Travis County Commissioners Court

June 5, 2012 - Item 3
Agenda

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>> 3, consider and take appropriate action on a resolution, recognizing the 12th Annual Father's Day Parade, and Fiesta sponsored by the River City Youth Foundation.

>> Welcome, mona and the children from dove springs.
I'm going to go ahead and read the resolution.
Whereas the fathers of our community are a precious resource and play a vital role in the well-being of our children and their future and the future of our community, and whereas river city youth foundation has been instrumental in producing a collaborative community event, the annual father's day parade and fiesta, and whereas father's day parade and fiesta increases the positive involvement of fathers in their children's lives to foster success in school, personal growth, good citizenship and a brighter future, and whereas river city youth foundation fathers active in communities and education face, Austin youth church, Austin fire department, Austin police department, capital area food bank and new york life are sponsoring the 12th annual father's day parade and fiesta on Saturday, June the 9th, 2012, that will include father, kids bonding games, food and plenty of family fun, and whereas the student winners of the writing contest will be announced.
Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Travis County Commissioners court does hereby declare Saturday, June the 9th, 2012 as father's day parade and fiesta day in Travis County, Texas.
Be it further resolved that we salute the river city youth foundation for their collaborative efforts and commitment to the betterment of our community and the future of our youth and families, and I would move approval.

>> Second.

>> Afternoon.

>> Good afternoon.
And happy summer.

>> Uh-huh.

>> We are just as excited as can be to be here this afternoon.
It's almost time for the big event on Saturday, and we are getting ready, so around me I have here are a team of young and old, and we are going to have a parade, right?
Everybody has got their tennis shoes ready, and we encourage sam, come on over, okay?
Margaret come on over, Karen, sarah, ron, get your tennis shoes and join us, okay?
But, you know, aside from the fun that we're going to have, this is a serious thing, because in this nation we have a serious issue, and that is we are quickly losing our dads in the families, and we need more dads to be more responsible more of the time.
We are so happy to have some team members here.
I want to mention

>> [inaudible] is here.
Raise your hand.
He's over there taking photos and he's on our technology staff and he's a instructor with a lot of the children that you see here today.
And we have some children here, jasmine, raise your hand, jennifer, daniela, mikey, aurelia, juan and

>> [inaudible].
And we also have here with us larry amaro, who is retired from aisd.
Familiar face to a lot of you and pete diaz as well.
And you know they have a show of their own and it's the spotlight show on access.
And so they're part of a very large team of folks without whom we can't do do this.
Today we have a very special guest with us.
To my right is alfonso ricon, who has been co-sponsoring this event since 2001, and remember we started the parade 2000.
And so I wanted him to say a few words.
He is a fatherhood expert particularly in the latino community.
Wowts without further ado I give you alfonso from face.

>> Good afternoon to all of you.
I've been coming to support this effort for several years now and I try to make the Commissioners meeting every time.
I've probably missed one or two, and I've seen the people sitting in your chairs change over the years.
And I make that comment in particular because what doesn't change is more than being -- mona being in her chair about this time of the year.

>> [laughter] and the point of that is I made a one-page handout because I wanted to -- I got kind of are reflective.
When you do something for about a decade you start topping, to what end?
What have we accomplished?
And as a matter of fact we've accomplished a lot.
And as I was thinking about this I thought I put something in writing -- I'd put something in writing so that you would have text in front of you and I want you to notice all the years that are referenced, particularly in blue, those are the years that show like how long something was going on, like how long something stuck with something, and of course the very first dates are 2000, 2012, which is river city youth foundation dates with this program.
But I wanted you to appreciate just what the impact of something that is a neighborhood program -- what it can do over the years, the commitment of people like mona, the support of county Commissioners with these annual proclamations.
And as a matter of fact, I have had the opportunity to take some of the energy and some of the ideas that you've been doing here in Travis County and implemented them and adapted them in areas where I'm doing a lot of work in the school districts, partnering -- in partnership with higher education, and what the impact has been, and one of the high points of all that effort as far as engaging fathers and father figures in the education of their children, in particular to prepare them to succeed, to graduate from high school and then succeed in higher education is the development of dads as leaders, and last July, 2011 -- it's a typo in your paper, by the way, it should be 2011, not 2012 -- one of the fathers in our program won one of five national parent leadership awards and he was presented that award in san francisco last summer, and that is all part of the energy that comes from these programs and these efforts, the essay contest -- the writing that mona was referring to that we're going to celebrate this Sunday -- this coming weekend, rather, Saturday, I've implemented that and have not just the schools in one district but students, middle school and high school students from six districts representing campuses writing and reflecting in different areas of the father-student relationships.
But the other thing that I want to underscore is the importance of organizations.
What are institutions doing?
And I'm very big on the notion of systems changes, because what you do as an institution defines in many ways the structures -- the framework for how citizens see themselves, and so that notion of systems change is very, very important and it's not going to happen if you don't stick with it year after year after year after year and adapt and adapt and adapt so you can have relevant, relevant, relevant impact.
And so I don't want to take too much of your time, but I just wanted you to see with text what it is that we've accomplished, how it ties in with the tremendous work, the consistent work and dedication of river city youth foundation here in Austin, and how it has gone on to have impact in south Texas where I work primarily but across the nation.
And we're going to keep on working and pushing.
I'm working with four more districts in south Texas, you can see from the handout I gave you, and we're having another essay contest, and this essay contest question is tied in already with the changes in the star testing that is now being implemented in the public education, i.e.
The notion of rigor, the notion of readiness and I've integrated and challenging kids of this size to think, okay, what as I the child -- what do I see is something universities can do to make dad more involved with education.
That's a big challenge for kids like these to have, to think that way.
But that's the kind of world that they're in, and that's why we're raising the standards and have higher expectations and that's my way through my organization in collaboration and cooperation with other organizations to raise the civic environments and community environments to make everybody reach higher and push harder and have an impact on more effective communities and educational systems. I want to thank you very much for this community.
I hope you come out to the annual feardz parade and listen to these readings which are powerful and moving and know that there is huge impact beyond what you see at river city youth foundation.
Thank you very much.

>> Thank you.

>> And thank you so much.
Again.
A round of applause.

>> [applause] and you mentioned higher education, and as we were waiting very patiently in the audience, someone was mentioning something about college and people were talking about graduating from college, but mikey said something that was very important.
Mikey, didn't you just pass to the, what, first grade.
That's right.

>> Very good.

>> And so it's not going to be too, too far from now that we'll see him going to college, okay?
But he said it right.
He said, first we have to go to first grade.
That's right.
And so there's the chickee pitas, they're tiny until right over here this beautiful young man who I used to be able to carry, and there he is, and he is now what?

>> 14.

>> 14 years old, and definitely destined for college, and his dad was just interviewed by (inaudible) this morning.
The dads that are getting involved are making a difference, and the research shows that it translates into better grades, better lives, okay?
This isn't pie in the sky.
This is real good effort, community effort, with soul and with heart.
So I thank you for the opportunity to come here.

>> Thank you.

>> I wanted to come out and seriously walk the parade, walk the hill, la loma on pleasant valley, right?
And come and have a rasp ac, a snow cone, and listen to congressman doggett because he's going to be our keynote that day.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you again.
Everyone give yourself a round of applause.

>> [applause]

>> All in favor?
That passes by unanimous vote.

>> Thank you.

>> Keep up the good work.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you for coming by.

>> Let me take a couple quick items and then we'll call up the ones that may require a little discussion.

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