Education
Educating a connected, concerned, and competent generation of Dallasites
In order for our community to thrive we must have a strong education system. The public schools in our community can be a pride of our neighborhoods, the foundation of opportunity, and an asset that drives the growth and development for our people. As council member I believe that the city and the district must be partners if we are to all rise together.
Early Childhood
Rationale: We know two key things about Early Childhood:
- 85% of human brain development happens between the ages of 0 and 5 years-old.
- Studies show that no matter what school district we look at, the college/career-readiness rate never exceeds the rate of Kindergarten readiness. To increase our future college readiness, we have a strong incentive to make sure our families enroll their children in Pre-K programs.
We must capitalize on this early window of opportunity to give our children the start that they all deserve.
“I commit to partnering with the district to enroll as many of our students in high quality early childhood programs as possible.”
Engagement and Service
Rationale: In order for our schools to be successful, it will take a village. Our students come to the education system with many challenges – we all have an obligation to help them access their fullest potential.
“I commit to working with Dallas ISD to present clear opportunities to volunteer and serve in District 3 schools. There is a powerful initiative going right now… be a literacy mentor. For 1 hour a week, you can double a child’s learning and literally save a life."
Business Partnerships
Rationale: Students need to see the reason for education. They need early and meaningful exposure to career-oriented learning experiences.
“I commit to working with the district and trustees to build community and business partnerships that create relevant learning experiences that will lead to jobs for our graduates.”
Rebranding
Rationale: We need to tell the story of the fantastic things happening in District 3 education. The message of what parents can have for their students needs to be one of hope, excellence, and opportunity.
“Through unique programming and learning experiences that we create in partnership with the district, I commit to helping reshape the public image of education in District 3 and showcasing the things we can be proud of in our schools.”
Economic Development
A Dallas with a strong economy and low unemployment rates
We hear it all the time – small businesses are the engine of the economy. We also hear that one of the best social programs is a good job. However, when it comes to economic development programs in our city, the focus has been on uprooting other cities’ large companies. Since small businesses are essentially local businesses, we are therefore missing some economic development principles.
Think Local First
Buying locally produced food, products and services, putting our capital to work through local investments, and supporting local arts and independent local media will strengthen our local economy. Thinking local first improves the health of the economy, strengthens community, and contributes to functional inclusion.
I will host monthly "Casey's Corner" forums at local businesses to encourage spending at district businesses and the growth of new small businesses.
I will work to establish a Hampton/Red Bird Lane Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District to assist with the execution of the comprehensive redevelopment plan at Red Bird/Camp Wisdom and at the Red Bird Lane Strip Mall and Dallas Executive Airport. This will serve as an engine to jumpstart development at the airport and the strip mall.
"I commit to supporting local businesses and helping them grow"
Increase Self-Reliance
Increase personal, community and regional security by building entrepreneurial capacity to produce. Self-reliance increases local resilience, saves energy and sustains synergistic businesses.
"I commit to assisting business owners with an opportunity to increase their capacity to produce"
Share Prosperity
Understanding that the fair and equitable distribution of resources is critical to the quality of community life. We want to support the increase in meaningful living wage jobs, create opportunities for broad-based business ownership, and engage in fair trade.
Build Community
We support community building through local economic exchange, connecting producers with consumers, investors with entrepreneurs, and lenders with borrowers. Community life creates a sense of place and belonging that promotes security and happiness. Collaboration, cooperation, and fair trade between communities create economic sustainability.
"I commit to helping our neighbors and business owners mutally benefit from their interaction with one another."
Work with Nature
Seek to integrate our activities with natural systems, like the Trinity Forest, in order to create real and lasting prosperity. Every decision we make affects the vitality of our ecosystem.
"I commit to seeing our city embrace the concept of vitality."
Celebrate Diversity
Celebrate and nurture the natural diversity of the human family, ecosystems and economies. Diversity increases resilience, propels innovation, cultivates peace, and fosters beauty and joy.
"I commit to embrace diversity as Dallas grows into a world class city."
Measure What Matters
In addition to traditional success measures, measure the things that also matter to citizens - knowledge, creativity, relationships, health, and happiness. These measures also speak to the economic health of our city.
Community Development
A Dallas with safe streets, good schools, and thriving neighborhoods
In order for our community to thrive we must have strong neighborhoods. Strong neighborhoods make strong cities, and strong cities define a nation. Communities will develop as we recognize, support, and build on the assets in those communities. As council member I believe that the city and the district must be partners if we are to all rise together.
Community-Based Development
We will implement asset-based community development which demands a bottom-up way of working with communities that focuses on community strengths and assets.
If we ask people to look for community deficits, they will usually find them, and their view of situations will be colored by this. If we ask people to look for community successes, they will usually find them, and their view of situations will be colored by this (Kral, 1989).
The Glass Half Full
Regarding community development, we will focus on the half full glass. The half empty glass represents the notion that communities are deficient and have needs. The half full glass represents the notion that communities (and the people who live there) have many strengths, capacities and assets.
Developing New Political Talent
Developing the political talent to recognize and identify these strengths, capacities, and assets will reveal the foundations on which to build. These foundations will drive our perspective on programming, partnerships, and support. It is the half full glass that gives us something to work with.
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We will focus on community assets and strengths rather than problems and needs
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We will identify and mobilize individual and community assets, skills and passions
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We will commit to development being community driven – ‘building communities from the inside out’ (Kretzmann & McKnight, 1993)
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Our community development programming will be neighborhood relationship driven.
"I commit to hosting monthly community meetings to educate the community on how local government works and how to get things done in their neighborhood."
Healthcare and Wellness
DEVELOP partnerships with Parkland Health and Hospital System and other health systems (Methodist and Baylor) for increasing services in southern Dallas. The establishment of outpatient clinics along with adjunct emergency care centers ("doc in the box") would be of help to the residents of the district.
ESTABLISH outpatient clinics to assist in management of common chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and asthma. Access to these services is important to provide in the district. People will go if it is close and convenient.
ENERGIZE residents to sign up for Medicare (especially senior citizens) and the younger residents to sign up for CHIP and Affordable Healthcare Insurance
INCREASE funding for HIV/AIDS educational resources by identifying grants that are specific to the demographic in the district
"I commit to working to bring a community hospital to District 3 that will address the healthcare and wellness needs of people that live in the community."