i'm damian trujillo, ando, have you done your taxes yet? big surprises, there's some free help by the unity council today on your "comunidad del valle." male announcer: nbc bay area presents "comunidad del valle" with damian trujillo. damian: we begin with that stress level that our students are facing in college, understandably so. dr. barney vaughn is with kaiser hospitals, he's here in "comunidad del valle." welcome to the show. barney vaughn: thank you. damian: boy, i could really have used your help when i was going through college, but talk abouho how mental--i don'wa stress can affect the college students and what you're seeing. barney: well, college is a really unique time. and a lot of stress comes out just from if you go away to college, you have a lot of changes going on because you no longer have class every day or all day long.

you have to make new friends, you lose the support of your parents. there's a lot of liberty that you now have, which can be a good or a bad thing. and that stress can accumulate. so, just like if someone were not taking care of themselves, stressed out, tired, not eating well, and they expose themselves to a physical illness like a cold, they're more likely to get sick, a time of change like college also can bring out mental illness as well. so, stress, anxiety, alcohol or drug abuse, all those things could come up. but i think the important thing about that time is any time in our life when we undergo a lot of changes, and we start very early on when we first have to go to school, if we switch schools, middle school, high school, making frien, first loss of job, debt and all that stuff, all those are-- damian: you're stressing me out. barney: well, those are very important changes in life. and i think change in life is something we all have to be aware of, and it's going to happen to all of us, and we're going to get stressed out, and it's a normal thing. and it's important to talk about and do something about it, not as often people do think, "there's something wrong with me.

i'm weak or i'm not strong enough to do this, so i have a problem." damian: so, there's a special conference that's taking place, it's called college notes. and there's some students who take the stage, i think we have some images that were provided to us. so, talk about what this conference is about and what the end result we hope to be. barney: well, kaiser permanente has been sponsoring this college notes program for a while. basically, some of the top colleges around the country with some really strong a cappella groups come down here, perform for the students in our area. and it's mostly for high school students, although they also do shows at like the lesher art center in walnut creek. and they do their performance, and anyone who's seen "pitch perfect" movies knows how engaging those performances can be. i'm a big fan of the first one. but they also do outreach for the students in forms of q&a. so, one of the challenges often in preventing mental illness is informing people on knowing what's going on. with high school students, it's a big challenge because they don't often listen to adults. so, anybody who has any kids i think knows that after

10 or 11 years old, they don't listen to you, they don't listen to teachers. damian: oh, it's a lot earlier than that in my house. barney: there you go. i don't have kids, so. so, they listen to their classmates, i think that's why it's such a big problem when kids have a lot of rejection. they go through such depths of despair because that's their world, their ecosystem. so, reaching high school students, you got to show them something that appeals to them. and a cappella i think is something that's very appealing, it's very entertaining. and then after, these college students can talk to the kids about what's college going to be like, how did you get in there, how did you cope. and for these kids, obviously a cappella helped them cope. it gave them community, purpose, artistic expression, just de-stressifying everything. and so, that's what they use, but you know, there's so many different things you can do in college. damian: all right, well, that's on march 8 and 9 over at walnut creek. but is there--aside from medication, what can parents or those students do at home, in the dorms to maybe drop it down a notch? barney: well, that's--i think that's the hard part of mental

health is it's actually kind of boring. and it's much like just quotidian work, things you have to do all the time. so, eat well, get some exercise. not too much exercise. stay ahead of your studies, but don't be in the library till 2 in the morning every night because that's also a problem. go out and see your friends, but don't party till 5 in the morning. don't be hung over for three days. we don't want kids abusing drugs or alcohol, but we know they're going to, so we have to arm them, educate them to know what they're going to do. so, you do all those little things, which in small measure don't seem like much. if i turn off my screen at 9 p.m. and i want to be in bed by 11, what's the big deal? but it starts adding up. you go to sleep late, wake up tired, drag through the day, all that stuff builds up. next thing you know, "i'm not feeling so great. i'm kind of depressed. life sucks right now." damian: so, it's kind of balanced, you got to balance itl has their own balance. every individual finds their own way to do it, and i think it's something that keeps on changing throughout life where your balance is at when you have kids.

oh my god, they unbalance you. damian: tell me about it. barney: i can't wait. damian: when you're a student, how much of it is the parental aspect, the pushing of the parents? "you better do good in school. you better get good grades." that's got to add to the stress i would imagine. barney: i find it highly variable. in high school, i mean, i've seen kids across all different high school environments. i've worked with very low income kids, where the challenge is getting out of high school. and then you have--i've worked with kids who go to prep school, have sat counselors, they have people who work on their college entrance exams, it's a-a-a. you know, it's all about achievement. all that is very dehumanizing in a way because you become your report card and your grades. you stop being a person with a lot of individual challenges. damian: very good point. all right,confl,ence happening r you stop being a person with a lot of individual challenges. on march 8 and 9 at the lesher center for the arts in walnut creek. there is a web address for more information put on by kaiser permanente. thank you so much for your help and for the advice. barney: thank you so much.

