It’s time for PRO Neighborhood’s annual Community Organizing Course, starting September 7. The course fee has been lowered to $25.

This course is geared toward neighborhood residents, non-profit staff responsible for community involvement, social services or social work students, and others interested in mobilizing neighborhood residents around their passions and skills.

Successful completion of the course requirements will result in three credits through Pima Community College and/or a Community Organizer Certificate from PRO Neighborhoods

The course consists of fifteen classes starting September 7 and ending November 30. Classes are held on Wednesday evenings and some Saturdays. Location of classes to be announced.

For more information and to register, call (520) 882-5885 or send an email to info@proneighborhoods.org.

Lisa Torres
Community Organizer
PRO Neighborhoods, www.proneighborhoods.org

738 N. 5th Ave, Suite 101
Tucson, AZ 85705

(520) 882-5885 work
(520) 207-8654 fax

For more info on Pro Neighborhoods (and the great work they do with small neighborhood grants, click here for a recent KUAT Channel 6 show highlighting a community mural project in Barrio Centro.) I’m a volunteer grant reviewer for Pro Neighborhoods and have helped select worthy and creative neighborhood projects over the years.

PRO Neighborhoods was created in 1994 by a collaboration of four entities. Current collaborative partners include City of Tucson, Pima County, Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, and United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona.

Mary DeCamp

Mary DeCamp, who ran against Ward 3 Councilmember Karin Uhlich in 2009 has also entered the race for Mayor of Tucson. She has taken out the papers at the Tucson City Clerk’s office an has gathered 23 signatures (between 17 and 32 signatures were needed for a Green candidate) before the June 1st deadline.

Mary got 4429 votes (6.16 % of the vote) in the Ward 3 race in 2009, next to Democratic Councilmember Uhlich’s 46.98% of the votes and Republican Ben Bueller-Garcia’s 46.74% of the votes. She is a community activist and Code Pink member, received her B.A. in Interdisciplinary Sciences and Master of Arts in Communication from the U of A, and has been a college instructor. Mary is currently employed as a Connector with Pro-Neighborhoods, “organizing neighborhood communities to adopt healthier diet and exercise choices”.

Her entry into the race could lead to a Green Party primary on August 30, as fellow Green Party candidate Dave Croteau entered the race a few weeks ago. He ran for Mayor before in 2007 against Mayor Bob Walkup and got 28.08% of the vote compared to Mayor Walkup’s 71.20 %. There are 636 registered Greens in the City of Tucson. (Another Green candidate Jon McLean entered this race for a few months but withdrew in May due to problems with his voter registration, and endorsed Republican Shaun McClusky.)

Mary will be announcing her candidacy on June 7 in front of the Tucson City Hall at 1 p.m. Stay tuned for further announcements from her campaign. She can be reached at mdecamp@q.com or at 520-408-4974, and her campaign manager is Mike Cease at 520-327-4705.

Mission Statement:

Lend A Hand Senior Outreach, Inc is a growing coalition of central Tucson neighborhoods, faith-based communities, and business partnerships working together to help older residents living within the boundaries of the participating neighborhoods. Trained volunteers provide services including transportation, errands, friendly visits, and access to other resources that allow older residents to continue to live independently in their own homes, while reconnecting neighbors to each other.

Our Coalition Members are Campus Farms, Hedrick Acres, Jefferson Park, La Madera, Limberlost, Mountain/First, Samos, and Winterhaven Neighborhoods; The Campbell Avenue Business Partnership; and The Mountain Avenue Church of Christ.

LEND A HAND Volunteer Program is a member of the Neighbors Care Alliance, a program administered through Pima Council on Aging (PCOA) and funded in part by a grant through The Southern Arizona Compassion Initiative, a partnership between United Way of Tucson, Pima Council on Aging, PRO Neighborhoods, Interfaith Community Services and the Multicultural Leadership Development Program.

I helped found & coordinate a similiar Neighbors Care Alliance program in my neighborhood, so I am very familiar with the benefits of such a volunteer program, to assist the elderly (mostly widows).

Website: www.lahseniorhelp.org; volunteer coordinator is Michelle Brubaker, 520-248-6882.

With that said, over eating and obesity is becoming an American problem. It’s not a problem in Europe or the Far East. It’s not a problem in all 1st world countries, but it is a problem here in America.

