this world. so it's someone who helps people transition to the after life. that's what the term means. this is a new project we're developing with the playwright that will be -- will have a state reading in december 30th of this year. we gather stories from the community, stories about death and experience of death and perceptions about death. and that was inspirational to develop this play. we're very excited to you know, about this project. >> and you and i have talked about this before how some people might see death as something morbid but you and i and our community sees it as something es. >> it's very interesting. when we had this community sharing circle, people shared about how -- how they perceive death in a different way. for some people, the experience with death has been even funny. you know, there has been situation whereas people are laughing. and not out of disrespect of the deceased. but it's just because that's a way for us to cope with the loss of someone and for us, definitely death it's part of life, as well. you know, part of that constant transition in which we exist. >> so what happened? you gathered people or the playwright did, the writer gathered them in roundtables and they talked about their experiences? tell house we can expect on the 30th. >> well, the creation of the play started by inviting people from the community. we had an open invitation to anyone who wanted to join the circle. we posed some questions. for example, what does death mean to you, what has been your experience with death. if you were to have death in front of you, what would you say to death? what does the after life look like to you? you know, some of these questions and from there, people started just sharing their experiences with death. and so that served as an inspiration for this new play that is really -- it has a central character, her name is juana. she helps people transition but in that transition, there are people who have an easy transition, they're ready to die and they die. there are people who cannot die because they have unfinished business either with their family or their family has with them. what does that mean? because you know, for us latinos, the relationships that we build transcend even when the person that we love is no longer present. so it is a very interesting approach about death that it covers from the very sad to the vet funny experiences that we've had. >> it's a very deep topic, but catherine is famous for thinking outside the box and coming up with projects you might not think you can take on the stage. that's what you're doing, thinking outside the box. >> in one of the community circles we had, one of the comments from the students we were working with who by the way were not all latinos. it was a very diverse crowd. what they said to us was that they had never had that experience or opportunity to talk about death and their own experience about death. because of this perception of death is something that you don't talk about. >> interesting. well, again, teatro vision thinking outside the box. there is the event december 30th at the mexican heritage plaza. any final thoughts before i let you go. >> just so people know, this is a reading. it's not a full production. that what that means is we will have a group of actors on the stage reading the play, not really acting. we will not have costumes or scenery. and then after the reading, we will ask people for their feedback. their response to the play. and that feedback, the playwright will take it to then create the final piece. we're hoping that people can be part of this very interesting process which you know is very unique and we're very happy to share it with the community. >> thanks for coming back. up next, the women and young girls inside the criminal justice system. >> a special conference is scheduled to address problems of women and young girls in the criminal justice system in santa clara county. with me are carla collins, the director of the office of women's policy acting director right now and michele also with the office of women's policy. welcome to the show. >> thank you. >> you and i, carla, talked about this on this show and news reports about the issue with women and i guess teens, young girls in the criminal justice system. is there like an overall -- what's the main concern? one was they're not treated the same as the men are. >> right. well, some of the concern is that we don't think women and girls should be treated the same. we need to use a gender lens. if you aren't using a gender lens looking at issues particularly in the criminal justice system, we would argue you're going to be failing women and girls. women and girls go into the criminal justice system for different reasons than men and yet, everything about the criminal justice system has been set up and designed around meeting the needs and protecting communities from very dangerous men. so it really is missing the mark when it comes to women and girls. we see that women and girls are the fastest increasing population in the system. we need to do better and need to be smarter and more strategic how we address the needs. >> this is a women's facility inside of the jail. they allowed us in. we talked to a couple young ladies who didn't mind talking about their successes inside elmwood and how some of the programs are helping. there's a lot of programs that are helping. > that's right. and so we're proud to be hosting a national conference on issues for justice involved women and girls. it's the first time actually that the hafo conference which has been happening for decades will ever be in california. we're proud to bring them to santa clara county and show them what we're doing and we're proud to be setting the dialogue for the next two years on issues that are important and things we need to be discussing if we're really going to stop the rate of women and girls coming into the system and really look at solutions so that we're building stronger, had healthier communities. >> and michele, you're kind of spearheading or organizing this entire conference. >> yes. >> you want to make sure you touch on everything, but what can they expect to come out for those who attend? >> it's the first time we're highlighting a portion of the conference on monday for young girls. we had a team lead able to meet with girls to be able to set up a conference specifically led by them and designed by them. we're going to have speakers that are going to be led by some of the young grirls age 14 to 24 and we're offering over 50 young ladies to come with scholarships to attend from santa clara county and be exposed what does this mean to transform and how do they change in moving forward. so it's leadership skills all in one and giving them that opportunity to grow and lead their own conference within this conference into did you say 14. >> aged 14 to 24. >> how troubling is that? when you said 14, i'm not surprised but it's still shocking. how troubling is that for someone like you who works within