damian trujillo: hello and welcome to "comunidad del valle." i'm damian trujillo, and today, the san jose police department is looking for you. plus, the dmv all the way from the headquarters in sacramento on your "comunidad del valle." male announcer: nbc bay area presents "comunidad del valle" with damian trujillo. damian: we begin today with breast cancer awareness month. scarlett shepard is with the organization breast cancer emergency fund, and claudia colindres de flores is with latinas contra cancer. they're with us on "comunidad del valle." welcome to the show. scarlett shepard: thank you so much. damian: well, tell us, first of all, about your agency, the breast cancer emergency fund. scarlett: sure, sure, so, i'm the managing director of breast cancer emergency fund. we are founded in 2001, and basically what we do is offer financial emergency assistance to low-income men and woman battling breast cancer.

and so, what we do is we offer financial emergency assistance. for example, we have a client, you know, she was too sick to work, and she was going through surgery, and she was being threatened with eviction. and so, she came to us and we helped her get her rent paid so she has a place where she can get well and get back on her feet. and so, we provide a lot of support services and emergency financial grants for people to get prescriptions, to get transportation for doctor visits, and to really be there to be life-extending and helping them get through such a tough health crisis. damian: sure. no, absolutely. and i mean, your agency, tambien, latinas contra cancer, deals a lot with it, especially this month since it's breast cancer awareness month. but talk about the work that you do and how maybe you are a spokesperson, if you will, for those who might be suffering. claudia colindres de flores: [speaking foreign language]

[speaking foreign language] [speaking foreign language] [speaking foreign language] [speaking foreign language] [speaking foreign language] damian: do you find, with your agency, that maybe--is there a number we can put on the number of women who might not geing a proper screening, or screening at all maybe, either

because of minformation or whatnot in the community? scarlett: well, i think it's always important to get screened and learn how to do that, and to check, and it's always good to talk to your physician so you can learn how to check for breast cancer and the early signs, especially if you have a history in your family of breast cancer or cancers. damian: sure, talk about the importance of this month for your agency. i mean, i guess every month is important, but especially october. scarlett: yeah, october is incredibly important to our organization. it's a time where people are coming together to really honor our survivors, and then also coming together to really support their loved ones that are battling breast cancer. so, you know, there's so many different events going on. we actually have an annual gala that's coming up, called "this old bag." it's a handbag and fashion auction, and all of the benefits go to breast cancer emergency fund. damian: when is that? scarlett: october 21 at the bentley reserve in san francisco, and we raise 1/4th of our budget, and 100%

of the proceeds go back into our organization so we can serve clients. damian: there's a--how crucial is support, whether it's pure support or not, in the recovery and then through the healing process of somebody who's going through this. scarlett: it's incredibly important. we have a lot of individuals coming to us feeling very alone and i think one of the things is to really have that outlet to talk about what they're going through and then to have people really listen. so, i encourage people to really listen and hear it all, no matter what that is, because every experience is different. just that we have that dialogue and that person has that outlet and to know that they're not alone is so critical to get through. damian: personally, how rewarding is your work that you're doing? i mean, it's good to go to work and knowing that you're getting a paycheck, but aside from that, you're doing something that's having a huge impact. scarlett: yeah, every day i go to work and i know that i'm making a difference, with our clients, with

our partners, with our sponsors, with our supporters. and when i see a client coming in on friday and they're really in a really bad situation, they wanna get to a doctor or they need their rent paid, and on monday we can have a check handy and ready for them so they can get the services they need, that to me at the end of the day is why i'm doing this work. damian: wow. that's--what a blessing. again, breast cancer awareness month is this entire month. there's a couple of websites there for the breast cancer emergency fund, also for latinas contra cancer. log on to either of those and find out more information. thank you so much for the work that you're doing, especially in october. scarlett: thank you. damian: thank you very much. up next here on "comunidad del valle," we'll talk a little bit about water in the watershed.