A recent report by the Trust for America’s Health ranks Arizona 29 out of 50 states for adult obesity, 15th for childhood obesity. For full report “F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2010″, click here. You can also click on Arizona to see the current report for this state.

What are the root causes? Not sure if anyone truly knows, but it’s due to lack of exercise, lack of self control, lack of education about healthy food choices, and Capitalism.
Yes, I will blame capitalism because we have become a more leisure class of people (non agrarian, non agricultural) and due to that, people have more time on their hands than their ancestors, and thus more time to sit around on their couches at home watching TV, playing video games, eating “junk food”, etc.

My four grandparents all worked as laborers in the sugar & pineapple plantations of Hawaii, and none of them was overweight. They had too much work to do, raising all their numerous children and grandchildren as well.

According to Down to Earth website: (www.downtoearth.org)

“America is home to the most obese people in the world. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), obesity in adults has increased by 60% within the past twenty years and obesity in children has tripled in the past thirty years. A staggering 33% of American adults are obese and obesity-related deaths have climbed to more than 300,000 a year, second only to tobacco-related deaths. Not excluded from this statistic, Native Hawaiians have alarmingly high rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. The number of Hawaiian children suffering from obesity is double that of children throughout the nation. In May 2001 the University of Hawaii Kinesiology and Leisure Science Department along with the Brigham Young University Exercise and Sport Science Department conducted a local study and found that more than 20% of Hawaiian children were overweight.”

One such overweight Native Hawaiian was beloved musician Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, aka “IZ”. I just read his biography by my Bess Press editor Rick Carroll and sadly realized how little self control IZ had regarding food, which caused him to grow to 700 pounds and contributed to his death at age 38. What a tragedy for such a gifted musician. His death certificate states one of the causes as “morbid obesity.” His overweight, older brother “Skippy” predeceased him, by also dying young (of a sudden heart attack) at age 28.

Why don’t diets work? Because food is such a wonderful reward and easy to obtain, and eating is not illegal, like drugs or alcohol (to under age people) or gambling (most states).
And American fast food is being blamed of course, as it is readily available and less expensive.

As Americans we need to wake up about this growing health crisis and help our children and grandchildren learn to eat healthily, exercise more, and keep that weight off. Over eating is becoming an addiction, and we need to recognize that and work towards solutions together.

Enjoy food, but in moderation. And teach your children about good nutrition.

And if you want to do something about this problem in Tucson, become a “connector” for Pro Neighborhoods, and create a project to help reduce obesity (click here for info).

PRO Neighborhoods is seeking 20-25 neighborhood “connectors” to be part of a network of “diverse individuals who are committed to mobilizing resources, strengthening the environment, and supporting the well-being of their neighborhoods. Ideal connectors are currently using an asset-based approach in their neighborhood work.”

Connectors encourage “genuine intergenerational participation. Using tools and resources provided by PRO Neighborhoods and the network, each connector will collaborate with neighbors, schools, businesses and institutions to:

–Build relationships among stakeholders
–Lead an assessment of the community’s health and wellness with an eye to reducing obesity
–Guide a community visioning process to propose solutions to issues revealed in the assessment.”

Those selected will make a 20-month commitment and receive a monthly stipend of $250. Grant funding and technical support will be available to help realize the action projects.

This sounds like a great goal & project, especially to combat obesity in Arizona, and to include inter-generational components, such as wise elders as well as young teens, also prone to obesity. And there’s even a monthly stipend!

If interested send a letter of interest to connectors@proneighborhoods.org by July 9.
For more information, contact Judith Anderson at (520) 882-5885 or at the same email aforementioned.

They are also once again offering their 3 month Community Organizing class, which I blogged about last summer (click here).

Pro Neighborhoods is moving in July to the Historic Y, 738 N. Fifth Avenue, Suite 101 Tucson, AZ 85701. Their phone number will remain the same, 520- 882-5885.

logo

In attendance were the some of the City staffers that were there last week at the first dialogue in Ward 3 (at the NW Neighborhood Center). Councilmember Nina Trasoff and City Manager Mike Letcher did the welcomes. The format was the same, with six break out tables of residents discussing the same questions I wrote about in my previous blog “Let the Dialogues Begin” on 9/28/09.

Neighbors/activists I recognized participating tonight: Paul Mackey, Les Pierce, Don Ijams (Neighborhood Support Network), Colette Altaffer & Ruth Beeker (Neighborhood Infill Coalition), Robin Gomez, Bill Dupont, Mary DeCamp (candidate for Ward 3 council seat), Joanie Sawyer (Pro Neighborhoods), Alice Roe, Tres English.

