Education, Advocacy, Outreach
What is a “living document”? It is a document that can be updated and revised, based on feedback and conversation. It is not intended to be a “gotcha”. If you include a comment that no longer “makes sense” after an update or revision, please note that Felicia will do her best to include dates of revisions and updates for clarification purposes.
Thank you for participating in this community process, to provide a happy, healthy community for each of us and all of us.
Felicia’s Guiding Principles:
- Use education, advocacy, and outreach, coupled with appropriate policies and updated budgets, to create happy, healthy communities.
- Embrace and teach creativity, humanity, empathy and wisdom.
- Listen to everyone (this includes, but is not limited to: people who use non-mainstream solutions; individuals regardless of ethnicity, gender, age, socio-economic status, and psycho-emotional health)
- Know that you don’t know what you don’t know.
- Understand what individuals can control, what they can influence, and what should only be of concern to individuals. (Focus on local policies and budget, that do not require “permission” from state and federal agencies.)
- Ensure equity for all situations (This includes providing venues for the public to participate remotely, through online response, in-person response, and verified proxy response.)
- Be flexible-brained, not rock-brained.
- Listen. Actively. Respond. Be Responsible.
- Provide choices, evidence, and time for individuals and the community to participate in brainstorming activities (through whatever method the individual most feels comfortable presenting with. Refer to learning styles and products for communicating. See also the Tucson Zines SpeakUp Challenge for examples: http://www.feliciachew.com/challenge)
- Teach empathy and use restorative practices.
- Build relationships and develop safety plans.
- Demonstrate that each of us, and all of us, have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Note: Many of my suggestions include solutions within the community, based on building mutual respectful relationships between and among community members.
For example, community businesses can offer discounts to support individuals who volunteer their time for community programs. In return, those businesses would receive shout-outs through local news, word-of-mouth, and listing in an online directory.
Guns/Weapons
What We Know
- People with guns can kill people.
- If a person wants a gun, they will find a gun.
- Background checks won’t deter the people who want guns.
- Education about what to do when facing a gun, and when faced with a gun, will save lives.
Practices and Policies
- Safety plan on what to do when faced with, or when facing, a gun.
- Utilize existing resources – NRA, University students, Marksman clubs, retired law enforcement officers, hunters, veterans, libraries, public education facilities.
- Encourage local businesses to offer discounts to individuals donating time to these programs and services.
- Use Guiding Principles (above)
- Offer gun safety and gun response classes to the community.
Budget
- Fund effective mental health programs and services, including identification, treatment, and follow-up
- Fund effective programs for gun safety and gun response classes.
Please include your feedback in the comment section below, and subscribe to our site to receive updates. Include issues that you would like to see addressed.
In the “parking lot”:
Education
- Schools
- Libraries
Health and Wellness
- Birth Control
- Marijuana
- Opioids
- Parks and Recreation – outdoor and indoor activities
Infrastructure and Sustainability
- Roads and Transportation
- Resources and annexation
- Law Enforcement/Public Safety
- Environmental Sustainability
- Economic Sustainability – Tourism: sports, arts, history, alternative energy
- Economic Sustainability- Local Businesses
- Economic Sustainability – Farmer’s Market
- Rights and Responsibilities of Residents
“We are each a piece of the puzzle of life. Without each of us, our picture is incomplete.”
We are each a piece of the puzzle of life 