it? >> it's hard. they're kids. we go into the juvenile justice or the juvenile hall and see them and it's hard. it's hard to see them in there, hard to see them at the ranch. but the programming that santa clara has been doing and the changes we were able to offer, we're changing the scope a little and moving the needle little by little. this conference allows for that discussion to happen more at a national level and what can we continue to do to have the gender lens toe speak for the young women in the county. >> because you are that model, right? no one else is or was doing this before you started taking this head-on. >> certainly our jail monitoring program and we're going to be giving a workshop on that is one-of-a-kind in the nation. >> tell us about that. >> the jail monitoring is community members who are trained along with our commission on the status of women who go in every month. what we like to call a healthy tension between the community members who are jail monitors and the office of women's policy and we meet with staff and inmates and talk about what's working, what's not. we certainly want to keep supporting what's working and when there are things that aren't, we have to work together see how we can make it right. that's what the jail monitoring program does. it's in its fourth year now. that will be one of the workshops that will be offered. we have amazing thought leaders frommard the nation on issues of gender responsive theory, some of the sort of the foremothers of these issues who will be there to speak. along with incredible workshops, too. we have a group of women from new york who were formerly incarcerated have since been released and have turned their time to activism and transforming the criminal justice system there. they're being hired by the state of new york to turn a former women's prison into a feminist center. they're going to be here to talk about how they got to that point, what they're doing, the changes they're making. we have a lot to learn from others. and we have a lot to share. we're excited people are coming from all around the nation to come together and talk about this because these are important issues. it's very serious work that needs to happen. and if we're not strategic, we'll miss great opportunities. >> talk about that in the next segment. the conference coming up december 11th through the 13th. there is the phone number to call for more information. we'll be back and talk more about this important issue. we're back here on "comunidad del valle" talking about the important issue of women and girls in the criminal justice system. any changes been made since you and i spoke a couple years ago maybe since you brought up these issues? >> there's constantly change that's happening. we're proud of that. we're working on more staff training, working with the sheriff to do some of that. >> that mean the guards? >> right. it's all part of everyone working together to be gender responsive. we're looking at bringing more services that are addressing the needs like looking at issues around domestic violence, around families because when you look at who's incarcerated, this is true nationally, when you look at women, what you'll find is predominantly these are low level nonviolent offenders. and they're mostly mothers, too. so when you incarcerate a woman recent you're affecting the entire family. there are a lot of dads at elmwood here and a lot of dads who are imprisoned around the nation but with moms, they're often the custodial patient. that means if their mother or their sisters aren't able to step in and help it, often means foster care for the children that are impacted. these are really big issues. we need to break these cycles and address these. we're working towards that and we have seen shifts and changes. we're proud of that. >> and you have some special speakers. talk about it. >> we have some huge nationwide speakers we're going to be bringing like barbara bloornlgs barbra owens, stephanie covington. those are big names to be able to host them here. they're recognized nationwide of the work they're doing. we have also we brought in local speakers that will touch on the latinos issues, like debra camarillo. and we have workshops that are specifically targeting our community, as well. that's really exciting. we also have special events offered. we have a film we're going to be projecting on sunday, sort of like a preconference 0 set the tone. it's called "the if project." seattle has done great work working with their probation office asking inmates what if you had the opportunity to change the course of your life and what you're doing here. it's such an inspirational story. i think i cried through the whole thing. i watched it three times already. it's so inspiring to ask one of the inmates what if there was somebody there that would have changed the course of the action or the opportunity of what you've done to give you another open door. it's inspiring to hear them reflect on their own life on how they could have done something different if someone was there enough to care and how they follow them through this process after they've been released and the changes they've been able to make with new programming. we have a lot to learn from others as well as people have a lot to learn from us. santa clara leading the way on a lot of justice involved stuff. this is a good opportunity to highlight what we've done with a lot of work still ahead of us. >> it seems like there's a lot of hope. if females whether adult or youk girls offend, that we can you know, make sure that you know, for atlantic a better term they pay for their crime and go back and serve their community and not come back. >> that's right. >> how easier is that said than done? the fact we don't want them to come back? there's a lot of obstacles, especially with young girls, single family homes. >> i would say everything is set up for women and girls in the justice system to fail. so unless we are really being honest about that and strategic about the support that's needed, upon release, for really effective reentry services that target and understand the needs of women and girls, that support the whole family and really come from a place of respect and dignity, it's about changing that narrative so that we're asking different questions and finding better solutions. annanless we're doing that, this is a problem that's just going to get worse and worse. >> where would the women and girs in this county can be be without your intervention and advocates who stop by and want to make a difference or are hands on? >> i think they would be in very similar places as they are all around the nation. that's often just invisible and spending way more time behind bars than they should be. >> all right. well, it's a great conference coming up in santa clara county where they'll be able to showcase good things happen hearing and maybe learn from other agencies across the country. there's a date and number for more information. any final thoughts? >> check