stay with us. on "comunidad del valle." ricardo barajas is with the santa clara valley water district. welcome to the show. tell us the news that you're here to share. talk about the watershed and why that-- why we should care, i guess. ricardo barajas: yeah, well, there's multiple reasons why we should care.

first of all, obviously, watersheds are part of our environment, and so we recently did a huge effort, coastal cleanup day in september. and so, it brought out about 1,800 or so volunteers. they came out, and within 3 hours, they were able to remove about 55,000 pounds of trash from local creeks here in santa clara county. so, we had a bunch of different remote sites, about 50 cleanup sites, anywhere from palo alto all the way down to gilroy. and so, just to put into perspective, that's about 21 or 22 honda civics, so, in size. they removed all that trash within 3 hours, so it was a grt effort. but at the same time, it's a great thing, but it's a sad thing. and like, we have 55,000 pounds of trash that were removed, right? and so, obviously this is due to a bunch of people littering and a bunch of different factors that come into play. so, that's definitely one of those most alerting things. but with scvurppp, the santa clara valley urban runoff pollution prevention program, it's a collaboration of agencies within the cities here in the bay--in santa clara county, and we try to create these efforts so that we can create awareness, and at the same time have opportunities for volunteers to come out and help us clean up the environment. damian: and clarify that for us, for the people who might not

understand the importance and significance of polluting the waterways. why is that--i mean, i'm sure you're endangering the wildlife, there's other pollutants also. ricardo: yeah, it's definitely a big thing is the wildlife of course, but i mean, the california coastal commission just gave out a fact where they said 5 trillion cigarette butts a year are found as one of the most littered items here in california. so, when you look at that number, that's one of the major pollutants is cigarette butts. and you know, you'll constantly see them. on my way over here, i actually saw someone flick one out of the window, you know? and so, people don't think that what happens is when you throw that cigarette butt or you throw that candy wrapper or whatever on the floor, it actually goes straight into our storm drains. the connection here is that the storm drains lead exactly straight into the creeks. there is no filtration system. nobody goes and actually picks the trash out before it reaches the creeks. so, it goes from the storm drain straight into the creek. and so, that exactly goes right into san francisco bay. so, when you talk about all the trash kind of accumulating,

fortunately enough we got a little bit of rain, so we had to--you'll see some water within the creeks, and-- but all that trash has to go somewhere, right? and so, it accumulates, fishes, ducks, they all kind of see, you know, cigarette butts and they eat them, ingest them. obviously, they can't digest it, and so therefore we have an issue, so. damian: and so, all that trash that you collected on that one day, that was all headed into the bay, i guess. ricardo: yeah, that was exactly headed into the bay, and so you're talking about all these streams and creeks that are all around our watershed here in santa clara county. and so, when you have about 40 to 50 cleanup sites and the volunteers come out, they give their time for 3 hours, and it's a great--also it's a great plug, because i wanna definitely advocate so that students can participate. we do give them volunteer service hours for coming out and helping out. but that's within 3 hours that we were able to accumulate 55,000 pounds of trash. we do two big events. it's coastal cleanup day in september and then national river cleanup day in may, and it's about the 2nd or 3rd saturday of every month, so--on those. damian: any of those help with flood prevention? i mean, i would imagine that, you know, they create their own dams sometimes when you have all this trash.

ricardo: yeah, exactly. there's certain areas where the trash will accumulate, and so when it does accumulate, then you have an issue with flooding. if a tree falls and then all this trash starts getting stuck in that area, again another issue with flooding. it's a great problem to have just because that means we have water, but at the same way, we gotta be very careful because we have a lot of homes, businesses that can get impacted through those means, so. damian: all right, i don't have your website on the screen, but go ahead and give us your website so that we can log on. ricardo: yeah, to get more information about pollution prevention, you can go to www.mywatershedwater.org, and you can get more information on pollution prevention. but for volunteer opportunities, you can definitely go to www.cleanacreek.org. damian: all right, ricardo. thank you so much. ricardo: thank you so much, damian; appreciate it. damian: appreciate it, yeah. and coming up next, all the way from sacramento, the dmv. stay with us.

