Phoenix House » California News

DJ AM Memorial Fund Helps Expand Music Program at Phoenix House Academy

mtrochimczyk — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:16:12 +0000

Visitors from the DJ AM Memorial Fund pose with staff and residents of Phoenix House Academy of Los Angeles in the facility’s recording studio.

Phoenix House Academy of Los Angeles was thrilled to receive a grant from the DJ AM Memorial Fund to honor the late Adam Goldstein, better known as DJ AM. The grant will help expand and enhance the Phoenix Rising Music Program, which benefits teens struggling with substance abuse and related problems. In addition to this generous financial support, the DJ AM Memorial Fund will also donate DJ equipment. These wonderful gifts will allow Phoenix House Academy students the opportunity to record, perform, and learn how to DJ.

The DJ station is a great new addition to Phoenix House’s music program, which was established several years ago through donations by singer / songwriter Kara DioGuardi. For more information about the DJ AM Memorial Fund and its support of Phoenix House, please click here (The Huffington Post).

Garden Renovation Brings Fresh Air to Phoenix House

akazickas — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:16:12 +0000

In collaboration with the California based non-profit Big Sunday, volunteers and Phoenix House residents worked to create a new outdoor patio and garden at our Phoenix House of Venice. The Los Angeles Times highlights the renovations. Click here to read the full article.

A New Beginning

akazickas — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 21:04:02 +0000

After years of struggling with the ups and downs of substance abuse and homelessness, Mike F., who received treatment our Phoenix House of Orange County, is now in recovery and marrying the love of his life. Click here to read the full story.

Phoenix House Teen Honored at Academic Bowl

mtrochimczyk — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:38:58 +0000

Following last year’s first place finish, a team of students from Phoenix House Academy of Los Angeles competed in the 2010 Los Angeles County Office of Education Academic Bowl. While they did not win this year’s competition, the residents at Phoenix House Academy were proud to see that this year’s Academic Achievement Trophy was handed out in memory of one their team members from last year, Samantha Sandoval. Samantha, who tragically was run over by a car and killed in October 2009 after completing her stay at Phoenix House, was represented by her parents. As the trophies were handed out, Samantha’s mother said in Spanish, “My daughter said that through her experience she discovered herself … her self- worth.”

Each year, Phoenix House Academy provides residential treatment and schooling to over three hundred teens who, like Samantha, suffer from co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders and their related problems. Click here to see the articles that appeared in the Los Angeles Daily News and the Los Angeles Times about this year’s Academic Bowl.

Global Youth Service Day at Lake View Terrace, CA

mtrochimczyk — Wed, 05 May 2010 19:16:56 +0000

On April 25, teens at Phoenix Academy of Los Angeles celebrated Global Youth Service Day, with posters and presentations documenting community service projects conducted in the previous months at local nonprofits. The award ceremony, attended by parents and guests from the community, featured Deputy Mayor of the City of Los Angeles for Gang Reduction and Youth Development, Guillermo Cespedes, and a representative from one of the nonprofits, Casa Esperanza – Immaculate Heart Community’s Blythe Street Project, Sky Hutchason.

Mr. Cespedes spoke in English and Spanish about the need for service, volunteering and working together to overcome serious societal issues, like addiction and gangs. His connection to Phoenix House dated back to his youth when, as a former foster child, he befriended two graduates from Phoenix House in New York after college who became his mentors and supporters. Their friendship was a great asset in his life and helped him find and sustain a positive direction that eventually led him to his current position. The Deputy Mayor congratulated the youth at Phoenix Academy of Los Angeles for their spirit of sharing and community involvement as demonstrated by their community service projects.

Sky Hutchason spoke about how gratedful the children were at Casa Esperanza who were tutored by teens from Phoenix Academy. The teens at Phoenix House received certificates and talked about their volunteer experiences and how they learned valuable lessons about civic sprit, community, and the importance of work that, as one teen said, “makes the world go around” when everyone does their share.

In the photo: Phoenix Academy students Collin, Luis, Carolina & Maria with Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Guillermo Cespedes.

Big Sunday Helps Phoenix House’s Programs for Women and Children

mtrochimczyk — Wed, 05 May 2010 18:32:31 +0000

On May 1-2, Big Sunday brightened the day for Phoenix House residents in Monrovia, Santa Fe Springs, and Lake View Terrace. Read The Los Angeles Times report from May 3, 2010 which includes a highlight of how volunteers participated in fixing up our facility in Monrovia.

At our program for women with children in Santa Fe Springs, 11 Big Sunday volunteers worked on two projects, reorganizing the donated-clothing room and planting more flowers in the Serenity Garden, created by Big Sunday volunteers two years ago.

At our program for women in Monrovia, volunteers repainted a long hallway with donated paint and spiffed up the facility for another year of services.

