As our first day came to an end, we attended another fantastic Houston World Affairs Council event at the Amegy Tower featuring Joel Simon, who discussed topics from his book Infodemic regarding censorship associated with COVID-19. As a nice bonus, we also had a chance to meet former LEAP Ambassador Esme Mata, who after graduating from SHSU, went to the Bush School at TAMU, and is now working for Harris County. And we had a chance to see Amegy Tower for the first time!
As we know, COVID-19 is still a very controversial and confusing topic, but Simon–with skillful moderating by Ronan O’Malley–was able to articulate how the COVID-19 pandemic led to various types of censorship across the globe.
The most fascinating subject Simon talked about was how some countries installed tracking apps on their subjects’ phones, so that they could see where they travel, whom they interact with, and whether they have potentially been exposed to COVID. If a person has interacted with a COVID patient, that individual is given mandates to stay at home or go to quarantine, and if they don’t, they can be fined or otherwise penalized. In some cases–as in Russa–individuals were given notifications in the middle of the night, and if they did not respond in time, they were assumed to have broken quarantine, and fined.
It was interesting to learn more about how other nations responded to the pandemic and how censorship policies, in most cases, hurt their country.
One item of particular interest was the importance of local news and leadership. National news figures and media have the “reach,” but they lack the trust, the sense of shared identification with locals. Local newspapers, local reporters, and local leaders share that identity, but almost thirty years after the advent of the internet, they no longer exist in many communities. They lack the reach. So, citizens were not getting information from people they trusted in many cases, and they also lacked information that the national media could not give: such as where to go locally for vaccines, or where medical supplies could be purchased, and the like.
The whole experience was very informative and easy to understand and Simon’s answers to our questions were very knowledgeable regarding censorship, which I appreciated.
After Simon spoke, we were able to get a signed copy of his book, followed by a picture! It was a great opportunity to see old friends (LEAP students and WAC staff), learn something new (from Joel Simon), and make new friends (Esme Mata).
Although summer is often a time for students taking time off, Izabella (Bella) Urbani, Isabel Behm, former LEAP Ambassador Quinn Kobrin, and the LEAP Ambassadors braved the Houston summer traffic to attend The World Affairs Council Event “Combating Venezuela’s Refugee Crisis.”
We were excited to be invited to the Palm Restaurant, a nice steakhouse in downtown Houston. We ventured through the dining room and into a private room that was decorated with murals featuring scenes of Houston.
The room was full of doctors and medical professionals from Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation, Chevron employees, and interested citizens of Houston. Jessica, Saara, and I introduced Bella and Isabel to Sandija Bayot, the Chief Development Officer for WAC, and someone we can always count on for a warm greeting.
Maryanne Maldonado, the Executive Director of the World Affairs Council…
Before actually speaking on the topic, Dr. Mizwa, offered us a friendly greeting of “Go Bearkats,” and then moved to an introduction of our featured speaker: Ana Maria Galvis, the Executive Director of Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation, Colombia.
Galvis began by explaining some of the issues that Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) face. However, Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation Colombia operates somewhat differently than traditional NGOs. The program is run and operated by Colombians and, although the overall program objective is to promote health, they can’t do that without addressing related issues. Thus, they focus on four major issues: health, food, education, and nutrition.
Recently, there has been an influx of Venezuelans migrating to Columbia; many of whom require immediate or long-term medical care. The employment rate in La Guajira (a Department of Colombia0 is 26.1 % and only one-third have visas. To provide aid to the incoming Venezuelans, the current President of Colombia has offered 10-year permits. Galvis said this has helped to reduce the number of undocumented migrants, but there is still work to be done to track their medical needs.
Since the program is an NGO, it is held to a different standard than the privately funded healthcare centers. Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation Colombia offers 25 health certified services, and they have a dedication to “not just treating the illness, [but] treating the human being.”
