County Parks
honor veterans with gesture of appreciation
As a small
token of appreciation for the freedoms afforded to all Americans, Maricopa
County’s Parks and Recreation Department will be honoring all veterans with
Military Service Appreciation Day on Friday, November 11. Military Service Appreciation Day will be
observed at all Maricopa County Parks.
All active and non-active military personnel are encouraged to visit any
of the county’s ten parks and enjoy affordable recreation. The $6 day-use entry fee will be waived for
military personnel.
The County’s
regional parks are a great place for people to connect with nature. We hope
military personnel will take advantage of our offer to come out to the parks to
enjoy a hike, park program, and the cooler temperatures with those who are near
and dear to their hearts.
For information about activities at a County
park near you, call (602) 506-2930 or visit www.maricopacountyparks.net/
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Vets' Community Connections
Got 10 minutes
for a vet? You can help our vets and their families integrate more fully into
the community. Vets’ Community Connections (VCC) is a channel for our region’s
citizens from all walks of life to do just that – by phone, on your own time,
using your own expertise. Please sign up today, to provide the connections our
vets and their families want.
To learn more
about VCC read the two AZ Republic articles here:
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Leverage your knowledge to help
vets
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Five volunteers explain why they signed up to
help vets
Wag N' Walk Adoption Hike
October is Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month and Maricopa County Animal Care
& Control celebrated with the launch of its award-winning Wag N’ Walk
Adoption Hike program.
MCACC volunteers will bring adoptable dogs to Usery Mountain
Regional Park to join hikers for an easy one-mile hike. They are held on the first Saturday of each
month until April. For more information please visit http://bit.ly/2dEgexZ
NACo Awards
Presentation
I had the honor to recognize our Maricopa County
departments and employees for 57 national achievement awards received from the
National Association of Counties (NACo). One of the many departments
recognized was Human Resources, for our personnel reform efforts.
Maricopa County continues to make our workforce more accountable, efficient,
competitive, and productive.
Fall Service Awards event honoring Maricopa
County Employees
On October 12, we honored Maricopa County employees with 30+ years of service with the county. We appreciate the many years of service of our entire county workforce.
Joined by Chairman Clint Hickman, Supervisor Andy Kunasek, County Attorney Bill Montgomery, and Deputy County Manager Reid Spaulding
Maricopa
County Citizens Survey
One
of my priorities when I became your Maricopa County Supervisor was to bring a
business mindset to the county by improving communication between county
government and taxpayers. In continuing
to strive for excellent customer service, we have created a Maricopa County
Citizens Survey. This enables our
constituents to give us feedback on what we are doing right or where we can
improve. We want to be a government that
listens and this gives you the opportunity to share your concerns or
suggestions. Please take a moment to
fill out the Maricopa County Citizens Survey.
Flood Control received the Core Values Overall Project of the Year award for a drainage study that impacts Districts 2 & 3
The
Flood Control District of Maricopa County received the Project of the Year
award for the Pinnacle Peak West Area Drainage Master Study from the
International Association for Public Participation USA organization (IAP2 USA). The Maricopa County Flood
Control District conducted a study covering 95-square miles in northeast
Maricopa County. This same project also received the General Project of the Year Award from IAP2 USA.
The level of outreach and analysis was both a necessary and
incredible effort by county staff. This
demonstrates that transparency plus early public engagement is a winning
formula.
Maricopa
County Reads
This
summer, a total of 77,329 people participated in Maricopa County Reads. Over 890,000 digital badges were earned and over 116,000 challenges were
completed. Watch the video below to see the benefits
of the Maricopa County Reads online summer reading program.
Library
District’s Food for Fines
Once again the Library District’s Food for Fines event was
tremendously successful! We collected 17,039 nonperishable items for
local food banks and waived $34,078 in fines that enabled families to
get their library accounts back on track.
Veteran's Home Rehab
 I am proud to have worked with our Human Services Department and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community on a grant to help several local veterans with service-connected disabilities. These funds retrofit homes to allow veterans to live independently in a safe and suitably adapted home.
We are deeply honored to work with veterans in our community that have sacrificed so much to serve our country.
Watch the following video to see how the Home Modification Grants helped one family in need.
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Maricopa
County IDA supporting Rapid Re-Housing Program
The Rapid Re-Housing program is another way Maricopa County has been instrumental in helping to put homeless vets, families, and individuals into housing with the services needed to stay there. In the last year, over 500 people have been placed into permanent housing.
Community Connections
I had the privilege
to participate in a Community Connections event celebrating First Place AZ and PBS News Hour’s coverage A Place in the
World. I appreciate the Maricopa County IDA’s
support of this worthy project.
From left to right – Shelby Scharbach, Denise Resnick, Caren Zucker and myself
Maricopa County Supervisors Approve Grants to
Help Local Groups
The
Maricopa County Board of Supervisors approved a series of grants from the Salt
River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC). Three of the grant recipients
were Boys Hope Girls Hope, First Place Phoenix, and the Southwest Wildlife
Conservation Center (SWCC).
I’m
so pleased we can help these organizations reach their goals through
partnership with the SRPMIC. They each play critical roles for the people they
serve and are exemplary community partners.
We are thankful for SRPMIC’s community involvement
and partnership!
With SRPMIC President Delbert W. Ray Sr.
$60
Million Dollars Coming to Arizona Schools
A grant from the US Department of
Education will provide $60 million dollars to support seven Arizona Districts
and charters. This will benefit
22,000 students in 44 schools and once implemented make 1,100 teachers and
principals eligible for performance-based salary increases awarded annually.
Through outside funding, Maricopa County
Education Service Agency (MCESA) has been able to invest in its educational
programs to improve education for our school aged youth. As a result, this will
enable our students to be career ready when they graduate college and therefore
be competitive in a global economy.
County
Supervisors Provide Funding to Help Keep Homeless off the Streets
At
the August 17 formal meeting, the Supervisors allotted an additional
$95,000 to extend the life of the temporary overflow shelter. The funding will
allow the shelter, located at 12th Avenue and Jackson Street, to house up to
250 people each night until the end of February 2017 while partners work to
place the homeless in permanent housing. The most vulnerable members of the
group – the chronically homeless, women, children, the disabled, and veterans –
will be prioritized for the temporary overflow spaces. The County is a partner
in a funding collaborative with St. Vincent de Paul, the Department of Economic
Security, Arizona Housing Department, and Valley of the Sun United Way. Special thanks to St. Vincent de Paul for stepping up to help bridge this gap at a reduced cost.
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