damian: thank you, doctor, and up next here on "comunidad del valle," another conference, this one on fatherhood. stay with us.

in alameda county. daniel vasquez is here, he is with the alameda county fathers corp. welcome to the show. daniel vasquez: thank you, damian. damian: so, talk about this fatherhood event. what's happening, and why do you think it's needed there? daniel: yeah, so it's the--it's the inaugural event, where we're having the fathers corp summit. and this was founded at the fathers corp, which was started back in 2013. it's a collaboration between alameda health services and first five. it's basically evidence has been found and it's still, you know, growing that a child has a lot more positive outcomes in both in relationships, in school, and in careers when the father or father figure is actively involved in a positive way in the child's life. damian: i mean, that's so crucial. who is your target audience for this? is it the children? is it the dads themselves? daniel: so, it's fathers, it's service providers that

provide services to father or father figures. it's definitely an event to provide a lot of networking, a lot of different, you know, curriculums for different courses that we offer there, and just to celebrate and honor fatherhood and father figures. damian: and these are different events happening around the country that we're looking at right now here on your screen. talk about that difference in a family, in a child when there is that father figure. daniel: sure, so, the real basic kind of item that is noticed is the self-esteem of the child. you know, the self-esteem of the child definitely does expand and grow when they have a father figure involved. and of course, the self-esteem kind of permeates into different aspects of the child. like i said, in education, it's exhibited later on in career and career choices. and of course, very crucial, being human is relationships to father--vaughn in a previousd segment about the mental health aspect of it. that's got to play a huge role in that child's life. daniel: it does, it plays a huge role having a

positive role model in the child's life. and there's other layers that are added to that too. in particular, the fact that if there's a healthy relationship at home between the parents, that also permeates the child. that also role models a lot of what a healthy relationship looks like. and when you mention mental health, it isn't just for the child, it's also for the family. and big, big kind of emerging need is the mental health of the father and father figures, and kind of addressing and talking about that. damian: let me play devil's advocate. and maybe i'm someone at home saying, "you know what? you're just going to tell me how-- what a horrible father i am. why should i go to this?" daniel: no, no, no, so that's actually a great way to set it up. this is a way where you're not necessarily always going to get barfed back information, which is kind of a traditional way that information is given back. but we're also going to celebrate the unique experiences of all different types of fathers. and we're also going to welcome a lot of the networking piece, so that fathers can share their different experiences. and we definitely want to highlight that.

there's different ways, actices to apply that forward. damian: i think we've reported many times that it makes a huge difference how you perform at school, whether you're in the--you end up in the criminal justice system. daniel: correct, correct, exactly. even if a father or eventually a child becomes--ends up in the system, there's also ways to kind of work and address that, and use best practices and experiences that have been learned by different fathers. damian: why are you involved? daniel: i'm involved because i have a child of special needs. and in visiting a lot of service providers, working with a lot of educators and counselors and different things in the community, noticed that as a father, i was kind of pushed off to the side. or mom was usually, like for example in an exam room, mom was kind of beelined for information, and i was kind of like the wallflower on the wall. and i figured something needs to change. and i ran across fathers corp, and i was like, "i need to join this group." and definitely i took a lot of their courses and that informed a lot of work that i'm doing currently now. damian: and talk about specifically about the

conference, what's going to be happening if i sign up? what am i going to get out of it? daniel: sure, sure. so, there's going to be a--so, i got the agenda here. don't know it exactly off of memory, but it's going to be--it's going to be on saturday, march 16. it's going to be an all-day event from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. there'll be of course registration and networking in the morning, there'll be an opening emcee sessions, and i believe you'll be joining us for one of those, honoring with your presence. lunch, there'll be lunch sessions if you decide to have a quick lunch and do the sessions instead. the workshops that we're talking about, they're going to have myriad of different topics to touch base on, both financial health as a father, father figure. there'll be immigration kind of rights workshops. there'll be workshops on overall health of a father or father figure. and then it'll be closing event around 4 o'clock. damian: how prevalent is the need would you say in alameda county for father figures, fathers? daniel: i'd say it's not just in alameda county, i'd say just worldwide it's kind of an emerging need. but father in specific in alameda county, i mean, we do have higher rates in incarceration, higher rates

of--we have a lot of underserved communities, and that's specifically why it's so crucial in alameda county to kind of support a lot of fathers or father figures that are in underserved populations. damian: all right, well, join us at merritt college if you will. it's happening on march 16, it starts at 9 a.m., and there is the web address for more information. any final thoughts before we let you go? daniel: i hope to see you guys there. it's a free event, that's something i didn't highlight, but we do expect to see--we want to invite about 1,000 different participants to come and join us. and i'll reiterate free. damian: all right, thank you, daniel. daniel: thank you so much, appreciate it. damian: and up next, boy oh boy, your taxes. stay with us, unity council is here to come.

