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During this class semester former Councilwoman Elena Guajardo has been invited to speak to graduate social work policy and graduate political science students. This month she will be a guest lecturer at UTSA, Texas State University, and Our Lady of the Lake University. Her presentation covers the topics of campaign, campaign fundraising and reporting, how to effectively lobby, advocating and how various groups effect the policy created, the inside game, personal stories of various votes, the complexity of some votes and why social workers should consider running for office.
One of the professors wrote: “it gave them a lot of insight into the “groups” that play such a large role in that process, elevating them from just a dry concept in the texts/articles they read into real people with real needs. It also was great for them to see how accessible and “real” a former councilmember can be.”
On October 16, former Councilwoman Elena Guajardo and Ralph Velasquez, community activist and Founder of the National Alliance of Craftsmen Association were the featured speakers the at the San Antonio Votes Coalition “Together We Learn, Together We Vote” forum.
The coalition is made up of voter registration partners and civic educational forum partners. The goals are to register eligible residents to vote, educate community members about the voting process and the issues affecting the community, and mobilize voters to get out the vote.
Remember early voting ends Oct 31, 2008. Visit Bexar County Elections Department for more information.
If you are in the Donaldson Terrace Neighborhood Association area check out Seeling Park located at 100 Placid. It’s a park that the neighborhood association members have worked on since 1999.
Ninty thousand dollars of the 1999 Bond was allocated to provide for the walking trails, additional trees and a butterfly garden. However, there was not enought money for lighting. For the safety of the residents the President of the Association, Olga Lizcano, wanted lights. Olga came to me during my term to ask my help to find the additional $80,000 for the lights. Together we lobbied for CBDG funding and we were successful. The dedication ceremony was a blast.
The park hours are 5am to 11pm. Take an evening stroll in this beautiful neighborhood park.
The Neighborhood Resource Center, Regional Planning Foundation and UTSA School of Architecture Regional Planning Program are hosting a Regional Issues and Citizen Workshop on Saturday, November 8th. The workshop will take place on the UTSA Downtown Campus, Durango Building – Southwest Room from 8:45 AM – 12 noon.
“Air and water pollution, affordable housing, transportation choices, jobs, and quality education—these are regional issues that affect your neighborhood and your quality of life. What can you do? Get involved at the next level! Your voice needs to be heard! Attendees of the Neighborhood Resource Center’s Regional Citizen Workshop will learn how to make more of a difference in the regional community and how to increase citizen participation and become a more active Regional Citizen. The purpose of the Regional Citizen Workshop is to identify and consider the important issues in the local regional community and to provide an overview of those issues. Citizens with a regional perspective are crucial to successful regional planning efforts. This workshop will be of interest to citizens and neighborhood leaders interested in participating in the regional planning process in an advisory capacity, citizens who are currently on a regional advisory committee, those who are interested in issues at the regional level and those interested in the regional planning process. A panel of regional planners and officials discuss current regional issues, processes by which these issues are addressed, and offer ways on how the Neighborhood minded individual can become involved in these regional-scale issues.”
Please contact 210.735.0586 or e-mail nrcsa@swbell.net for more information or to RSVP. Workshop fee is $5.
** Free parking across Durango Blvd **
Friends,
I’m sharing a request from the Express-News for a good story on Dia de los Muertos.
Please contact Elaine if you feel your story would be of relevance. Thanks! Elena
——-
Dear friends,
I need your help in finding a few sources for upcoming holiday stories.
My most pressuring request is for someone with a good story to tell on Dia de los Muertos. Perhaps you lost someone this year or even years ago that you will honor on Dia de los Muertos with an altar in your home. Perhaps you know someone you makes a pilgrimage each year to the gravesite of a loved one and decorates it. The story is for Nov. 2, so I need to find someone quickly. Please e-mail names, phone numbers, etc. of possible sources asap.
The American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions (AIT-SCM) are presenting their 5th Annual Missions Heritage 5k Run/Walk on Saturday, November 1st at 7:30 AM at San Jose Mission. Liza Hunter Galvan, a 2008 Olympian and UTSA Alumni, will join the festivities to salute Native American Month.