Again, there was a promise at the end to post these comments and suggestions on their website, www.tucsonaz.gov/dialogues. But again there was no consensus on what are the City’s top budget priorities and what areas need to be cut. I wonder how the City Manager & his staff will weed through all these suggestions to come up with “key services” that should be prioritized for the City’s budget. Otherwise, these public dialogues may become mere “discussions”, with no solutions.

There are still five more City dialogues to attend in case you’ve missed the first three.

Coming up tomorrow night is the one in Ward 4 at Desert Sky Middle School, 9850 E. Rankin Loop, at 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Be there to express your opinion on how the City of Tucson should prioritize their budget, but I wonder what the final outcome after these 8 dialogues will be. Stay tuned.

Donald Ijams, a retired Senior Management Analyst at TPD is the coordinator of this group and had dreamed of setting up such a network after he retired 4 years ago.

Residents of eight neighborhoods were represented at the meeting: Colonia del Valle, Doolen Fruitvale, El Montevideo, Palo Verde, Peter Howell, Sam Hughes, San Clemente, and South Park. This meeting was a roundtable discussion to share problems and projects going on in the neighborhoods. And these were diverse – from stray dogs & traffic circles, to crimes such as burglaries and murder. The benefits of Neighborhood Watches were discussed, and how neighborhood associations were handling new development, clean up projects, block parties, National Night Out, better street lighting, and tree trimming.

Don announced that he is a participant in a newly formed group called the Tucson Regional Visioning Process, which is seeking to define the “common values” of Tucson and the future of growth here. For updates on this project, an outgrowth of the last year’s Regional Town Hall, contact Donald at 520-795-0770 or dsijams at gmail.com.

Pro Neighborhoods was represented by Community Organizer Joanie Sawyer, who informed the neighbors of their new workshops on resources, with a $50 incentive/certificate for neighborhood associations that attend all 8 workshops, starting September 9 and ending on December 5:

1. GETTING STARTED: Basics for Beginning Neighborhood Groups
Wednesday, Sept. 9, 6 – 8:30 PM

2. FROM CAFECITOS TO DESIGN CHARETTES
Wednesday, Sept. 30, 6:00 – 9 PM

3. PRESERVING THE NEIGHBORHOOD: Resources and Guides to Help You Work the System
Saturday, Oct. 17, 9 AM – 3 PM

4. GETTING THE WORD OUT Newsletters, Web sites, blogs and more
Wednesday, Oct. 28, 6 – 9 PM

5. EVERYTHING HAPPENS IN RELATIONSHIP I: Partnering with Your Community
Wednesday, Nov. 4, 6 – 9 PM

6. EVERYTHING HAPPENS IN RELATIONSHIP II: Partnering with Youth
Saturday, November 7, 9 AM – NOON

7. WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THAT PROPERTY?
Saturday, November 14, 9 AM – NOON

8. WHAT’S WORKING?
Saturday, Dec. 5, 9 AM – NOON

See the Pro Neighborhoods website or call 520-882-5885 for more information and workshops. I have previously blogged on their Community Organizing course which started in August.

Neighbors sharing community information and networking with other neighbors is what NSN is all about. I think Donald’s dream has come true.

I’ve take several similar mini-workshops there at Pro Neighborhoods over the years and I couldn’t have described the content of this course any better.

Being on non-profit boards (i. e. Friends of Agua Caliente Park), for my own neighborhood association, and political groups, I know that these courses are well worth the $75 fee (sliding scale available). You will learn to analyze your group structure, realize the passions & resources of each individual and business involved, learn how to reach out for more assistance, to create a common goal.

This course does give a certificate upon completion and 3 credits at Pima Community College, an added plus. It runs for 17 weeks till December 9 at 320 North Commerce Loop. Contact Joanie Sawyer at 520-903-3993 for more information or visit the Pro Neighborhoods website at:

http://www.proneighborhoods.org/workshops.php

PRO Neighborhoods was created in 1994 by a collaboration of City of Tucson, Pima County, Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, and United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona. I am also one of their grant reviewers to decide how to allot small grants (less than $5000) for neighborhood projects such as mini parks, classes, and clean up projects. A long list of the previous grant recipients is on their website if your neighborhood is thinking of applying.