Inside Mesa

As a senior citizen of Mesa, I don’t believe seniors as a whole want to avoid being part of Mesa’s future. Seniors are a valuable, knowledgeable, and an integral part of the city; contributing in many ways. I enjoy supporting our youth, our young families, and our workforce; possessing and learning about all the new skills, technology, and knowledge that will carry us into tomorrow. Unfortunately, we and the community as a whole, are not always fully informed, have inadequate information, and can make decisions without all the facts. Especially when it comes to our city government.Schools, teachers, bonds, transportation, city employees, public safety, business, parks, etc. are needed for a city to survive. Listening to those that throw out facts and figures about our city budget, bits and pieces of what was spent and where it was spent in a negative way, only fosters misunderstanding and incorrect information. It takes time to gather facts good sources to get the full picture; it’s the prudent thing to do. When I was a young mother raising my children others contributed toward providing services to help me with my responsibilities. Schools and teachers to educate my kids, provision of a safe community with adequate fire and police, helping to educate me when my home was broken into in making it safer, parks that were safe and clean, libraries, having choices of where to shop and a safe way to get there. Having to go to work as a single mom I looked forward to that pay raise or bonus to buy clothes for my children, put food on the table, and be able to treat them to a movie or restaurant occasionally..We’re all in it together. Our Mayor, most of our City Council, and members made up by many citizens studied the issue of revenue for our city. These are all reasonable people, honest people, looking at the needs of our city as a whole; and they all had the facts before them. We don’t, I happen to trust the outcome of these long months of study. If we want to have a city we can live and work in without worrying about tomorrow, we now have a voice in the matter, a vote. I don’t know how anyone could really think that this many people would not have our best interest in mind. Now that seems unreasonable and makes me wonder why.

In Mesa, we need to understand that the young adult population, which we define as persons between 25 and 34 years of age, plays a particularly important role in shaping our local economy The mid-20s and early 30s represent an age when most persons have completed their formal education, have started pursuing careers and are starting families. While persons in their early 20s, particularly those with a four-year degree or higher level of education, are the most mobile age group in our society, the likelihood of moving to another state or metropolitan area declines sharply as people move into their early 30s. Consequently, the best opportunity to attract and keep this population that will provide our future workforce is when those persons are young adults. In Mesa we need to design a strategy to keep and attract these young people who are the key to our economic success.

The family Fun Van is fun and is open to all Moms and Dads in Mesa

Decisions about HB2008 will effect accessing funds for ELL (English Language Learners). Reviewed soon, it is reportedly the same bill the Governor vetoed last year. AZBLE has weighed in on the issue. Arizona Bilinqual Education find it is badly written and will prevent getting the most out of ELL funding. That would be a tragic outcome and a hinderance for many eager to learn, help themselves, and improve economic resources. It’s time to address the issue now, as the Governor will be deciding how she will handle it shortly! Allowing it to pass as is, is not a good option, it is not in compliance as a court ruled in 1992, in Flores vs State of Arizona. I learned from a 3rd grade teacher a tragic situation in her classroom. A student’s family had just arrived from Mexico, all Spanish speaking. The student was placed in her class with no English vocabulary. I asked how she was able to learn. It was through another student who spoke English and Spanish, sitting next to her in class, helping when she could. I remember asking, "how in the world can she learn in that environment’? Of course it was very limited, a struggling situation that must have fostered a lack of self esteem. My friend asked me if I knew anyone that could come in the classroom and volunteer time to help her student. I was able to direct her to a person that could provide a language resource within the school system. I give my friend a lot of credit for trying to resolve this delimma, it also gave me a better perspective of how children and families are affected…it lasts a lifetime. Appropriately funded programs like English Language Learners can effect generations. It seems there has always been a struggle to acquire more funds toward education, appearing not to be a priority. Yet we say education is the number one value that determines our quality of life and ability to make good life decisions. Too often, we also ignore the needs of those around us, critical needs that help us communicate, learn, and develop skills; not realizing the positive outcomes that would give back to our community, outcomes we all would enjoy. A good example of how ELL could make a difference in found in a recent Tribune article about the rise of healthcare costs for Hispanics while other diverse cultures went down. The reason given was the language barrier which makes a lot of sense. A lack of knowledge or inability to communicate one’s medical problems or symptoms can lead to improper health care that could later lead to a hospital visit creating large medical costs. The article also stated many went without health insurance which drives up insurance costs across the board for everyone. It would be more cost effective, better for children and their families to teach children early on by implementing ELL in our schools adequately. It’s a known fact, we are a growing state with an increasing Hispanic population, and a state that borders Mexico.