At Phoenix Academy of Los Angeles in Lake View Terrace, youth had a blast: after volunteering for Global Youth Service Day and celebrating their volunteer projects on April 25, they enjoyed a tour of Hollywood and a free movie at Grauman’s Chinese Theater, courtesy of Big Sunday.

In previous years, Big Sunday volunteers landscaped and planted a new garden at Phoenix House Venice (the mosaic features the Big Sunday logo) and at Phoenix Academy of Los Angeles, painted our facilities in Santa Ana and Monrovia, and chipped in to brighten our surroundings at our program in Santa Fe Springs. Phoenix House thanks Big Sunday for bringing so many new friends and sources of support to our programs serving our community!

Good News for Kids Gala Benefits Phoenix House

batkins — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:10:58 +0000

On Thursday, November 19, 2009, Phoenix Academy Orange County was one of the beneficiaries of the Good News for Kids Gala, an inspirational and entertaining evening of music, dance, and celebration held each year in Anaheim, CA Becky Baeling, Billboard recording artist with a passion for those less fortunate and a dear friend of Phoenix House, was the featured honoree. The benefit supported Phoenix House and other worthy causes in Southern California.

The event included a silent auction and a reception. Sponsors included: Golden State Foods, Grubb & Ellis, Property Solutions Worldwide, Merrill Lynch, The Orange County Register and United Stationers.

http://goodnewsforkids.org/gala/index.htm

Michelle Huneven reads from “Blame”; Co-Presented by Phoenix House and Skylight Books

batkins — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:09:09 +0000

Skylight will donate 10% of the sales of “Blame” from this event to support Phoenix House’s treatment programs in Los Angeles, which every day help hundreds of youth and adults in our community overcome the trauma of addiction and its related problems.

Sunday, November 22
Start: 4:00 PM
Location: Skylight Books, 1818 North Vermont, Los Angeles, CA

Phoenix House is delighted to co-present a reading with Michelle Huneven of her new book, “Blame,” with Skylight

Blame (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

Books located at 1818 North Vermont Avenue.By mentioning Phoenix House when purchasing the book from Skylight, 10% of the sale will be donated to support Phoenix House’s programs, which helps individuals, families, and communities rise above addiction.

In this gripping tale, Huneven charts the parameters of guilt and how a young, wisecracking intellectual becomes a shadow of her former self. Patsy MacLemoore, a boozy history professor, is helping her boyfriend, Brice, take care of his niece, Joey, whose mother is undergoing cancer treatment. But when Patsy goes on a bender and emerges from a drunken blackout in jail, she learns she’s accused of having run down a mother and daughter in her driveway. After her conviction, Patsy transforms from free spirit into a convict, and Huneven deftly underscores the bizarre trajectory Patsy’s life has taken. Huneven’s exploration of misdeeds real and imagined is humane, insightful and beautiful.

Michelle Huneven is the author of two previous novels, Round Rock and Jamesland. She has received a General Electric Foundation Award for Younger Writers and a Whiting Writers’ Award for fiction. She lives in Altadena, California.

Grace Napolitano at our Completion Ceremony for Women in California

kschmier — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:37:41 +0000

What a wonderful day! On Saturday, October 24, 2009, at the Faith Community Church in Whittier, CA, 61 women celebrated their successful completion of Phoenix House treatment programs at Santa Fe Springs and Monrovia in the presence of their families, friends, our staff, and distinguished guests, including U.S. Congresswoman Grace Napolitano of the 38th Congressional District of California, Stephen Goya, Assistant Regional Administrator for Parole Region III (keynote speaker), and Yvonne Ali from SASCA Region III (guest speaker).

Rep. Grace Napolitano gave each program graduate an individual Congressional Recognition Certificate and expressed heartfelt wishes for their successful and lifelong recovery. Among those honored by Phoenix House and Congresswoman Napolitano was Suzanne Ostermann who played a special role in establishing the Santa Fe Springs and Monrovia programs 11 years ago.

Many thanks to the numerous supporters of our Women and Children’s Services in Los Angeles who were honored during the ceremony with certificates and plaques: Agent Steve Bartholomy, Parole, Pasadena; Dr. Elyse Eskridge, M.D.; Stephen Goya, Administrator for Parole Region III; Agent Dominique Hughes, Parole Pasadena; Shelly Pollard, Santa Fe Springs Parole; Monrovia Fire Department; Monrovia Library Literacy Program, Parole Region III, Pasadena; A & D Transportation; Norwalk Department of Juvenile Justice; Agent Dan Mendez, OSATS; Daniel Ramirez, OSATS; and, last but not least, U.S. Congresswoman, Grace Napolitano, who helped fund our new outpatient program for women at Santa Fe Springs.