sure, you could sit around all night waiting for a pizza to be delivered. but wouldn't making it yourself be a lot more fun? it'sakinseason. warm up with pillsbury. that sound. like nails on a chalkboard. but listen to this: (family talking) that's a different kind of sound. the sound of the weekend. it's baking season. warm up with pillsbury. in one the latest from the dmv. artemio armenta, the spokesman for the department of motor vehicles in sacramento. welcome to the show. artemio armenta: thank you. thank you, damian.

damian: okay, you were mentioning before the cameras came on about the significance of this past week. tell us what happened a couple years ago. artemio: yeah, this week was very significant because exactly 2 years ago, governor brown signed assembly bill 60, and he actually signed it on october 3 of 2013. and essentially, what that did is reversed, you know, many years, at least 2 decades, that undocumented immigrants weren't able to get a driver's license to drive in california. so, this is a very significant milestone. two years later now, we have approximately--we're getting really close to 800,000 driver's licenses in the state of california that have been issued under assembly bill 60. damian: is it too early to kind of measure or gauge the impact that that has had, fewer accidents, fewer complaints? any way to gauge the significance of that? artemio: yeah, you know, right now, i think that we're looking--we're still looking at the data. i know the california highway patrol is also looking at the data and local agencies report this data. so, i think it's too early to say, but one of the things that we have found, actually, dmv conducted a study about a few

years ago that--and it might sound obvious, but unlicensed drivers are unsafe drivers, and not only unlicensed drivers, but also licensed drivers that are revoked and suspended, but especially unlicensed drivers. this study proved that, you know, they're very unsafe on california's roadways. so, what ab-60 did is that it allowed people that were already driving--many californians that were here were already driving on our streets, and roads, and highways, and they, in order to get a driver's license, had to go to the dmv. as you recall, on january 2 of 2015, we began implementing assembly bill 60, and we--i mean, our lines--the lines were wrapped around the buildings throughout the state of california at all dmv offices. 2015 was a very, very busy year for the california dmv. we still remain busy, and i think one of the messages that i wanna put across today is that ab-60's not over. people are still applying for a driver's license under ab-60.

the california dmv has issued, again, more than 764,000 driver licenses. people are still preparing for the knowledge test. some of them might still be in the process of getting ready to take the drive test, but it's been a very successful program for the dmv and we're very proud of it. we're very proud to be able to allow people to obtain a driver's license to drive to work, to take their kids to school, and i know that, anecdotally, a lot of lives have been changed too. damian: no, i bet. and i mean, especially for those us maybe who've had our licenses for 30 years, there's gotta be some sense of relief knowing that the person next to me, hey, chances are they are licensed now, if there was some concern before because of their immigration status. now we're kind of, hey, chances are they do have their license. artemio: yeah, that's true, exactly. so, where you have more than, you know, 1/2 a million californians or 700,000 people now that are licensed drivers, what they've shown to the california--to the state of

california and to the dmv, we're responsible for licensing drivers, so we are also responsible for administering the test, the knowledge test, the road signs test, and the test behind the wheel as well. so, those tests are--they're difficult and they're meant to be difficult in order to show that you've properly--that you understand the rules of the road, that you can maneur a vehicle safely out of the parking lot and go around the route. so, yeah, we've literally--you know, we opened up four processing centers to get ready for the implementation of ab-60. we hired additional staff when ab-60 came about. we also extended office hours. and here in san jose and the bay area, we--our offices were open on saturdays, you know, from 8 to 5 p.m. for several months after the implementation of ab-60. i wanna thank, you know, the community. i wanna thank--the dmv is very thankful to the outreach efforts, from church organizations, community organizations, the news media, you guys and the general media,