I am so glad to learn ASU President Michael Crow is talking to Google about the very thing they want, the very thing we have!ASU Polytechnic is one of the hot topics when it comes to technology, when it comes to being close to a prime educational institution - where students are learning and graduating the workforce they need. It will also supply Google employees with an educational source for those that want to continue their education in technology.Hey Google! Mesa has a lot to offer: affordable housing, executive housing, excellent schools and higher education sources including Mesa Community College and a downtown project, Red Mountain CC, A.T.Still University of Health Sciences, which includes School of Dentistry and Oral Health, Osteopathic, Health Sciences, Health Management. We are a family friendly, safety conscious community. A city that continues to grow and attract people, new business, and in the center of a valley of cities with connecting freeways and Williams Gateway Airport.Google, there’s so much to find, so much to like…. it’s worth a look, have conversations with Mayor Hawker, City Manager Chris Brady, Councilmembers, Chamber President Charlie Deaton, other city officials, a visit to ASU Polytechnic with Dr. Jerald Jakubowski, Provost, and Dr. David Schwalm, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs. They can accurately provide the answers to questions regarding your business needs.

As Mesa moves into 2006, I am very concerned by one very glaring statistic; Mesa has the fewest college graduates of any major city in the valley. Changes in technology and how firms operate have resulted in increased demand for skilled workers. And, at the same time we know that jobs requiring a college education are outpacing the supply of workers with undergraduate degrees. How does Mesa as a community address this skills gap? Left unaddressed, this skills gap in Mesa may have significant consequences on our per capita income and our economic growth. I definitely think that we have to focus on K-12 system, but we also need to push for the upgrading of skills of youths and adults that are currently in the workforce to ensure that we have an adequate pool of skilled labor. This is the only way that we can ensure Mesa

It seems to be an American tradition-in-the-making: count to ten after a natural disaster, and Congress will begin investigating the Red Cross. This time around, the mega-relief agency is being questioned about its slow reaction to needs created by Hurricane Katrina, and its failure to spend a good portion of the funds it raised after the disaster. The grilling is practically a rerun of questions asked about their mess-ups after the attacks of 9/11/2001.I’m not trying to apologize for them, but one does have to wonder how such a gargantuan, largely decentralized organization could be expected to be that buttoned up in a disaster situation. Frankly, I wouldn’t want their job, and fortunately, I don’t have it — My life as a staff person at Mesa United Way is infinitely more serene. Obviously, part of the reason is because our mission doesn’t involve disaster response. United Way’s role is to help communities take care of themselves. If the community were to suffer a disaster, we’d be there to help put the pieces back together after the initial mayhem was over. Normally, we can go about our task of building a stronger, more responsive community in a paced, organized fashion.That’s exactly what we’re about to do, and we need your help to do it. Now that Mesa United Way’s campaign season is beginning to wind down, it’s time to begin our investment process. Unlike some non-profits, our investments are not in real estate or large stock portfolios. They’re in our community: the children; the seniors; the people who face unforseen hardships; and the neighborhoods of Mesa. And we believe that people who live or work in our community are best suited to make these critical investment decisions.So, we’re calling on you, as a Mesa resident, employee or business owner, to spend about 20 hours of your time between February and May serving as a Community Investment Volunteer. You’ll have an opportunity to choose a team that most closely matches your area of interest and time availability. You’ll meet with other volunteers on your team, review agency applications, visit agencies and ultimately make funding recommendations to the Mesa United Way Board of Directors. All meetings and visits are made either before or after normal business hours.Participating in the Community Investment Process begins by completing our online application. It’s your best way of influencing how the dollars you contribute to Mesa United Way are spent. It also helps assure that the many competing needs in our community are prioritized and met in an un-biased fashion. Plus, it helps keep my life and the lives of my co-workers organized, prioritized