Last Day at PRC

Tomorrow will be the last day of my internship at Phoenix Revitalization. I know I am beginning to sound like a broken record but I have had a great time there! I have learned so much in my short time there and I have met many great people. I have been able to apply so many things I have learned at ASU and I am officially sure that my choice to enter the nonprofit field was the right one for me.

Although I say goodbye to my internship tomorrow, I have been hired on to do some contract work. I have spent my internship time getting the Leadership Academy curriculum ready to publish, and I must say the final product is coming around nicely. Also Saturday May 7th I will be teaching my first Leadership Academy, I am very excited! I hope to stay with this organization as long as possible and I am very thankful for the opportunities I have been given there.

Graduation!

I got my cap and gown last night! I will be wearing a teal green hood for Public Administration, it is sort of a strange color combo, but I'm still excited. I have two assignments left and I will be officially finished. After three years it is hard to believe the end is sight. To all of you that will also be finishing, congratulations!!!

Business Partners Breakfast

Last week Phoenix Revitalization Corporation had their first business breakfast. This event was in direct response to the economic strategy in the quality of life plan. The quality of life plan was developed by residents, it identifies what stratigies should be taken to improve Central City South. Since the completion of the document resident groups monitor each strategy to see what progress had been made and what still needs to be done.

One of the things residents expressed in terms of economic development, was that as residents they were committed to supporting existing local business. As a result PRC invited local business owners to attend a breakfast meeting to discuss what the residents are working towards and to encourage business owners to join in the process.

The most interesting part of this meeting was the discussion with two Phoenix police officers that are working with residents on crime suppression. Both of these officers worked in this area when crime was at is worst, and even cited that at one time they would not enter this area alone. Business owners that had also been in the area for decades also discussed how much better the area has become in recent years. There is still work to be done, and as a result of this meeting it seems like the police department and local business owners will work together on additional crime suppression in the area. This was a great way to build more relationships in the community, I'm looking forward to attending the next one in October.

Recycling Plant Fire in Central City South

The link below shows pictures of the fire that was just a few blocks away from my internship. I have never seen so much smoke in my life and standing just a block behind my work we could see the flames! Thank you to the nearly 100 fire fighters who were able to put out the fire and keep residents safe!

http://www.azcentral.com/photo/Community/PhoenixCentral/18741

Phoenix Public Market

As the semester nears an end I am finding myself eating in front of a computer more and more often. Today stopped at Phoenix Public Market on my way to the downtown campus. I ordered a BLT with avocado and I must say it was fantastic!!! Added bonuses of my meal include the fact the Phoenix Public Market is a nonprofit and they give a 10% discount to ASU students. Just thought I would share, in case you are hungry and stuck at school :)

The Cost of Un-Fair Housing

Today I attended a conference hosted by the Arizona Fair Housing Partnership. This event was housed at the Disability Empowerment Center in Phoenix. Attorney general Tom Horne briefly spoke about housing discrimination cases that have been perused by the Attorney Generals office. In addition a senior management official for HUD named Rebbecca Flanagan gave an excellent presentation about the federal fair housing act. This conference was attend by many nonprofit organizations that provide housing assistance as well as many owners/and property managers of multi unit housing facilities. The last hour of the conference allowed participants to ask specific questions about fair housing legislation and for clarification on weather or not they would be in violation in certain cases. I found today to be a great learning experience. The thing I found most interesting was that majority of fair housing complaints and law suits involved persons with disabilities. One man from the disability empowerment center explained how there is a huge population of disabled young people living in nursing homes because there is simply no housing available with accommodations that they need to live independently. This man expressed that these people are living in nursing homes at the cost of the tax payers while property owners have vacant properties that if slightly modified would allow these individuals to move in. He expressed how this was bad business for everyone and that as a disabled man his "green (money) was as good as the next guys". He also expressed that at any time anyone can become disabled; therefore we should make these accommodations for others because we may need them someday too. This is an example of the "true cost" of unfair housing.

Career Services Event: Employeer Pannel:Nonprofit, Foundations and Government Careers

On Wednesday I attend the Nonprofit, Foundations and Government Employer Panel at the downtown campus. There were five people on the panel that provided information on their organization or agency as well as career advice to participants. First was the southwest recruiter for the CIA. She explained the many types of employment opportunities within the CIA as well as how their internships worked. For those of you who are looking to change career paths and become a spy, the internship program is only for freshman and sophomore's. Sorry!