you know, for getting the word out on this program and getting the news and information that was valuable for people to be able to know what the requirements were. so, this was a concerted effort. this was one of the--perhaps the biggest program that the state of california dmv has ever implemented. i know for the dmv, it's definitely by far probably the largest program in the history of 100 years that the dmv has been serving the public and that we've been part of licensing drivers and registering vehicles. but this was a gargantuan effort. it was a huge undertaking and we were very successful in getting it through. we faced a few hiccups along the way and we got through those hiccups. one of the things that was common in 2015 was a process of secondary review, where we had some application and a little bit of backlog in t verifying of documents. we got through that, and to this day right now, if you apply for a driver license under ab-60, your application will be processed in real time. so, there will be not, you know, the sense--that long wait period

that we had and that bit of a backlog with the volume that we had is gone. so, we're in real time right now processing licenses under ab-60, and you know, it's a huge number. it's a huge undertaking and it's something that people should be very proud of accomplishing and obtaining their driver's license. damian: yeah, i saw those lines and it was a lot of work, and i guess it continues to be. but the dmv, it's available for any questions. there is the basic web address for more information. the department of motor vehicles. thank you, artemio, for coming all the way from sacramento and sharing the latest with us. artemio: thank you very much. damian: all right, appreciate it. artemio: appreciate it. damian: and up next here on "comunidad del valle," the san jose police department is looking for you.

stay to become a part of them. with me here on "comunidad del valle" is officer christian camarillo and sergeant jorge gutierrez on the show, trying to spread the word about recruitment. welcome to the show. christian camarillo: thank you. jorge gutierrez: tha you. damian: you know, and it's no secret, i mean, y'all are having a hard time recruiting officers, but i mean, y'all have been

wearing that patch, you can tell by the stripes on your arms, for a long time. talk about--first about why you haven't left. we talk about the numbers who have left, why you haven't left, and why other recruits maybe should consider applying in san jose. christian: i was born and raised in san jose. i've been a police officer now for 18 years. i did have an opportunity to leave when things were really bad. like many officers, i explored some options. i actually got a job offer from a nearby police department. when i got that offer, i had to sleep on it because i knew that i would be making a lot more money, working less, but since it was a little bit of a distant community, i would merely be going there for a paycheck and nothing else. like i said, i was born and raised in san jose. i feel invested in this city, this community, this police department. i just--i couldn't find it in my heart to go there simply for the paycheck. so, that was about 3 years ag i decided to stay and instead of being, you know, part of the

problem, i try to come up with things and be part of the solution, and now i find myself in the recruiting unit a couple years later. damian: well, talk about--give us your sales pitch, sergeant, because why should an applicant come here and not go to a city that is paying more? i mean, it's not a secret that, you know, the pay is low right now, but you're trying to work on that. so, why should an officer come here? jose: well, let me tell you, san jose, it's a great department to work for. i've been here 22 years and i've had a great time. i've worked a lot of specialized units, and we still have those specialized units that people can work. the variety of assignments that are available. we are working on the pay and benefits, but the experience that you get in this department with specialized units, the opportunities for promotion are always available, so this is definitely one of the great departments to work for. i wouldn't work anywhere else.

damian: and when you talk about specialized units, you're talking about maybe going from the patrol to becoming maybe a homicide detective, or part of the merge unit, the swat team, or any of those units that takes you away from regular 9 to 5 patrolling the streets of san jose. jose: correct, i've been here--like i said, i've been here 22 years and i've worked 6 specialized units. so, i've work from the gang unit, to field training, to now in recruiting. so, you know, you work as a police officer for 3 years, then you have the opportunity to test to any available specialized unit. once you finish that assignment, you go back to patrol, and then--for another year, and then you have the opportunity to test for another specialized assignment. so, the opportunities are abound. damian: i remember the days when you needed a phd to wear that patch on your shoulder, basically, because that's how rigorous it was and that's how many officers wanted to come to san jose to work for this department. so, what is your sales pitch when you're talking to those recruits who are coming to your table and when you're recruiting across the country?