Please sign up your youth or your families. Pre-registration cost $15 and there is a discount rate of $10 a person for groups of four or more.
The National Parks Service and Mission San Jose will be hosting a Dia De Los Muertos following the race featuring art exhibits and activities for kids.
Register online at www.texasmissionindians.com or call AIT-SCM at (210) 227-4940. I hope to see you out there!
A favor to ask, it only takes a minute….
The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on ‘donating a mammogram’ for free (pink window in the middle).
This doesn’t cost you a thing and you don’t have to register. Their corporate sponsors /advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram’s in exchange for advertising.
Here’s the web site! Pass it along to people you know.
Last month the Mayor embarked on a outreach of his school initiative and highlighted the truancy problem in SAISD. On one day the Mayor, several Councilmembers, school board members and various other volunteers went door-to-door asking students to return to school. At the end of the September 11th City Council Meeting, Councilman Rodriguez commented on his door-to-door efforts which has thus far succeeded in encouraging three students to return to school.
This is a serious situation and should receive closer examination. Where is the dialogue of why a student makes a decision to leave school? Does a simple question remedy the situation? What structure has been improved in the school to decrease school truancy? Each individual has a unique situation that causes truant behavior. What is the school doing to assist the student to come back and create success? Can the truant students be monitored to verify if they continue attending school or drop out again?
I had dinner with a teacher in NSISD and her job was to find a student who does not show up for class and ask the hard questions. She will call and meet with students to find out the true reason or obstacle to their unattendance and find ways to return them to class successfully. From my prior social work perspective she could be considered the caseworker for each truant student. From social work colleagues I have heard stories how the schools are resistant to social workers involved in schools. Yet, from the school social workers that I know, it is these specialized workers who provide the skill sets and training to help students better deal with their life stresses. If we let social workers contribute to the truancy solution then teachers can do what they are passionate about – teaching. Read the rest of this entry »
I recently received this information from Charles L. Cotreel, President of St. Mary’s University and will forward any updates received on the project’s revitalization efforts.
To: Members of the St. Mary’s Neighborhood Revitalization Task Force
From: Charles L. Cotrell, Ph.D., President
Re: St. Mary’s to receive HUD grant for $596,795
Earlier this week I was notified that St. Mary’s University has been selected to receive a $596,795 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for neighborhood revitalization efforts.
Congratulations and thanks to everyone who has participated in planning and brainstorming meetings to develop the proposed one-stop neighborhood center. Special thanks to Chairman Ramiro Cavazos, Ed Boyle, Steve Nivin, Rene Dominguez, Chris Martinez, Rick Idar, Jo Cox, Rod Radle, Bill Avila, Henry Flores, Art Vega and to grant writer Debra Sanchez-Reed whose expertise ensured St. Mary’s grant application would be reviewed positively.
Receiving this grant will propel our efforts to improve the attractiveness, safety and quality of life in the neighborhoods surrounding St. Mary’s University.
Thank you for your commitment to this effort.
For more information, visit the University’s News Center at www.stmarytx.edu/news.
Here is a recent news release on an upcoming event from our Bexar Audubon Society featuring a panel discussion on vegetated/green roofs taking place on October 9th at Trinity University. Panelists include City Arborist Debbie Reid, Carol Fisher of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Sandra Lyda of Weston Solutions, and Stephen Colley of the Metropolitan Partnership for Energy and will share their perspective on the benefits of green/vegetated roofs.
BEXAR AUDUBON SOCIETY
DATE OF RELEASE: 21 September 2008
NEWS CONTENT:
Can San Antonio become a wonder of the world, ‘The Hanging Gardens of Bexar,’ like the famous gardens of ancient Babylon? Perhaps, but our city can certainly derive other benefits from vegetating its rooftops; and a panel of experts will discuss those possibilities at a San Antonio Environmental Network public issues forum at the next Bexar Audubon Society meeting.
That meeting will be Thursday, Oct. 9, in Trinity University’s Cowles Life Sciences Bldg., Rm. 149. Assembly is at 6:30 p.m., with announcements at 6:45 p.m., and program at 7 p.m. Read the rest of this entry »