Second, was a woman from the City of Phoenix Head Start Program. She did an excellent job describing the difficulties of running a federally funded program within a city agency. In addition she discussed the many job opportunities in her department including family support case workers, head start preschool teachers and teachers assistants.

Third, was a woman from the State of Arizona Department of Administration. She has developed an internship program that links students to various state agencies for college credit internships. She will even help you to find an internship that fits your interest and passions.

A gentleman from the Rodel Foundation of Arizona spoke about his journey from classroom teacher, to a principal to the program director of the MacRo Math program that provides funding for increased math education and math curriculum training for teachers in high need schools. It was inspiring to hear him speak about starting as a teacher and touching 30 children's lives a year and now touching thousands of children's lives a year.

Last was a public interest advocate from Arizona Public Interest Research Group. As a marketing major at ASU she was planning to enter the for-profit world after graduation. After an internship with a large airline she discovered that this was not the environement she wanted to work in. Later she took an internship with a local advocacy group and remains happily working in this field today.

Each of the panel members had something in common, they chose a career path that they loved. Although each of them gave different advice, they all had a common theme don't choose the job that makes you the most money, choose the job that brings you the most happiness.

Capstone Sweet Capstone

I am currently working on research for my MPA capstone assignment. I am writing a case study on the public value of community based policing. I chose this topic because I am particularly interested in the work of the community action officers in the City of Phoenix. In order to research my case study I have interviewed community action officers in several precincts to gain some perspective on the work they are doing in specific communities. I must say I have been very impressed with the work of these officers. They work closely with residents to solve quality of life issues and teach residents how to prevent crime in their communities. If you would like to get involved in your community through Block Watch, Neighborhood Patrol, or simply attend Coffee with a Cop I highly recommend it. You can find contact information for your community action officer on you precincts website. This is a very meaningful way to get involved in your community.

Community Garden Conference Day Two

Day two we spent our morning with the CEO of Native Seed Savers in Tucson. He gave a compelling presentation on the importance of saving seeds like farmers in the past have. He explained how now that seeds are commercially grown we have lost aver 80% of the seed variety that were in our country after the reveloution. Today there are types of tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, etc that no longer exist because the seeds weren't saved and the corporate owned companies stopped producing them. This presentation gave me a whole new outlook on food security in our country, if you are interested I would encourage you to visit the Native Seed Search Website at http://www.nativeseeds.org/

We spent the afternoon touring community gardens in south and central Phoenix. We went to Desert Marigold School, which basically operates a small farm that the students help care for. They sell their produce at an after school farmers market and at local farmers markets off campus. We also went to the Garden of Tomorrow in south Phoenix and saw how this community garden in the most troubled part of South Phoenix brings people together twice a month to enjoy fresh produce, have a barbecue and listen to the community band.

This conference was a great experience. I am not a gardener but I have always wanted to learn. Even as a novice I left this conference with plenty of tools that the Central City South community garden organizers as well as myself will use to grow beautiful and bountiful gardens.

Community Garden Conference-Day One

Day one of the conference was great. The key note speaker was the CEO of St. Luke's Health Initiative Rodger A. Hughes. He gave a great presentation on how he has changed the way he gives money in order to to focus on sustainability and community empowerment. He no longer uses traditional grant guidelines. Instead the outcome is outlined and the communities can take any steps they see fit to reach the outcome. St. Luke's Health Initiative has used this method to fund many community gardens and have found that it has built more connective communities and the work sustains far beyond the funding. His approach to building communities is unlike any I have heard of and I have been very impressed with this organizations work.

The rest of the day was spent in several learning sessions on assets based community development, good and bad insects in the garden and a speaker who is using his community garden to rehabilitate his crime ridden neighborhood. The food was prepared by the Chef at Rio Salado College who teaches courses on sustainable culinary techniques. All of the food served at the conference center was locally grown and produced. In addition all silverware, cups and plates were compostable. We ended the evening with a sunset tour and dinner at the botanical gardens. Day one was great fun and I learned allot!