how do you try to convince them that, you know, this is--the shine in the badge is still there, and the patch, you still wear that proudly. christian: it's like jorge said, i mean, here in san jose, we are a city of over a million plus population. the opportunities here are endless if you really want to work something different. of course, there are the guys who just always wanna work patrol. i've been very fortunate, like the sergeant here, i've been able to work four or five different assignments. i keep myself very busy. the one good thing about us being short staffed is there's plenty of overtime available. you know, anybody can go on google and see who the top five moneymakers were in the city, and it wasn't the chief of police, it wasn't the mayor, it was five patrolmen. you know, they made a lot of money working a lot of overtime. so, i mean, you obviously have to balance that with your personal life and family life, but that is the one thing that is available right now. and obviously, you're gonna do here things in san jose in a year that in some smaller police departments you wouldn't probably do in 5 or 10 years.

i mean, unfortunatelwith a big city, we have big city problems. we do have crime, but it is--you know, it a good place for someone to be that wants to be involved in, you know, crime fighting, community work. there's tons of possibilities here in our city. damian: are things looking up when you're going around talking to recruits? do you think you're getting more folks? because you're still being selective. i mean, even though we have a police officer shortage, you're not letting just anyone in. you'll still have 2,000 or 3,000 applicants, but not all of 'em are gonna get in because of the rigors and the requirements that are needed to become a san jose police officer. jose: correct, you know, what we've done to change that a little bit is we've implemented a few things. we provide a written workshop for people that are taking the written test. we have a workshop that we provide. we also do the physical agility practice and we do an oral board workshop. so, our standards have not lowered, but we help people

in the process to become a police officer. damian: and our military veterans can use that as part of their requirements to join. christian: correct, i mean, we opened it up to where if somebody had 4 years of active service, not including reserve time or anything like that, and they left the military with an honorable discharge, they were gonna be able to substitute that military time for our college requirement. and obviously, that's a way of us opening ourselves up to a whole 'nother pool of good, qualified applicants, but also rewarding some of these veterans that have been overseas for multiple years, you know, serving our country, trying to do something to give back to them as well. damian: and talk about that brotherhood and sisterhood that is involved when you dress in the blues. i mean, if there--if anybody's gonna have a second family, i mean, that's it, right? because you have each other's backs no matter what. jose: absolutely, you know, you see that when one of our members becomes ill, you know, with a critical illness, we all gather together. we have a donation process where we help 'em out and providing that time for them.

you know, you see that with the keith kelley club that comes together and help officers with critical illnesses. so, and you know, we always work as a team. when it comes to--anywhere you go in the department, whether it's a specialized unit or whether it's patrol, you always have that team camaraderie. so, that's why this is one of the best places to work. damian: how optimistic are you that things will turn around? christian: well, we have an academy starting in a couple of weeks that, you know, it's gonna be 30 plus recruits, which is a significant improvement. damian: we haven't had that in a long time. christian: right, i mean, going backwards a little bit, we had an academy with 7, we had an academy with 18, and now we're at 30 plus. so, hopefully we're starting to see the upswing and things. i mean, it's still a great job. i tell people all the time, you know, hopefully this will be your last job. it's not something that you're gonna do temporarily. it's long term. it's your career. so, i mean, we're working hard every single day, talking to people, recruiting, and you know, hopefully that light at the tunnel's getting brighter and brighter for us.

damian: all right, well, if you'd like to become a member of the san jose police department, san jose's finest, there is the web address for more information. also, the number to call for the recruitment office. that's a direct line, so somebody will answer that phone, and sign you up, a see if you can become a memberice. of san jose's finest. thank you, guys, for protecting the city and for sticking with it. christian: thank you for having us. jose: thank you. damian: all right, and now, here's what's happening in your comunidad on "que pasa." [music] [music] [music] [music]

damian: and our saludos for those celebrating a special day. felicidades. [music] [music] damian: and here is our contact information. you can follow me on twitter. my handle is @newsdamian. also, pick up a copy of "el observador" newspaper and support your bilingual weeklies all across the bay area. you can also watch us on telemundo canal 48, "comunidad del valle," every sunday at 11 a.m., so right after this show. bring your abuelita together and watch "comunidad del valle" en español on telemundo. thank you so much for sharing a part of your sunday with us on "comudad del valle." we'll see you again next week. [music]

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