out our website. more highlights of special events. we have some silk screening an opportunity to vent after a long full conference of a lot of detail and data. so that's www.agfo.org. >> we have scholarships available. pr foes doing work with justice involved women and girls, you should be here. it's in california which is an absolute first. we don't want the cost of the registration to be a reason that you're not there. please contact us. >> thank you so much for the work you're doing. up next, on "comunidad del valle", a project super nova. stay with us. it's a great community group called the super nova foundation. here to share information with us on "comunidad del valle". welcome to the show. >> talk about the work that you do with the super nova foundation. >> i'm one of the directors. there's seven of us. we have several committee members. i help with our overall fund-raising everts and community outreach. >> what does your organization do for the community? >> we started approximately ten years ago now where my best friend adrianna espinoza, the president celebrated his birthday and we had a lot of community support. the following year at that time, i was working for next door solution to domestic violence. and we came up with the idea that instead of our attendees attending his birthday celebration, bring a gift. and then we turned around and then just decided to donate to next door. and it has just evolved since then. >> how rewarding is ha? we're looking at ins here. how rewarding is it to do something like that? >> it's amazing. it's humbling. having worked there, i saw what it did when community members would come out and put smiles on our children's faces, families, women because survivors of domestic violence have experienced so much. unless you've worked in the field, you wouldn't truly understand the hardship come the holidays, it's very difficult. it was humbling to be able to come out and do, you know, provide we provide gifts. we sing christmas karols. and just walk away really happy. >> it's a grassroots foundation i guess. beak that's how they start. >> it is. and in addition to that, approximately three years ago, the espinoza family lost their aunt at 48, the young age of 48 to breast cancer. since we've been doing pretty good over the years, the committee and community agreed we would also we created a scholarship fund where we've been providing them to college students that show or are interested in working with latino populations specifically in the fields of health. we've awarded six so far looking to award two more at this year's event. >> you have a tough job professionally. why take it the extra mile and do what you do now for super nova and helping others? >> yes, it's -- as previously mentioned, working in the criminal justice field, you see a lot. and being able to give back this way is very humbling and just rewarding personally. we all have hectic lives. our board members are in the hilt field, law enforcement, education system. we're busy. we're parents. we're active. but this is just a way 0 kind of bring us back and give back to the community that truly have inspired us along the way and have supported us for the last ten years. >> you've dealt with vips before. talk about maybe how voiceless they might be and how when you work there and those who work there now at next door are providing that voice for the advocacy for them so they can maybe get the help they need and the resources they need and somebody is hearing them. >> next door has been phenomenal just overall. i think the advocates that work there, the youth program staff are really keen to the issue. they pay attention. they listen. it's not your regular 8:00 to 5:00 job. i remember working at least 60 hours plus in our transitional housing sites there. but it was very as stressful as it was, it was every day was rewarding to hear a child, just be there for them, help them with their homework, show the women how to navigate through the court system which was very stressful. our advocates at the time would accompany them, they still do now. it was more of empowering them, showing them how to do something so they can do for themselves and their children down the road. that's how back then that was the motivation is empower them, show them so they can do that in return. >> after three years of living there and getting the thank you, getting a hug, it means everything to see them with the license, with their visa working. it was very amazing. i think that's where and why we chose to donate to them. and although we've moved on and we didn't donate to them last year, we are still looking at agencies that are dealing with different social detriments of health, survivors domestic violence, stand up for kids had year or other agency whereas families are in need of some assistance. >> talk about the big bash. you're having a big gala to support had type of help. >> we are. the gala event will be december 2nd at the milpitas crowne plaza hotel. the tenth year and the first time we're hosting a dinner. it's really just a celebration of community health and fun dancing. but it is our first time having the dinner. the night consists of our -- we offer, we have a silent auction that helps the proceeds there help with our scholarship fund. we'll be awarding two students from monterrey, from the monterrey bay area in santa clara county. we also have raffle items. our guests bring a donation and they get a nice raffle ticket with some pretty cool raffle items we have this career. we have live band, the nightlighters will be performing. >> all right. >> and we have our very first type we have a fee may deejay. it's empowering. we try to bring in local artists from any youtube sensations, fans out there. if they're singers, we've had them come up and perform. >> all right. >> it's a great event. there's the information. it's on the screen. any phone number or e-mail address or website they can go on to get more information? >> yeah, for our -- we are on social media, facebook, instagram. look us up on social media, our website is like a super nova.com. and to reach us, you can contact us at 408-314-0813. >> nice job. thank you. and now here's what's happening in your commune dad. ♪ celebra those celebrating a special day and here's our contact information. you can follow me on twitter, my handle is @news damian and pick up a copy of the newspaper and support your bilingual weeklies across your area. or simply adjust your thermostat. do your thing, with energy upgrade california. >> score! >> just brilliant. >> the most dominant in olympic history. >> unbelievable. >> this is a presentation of the olympic channel home of team usa. >> as the olympic countdown hits the final stretch there's urgency of a new alpine season and in killington, vermont, a showdown between the contenders. in a event she has reached a stunning level of dominance. >> schihiffrinshiffrin. >> back to back golds. but here she'll have to

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