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like we didn't--it wasn't an i told you so because we knew that this was coming, but people seem like they're being surprised by how much they're having to pay this year. jae: i think the changes in tax law, the furlough, the closure of the government for such time that no one's seen prior to this last instance, i think that was all just threw people off guard. and so, people are just realizing now, "wow, it's now february. we have three months to file, and it's time to get our records in order so that we can do that." damian: and the unity council is here to help. jae: and the unity council is here to help. so, the unity council is a nonprofit organization with a 50-year history in the fruitvale neighborhood of oakland. our mission is to promote social equity in order to help communities thrive in the communities that they live in. damian: i'm reading my twitter feed, my facebook page, i'm reading my instagram, and every--it seems every day somebody has sticker shock and somebody has something very nasty to say about how things are turning out this year. is that what you're starting to see? jae: i think for most low-income families,

this time of year can be really stressful. with changes in tax law, it just--it adds on additional stress not knowing whether or not dependents that they've accounted for in past years are going to be eligible dependents this year. there have been some changes to itin holder usage and dependents that they can claim in prior years. a lot of the latino families that we serve were able to claim dependents who they supported in mexico with itins. that's a huge change in law this year. we're seeing changes in how dependents who are attending universities, so children of filers are being able to account for scholarships with the new kiddie tax law. and so, there's just different changes and language that are just families were not informed of. and one of the things that we serve at the unity council is to provide that support and that information in their home language, their language of origin. so, we do provide services in spa, the indigenous language of guatemala, and mandarin.

damian: so, at what point do people can-- i'm sure they're starting to come to the council now to get those questions answered. jae: so, we actually launched on february 4, and we'll be in service until the very last day, which is to file is the 15th of april. and we're in session monday through friday. so, we've been seeing people come and utilize our drop-off services on monday. and we're appointment only, so making appointments between tuesday and friday, the hours of ten to five. damian: and it's free 'cause it can get expensive. jae: it's completely free, and we actually serve anybody who makes $50,000 or less a year, and so anyone who's eligible is able to provide-- to have their taxes prepared for free.o gobacy on our website, www.unitycouncil.org. most importantly, it's to make ias, bs, or cs are required oft5

documents to know that you had health coverage during the past filing year. damian: you mentioned something before the camera lights came on, and that's what you should not-- what you should do this year. jae: what you should do is file. damian: is file. jae: we encourage folks to file. there is some misconception on who can file, so if that's a question for your family or yourself as an individual, we encourage you to call, go on to our website, go on to the irs website, and see who is required to file because it changes depending on household-- how households are comprised. damian: and we on the news, we advise folks to make sure that you increase your withholdings because things were going to be different. or to adjust, not increase, but adjust your withholdings. a lot of people didn't listen, i didn't listen, and so now there's sticker shock here at the end. jae: and that's something that you should do aua any time youyou should take a look and see how your family demographics have changed, especially if you're starting to save for a flexible

saving plans, a few options of retirement. those are always that you could decrease your penalties at this time of year. damian: and you can help with that mid-year at the unity council as well if you meet the financial brackets? jae: if we meet the financial brackets, we also do. many itin holders are unaware that itin numbers do expire and they need to be renewed, so we do prepare renewals at our site as well on mondays. damian: your advice moving forward here for 2020? jae: come and get financial coaching. we provide financial coaching on an individual basis. it's an add-on service that we provide year-round. vita services are only provided during tax season. but we ask people to create their budget and be as informed as possible, and now's a perfect time. we just started a new year. we're only a month and a half into 2019. it's never too late to go and change your exceptions with your employer, and so just to really become informed of what your 2019 tax liability is so you're best prepared as possible for next filing season if you waited too long this year.

damian: great advice. it's unity council offering free tax service if you earn $55,000 and under. there is their web address and in oakland. physical address,eye any final thoughts before we let you go? jae: to not be scared. there's people who do speak a variety of language sets. we're not the only agency offering this service. it's a national program, the volunteer income tax assistance, otherwise known as vita. it's an irs initiative, and you can look that up on the irs website or just type in vita into google, and you'll see across the nation where you can get assistance in your language. damian: all right, thank you so much for the tips. jae: no worries, thank you damian. damian: all right, and more financial assistance at the center for employment training, stay with us.

