizens Watchdog Committee (CWC) makes recommendations to the Alameda CTC to keep a close eye on transportation improvements and engage project sponsors and community members.
  
The CWC scrutinizes all Measure B expenditures and reports directly to the public each year on these expenditures. The group meets quarterly on the second Thursday of the month, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in Oakland. All meetings are open to the public.
  
To Apply:
Visit the Alameda CTC website for an application and more information regarding the Citizen Watchdog Committee or contact Alameda CTC at (510) 208-7400. All members must be an Alameda County resident, and each term is for 2 years.