PROGRESS!

Hi everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season.

I have been working hard on behalf of the Silicon Valley Massage Therapy Advocates and have some good things to report; from both the educational and government relations stand point.

• SVMTA has established a relationship with West Valley Community College
• SVMTA has received a statement of willingness from West Valley faculty and staff to explore the possibilities of a tuition assistance grant from Sacramento and to create specialized curriculum for experience practitioners in Los Gatos (including credit for experience and challenging classes for credit)
• SVMTA has established a relationship with the new mayor Barbara Spector
• Mayor Spector has extended an invitation to participate in development of the criteria used to measure the success of the new ordinance.
• SVMTA is welcomed, by the Mayor, to give feedback as a representative from our trade (clearinghouse for feedback)
• I need feedback from YOU to insure I am serving the actual needs of the massage therapist and their clients in Los Gatos

Education

December 12/07, I met with faculty and staff from West Valley Community College including the department head, instructors, a staff grant writer and Jennifer Oliver, their Work Force Development Director. I relayed the challenges that we face in Los Gatos and they feel that there are a number of ways that they may be helpful.

The college may be able to design curriculum especially for our need and there is potential for grant money from the state to cover individual tuition and college resources. Special curriculum may take the form of the following:

• Career experience credit
• Ability to challenge some of the curriculum
• Opening extra sections, with more flexible times or dates
• Certification program in community education rather than on West Valley campus

Tuition and cost assistance could come from the State in the form of a grant. There is 5 million dollars earmarked for this type of assistance, to serve the need of the displaced indigenous worker; Workers already in the market but disadvantage by market forces or new regulation.

The college is willing to provide a grant writer if we can provide information about our needs. They want to be sure that there are a significant number of therapists that will be served by the grant. The grant will be awarded to a non-profit organization that will then disperse the funds to cover tuition and fees for training.

Government Affairs – Town of Los Gatos

On the government relations front, Justin Bradley from the NOVA Workforce Board and I met with Mayor Barbra Spector January 7, 08 and she was very helpful. She recognizes that there will be a few challenges in implementing this law and welcomes our input to help define what success would look like.

She encourages us to continue to monitor the council agenda and participate as the consultant to the town manager, Les White, develops the criteria by which to measure success in what is being called an “Implementation Report”.

The report will cover the success of process of participation and enforcement of the new law and whether the police are more successful with the addition of this new “tool”. This is an area where the voices of massage therapist could have the greatest impact. After all is said and done, if the law is not performing as intended it must be modified or eliminated.

The Mayor recognizes the Silicon Valley Massage Therapy Advocates organization as a strong voice serving the interests of the massage therapists in Los Gatos. She is willing to work with us to help us flourish and participate in the regulations that will support us.

I look forward to hearing from each of you. I will continue in this work if it is deemed valuable by the massage therapy community in Los Gatos. Please respond to confirm that you find this valuable, or with any feedback you would like to add to the process.

Thank you and I will continue to keep you informed.

Regards,

Kelly