that leave therea lasting impression. like the feeling of movement as a new journey begins, or the sight of soft fur, warmed by the morning sun. you might remember new flavours, the sound of an old friend's laugh, or a view that defies all expectations. these are the memories that stay with you, long after the moments have passed. who may be undocumented, and whether they qualify, by that financial aid. here to clear it all up from the center for employment training is chris longoria, who's a board member, and also yolanda ojeda, who's in financial aid services.

welcome to the show. yolanda ojeda: thank you. damian: so, we all know that the administration pushed this initiative forward to where if you qualify or if you're receiving assistance, federal assistance, food stamps and whatnot, then you might not qualify for a green card eventually. is it a concern now with the financial aid as well with students? what are you seeing? yolanda: well, currently we--cet offers and we work with department of labor to get funding for farm workers. we have been helping the farm worker community for many, many years. and currently, there is quite a bit of money under that for students who come to cet to further their education, to receive additional training in different careers that they may choose that we offer. this money is free money. they do not need to pay this back. and this grant actually cover 100% of their cost of training. it comes with additional funds to help with what we call stipends to help out with transportation, childcare cost,

educational--additional educational services that they may need. it also comes with additional money to provide for any emergency case scenarios that they may run into while they're in school. now, this money is not public assistance, so this money is not as if you were applying for food stamps or trying to receive cash aid. this is federal funding, it is coming to department of labor, but it will not affect them in that manner. so, if you do have or you were eligible under the daca program, this is not something that will affect that later on in the future. if you--to become eligible for this type of funding, we do require that this potential student either have worked out in the fields or the parents need to have worked out in the fields as well. so, that is part of the eligibility that comes with this type of funding. now, if they have a work permit, that is more than enough for them to apply for these type of funds.

and if the parents do not have a social security number, if the parents are not legal permanent resident, if they are undocumented, that does not affect the eligibility. damian: has that--has that--excuse me, has that been a concern, chris? i would imagine by some students asking these questions, boy, maybe i shouldn't ask for this aid because what if it affects me over here? chris longoria: yes, it's been a concern of lately. and the thing that we want to do is reassure these individuals that there's no penalties, there's no way that they're going to be punished in any way from the federal government or otherwise. as a board member, it's important that we continue to provide the same services, the same vocational training that we started with 45 years ago. we just celebrated 50 years, as you know, you were there. farm workers, and we want to continue to do that. and so, we're addressing their needs and we're continuing--

i think our population right now in student population is about 40% farm worker. and we serve them from as far north as sacramento to as far south as el centro, california. and we want to continue to do that, we want to encourage the community to refer farm workers. we want to make sure that farm workers, wherever they might be, to continue to use cet as a service because it does provide a big change in their lives. damian: absolutely, my family has benefited, beet beet rouroto o'rourke

utilized, if it's not being utilized by the community, this

is money that we need to return, so it's money that we're going to lose, that the community will lose. so, we are trying to reach out to everybody to let them know this is free money. apply for it, take advantage of this. if you don't, it will go away, so let's make sure that we provide it to those students that do need it. we have so many different courses that they can enroll in and with so many different locations. we offer courses in green building technology, medical assistance, medical administrative assistance. we also offer it in welding, culinary arts, early childhood training. we also have different locations. our primary school is here in san jose. so, as long as you contact cet, i believe that the tollree number will be on the screen. damian: there is the web address actually. we have about 30 seconds left, but chris, how--what's that

feeling when you pull somebody from the fields and give them this second chance? chris: it's amazing, it's just totally amazing. i've seen those types of things happen in--at cet on a daily occurrence, and it's wonderful to see that. damian: all right, well, thank you all so much. again, cet is there to help for those circumstances. well, now if you want to get ahold of us, 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. we thank you once again for sharing a part of your sunday. watch us again in telemundo canal 48, your "comunidad del valle" in español every sunday, either right before or after the show, check your listings. we'll see you again next week, buenos días.

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people stopped in the sierra... as heavy snow c right now at 4:30, stuck with no place to go. people stopped in the sierra, as heavy snow causes major delays. >> here in the bay area, the sun has been shining but the temperatures are dropping. what will be ahead in the next week? >> and first a dozen people plunge out of the sky as a hot air balloon trip goes horribly wrong. the news starts region now. thank you for joining i'm terry mcsweeney. >> and i'm vicky nguyen. a unexpecting landing this morning, passengers had to be flown to safety by a helicopter. neighbors were stunned to see nearly a dozen passengers air lifted to a neighborhoodk.