Since 2014 the program has provided treated 12,400 patients, administered 7,000 vaccinations, and is the only NGO in Colombia authorized to provide the Covid-19 vaccination. The program has done amazing work to provide aid for the current crisis, and their approach is what we, as social science majors, also aim for: the help communities, not just individuals.
The event was enormously educational, and it also moved us out of our comfort zones, prompting us to converse with professionals over lunch, discussing topics with which we aren’t overly familiar.
It is a recipe for growth, and one we enjoyed very much.
One of the many wonderful programs offered by the Annette Strauss Institute at the University of Texas at Austin is the Texas Civic Ambassadors program, which I was fortunate to be selected for last year. I was one of approximately 30 such students selected, and this past weekend, many of us descended on Austin to participate in the TCA’s closing ceremonies.
I was able to meet with people from El Paso, the Rio Grande Valley, north Texas, and I, of course, represented SHSU and East Texas.
The Institute brought in public servants to speak to us, including Austin’s Mayor, Steve Adler and Matt Glazer. Both provided insights into civic engagement, from Adler’s discussion of how he tackled a pandemic in Austin, and Glazer discussed how change occurs–by caring, by being present, by stepping up, contributing, being accountable, advocating, and planning.
While we learned from these public servants, we also learned from each other. Each TCA presented their project and what progress they have made thus far. It included creating a Latinx open house, voter registration drives, getting junior high and high schoolers civically involved, and the like.
My project, Beyond Bars, focuses explicitly on civically educating the students at Sam Houston and the citizens of Huntsville on the incarceration process–from arrest, to prosecution, to incarceration and alternatives to incarceration, to rehabilitation and reentry.
Along with listening to one another, we also had the opportunity to network with TCA alumni and other people who have significantly impacted our state with various nonprofit organizations.
To top off our ceremony, we didn’t leave without getting a taste of Austin at Kerbey Lane; this gave us a chance to say our goodbyes but never forgot our love for engagement.
I am incredibly grateful for the various opportunities I have been given in this program, and I will continue to use what I have learned at Annette Strauss Institute on my path of continuing civic engagement.
Each Spring the LEAP Center partners with the Huntsville Public Library to provide a free citizenship preparatory course to aid immigrants in their naturalization process. This year, our program covered late March and all of April, and after two years of COVID, we had a smaller sized–but enthusiastic–class, led by Professor Mike Yawn, HPL intern Jocelyn Vazquez (and her supervisor, Mary Kokot), and the LEAP Ambassadors as volunteers.
Overall, we had about a dozen members representing several countries such as Mexico, El Salvador, and Canada! For the first meeting, Professor Yawn had everyone introduce themselves before he discussed the process of becoming a citizen and gave a rundown of the course–as well as the Naturalization interview and exam.
The course runs for five weeks, with each week covering a different era or topic addressed by the Civics portion of the Naturalization Exam. Professor Yawn spends about 20 minutes going over an era or a topic, and then we, as volunteers, break into groups and work directly with the immigrants.
There are 100 questions that can be asked as part of the civics exam, and the USCIS officer will ask up to ten of them (randomly selected), with the immigrant needing to get six of them correct to pass. These questions can range from questions about US History, to questions about holidays, to questions about governmental structure or even geographic features of the country (e.g. “What is one of the two longest rivers in the United States?”).
This year, we had a couple of special guests. On Week Four, we had Rosa Martinez from USCIS come in on Zoom and answer questions.
And, on Week 5, we had immigration Robert Cates join us, and he proved to be a favorite of the class. He went through the nuances of the process, some pitfalls, and some tips for going through that process. The night was also pleasant, in that we had some catering done, including desserts by Sam’s Table.
We concluded this evening, and the formal portion of the course, with group photos.
But, additional work continues. Jessica and Morgan, for example, assisted one of the students on some last minute questions, and Roxana Woychesin earned her citizenship!
In addition, one of our volunteers and LEAP Ambassadors, Saara Maknojia, got the call for her interview shortly after our course ended.
In addition to being a morale boost for our volunteerism, it was also a good reminder that a lot of work goes into citizenship for those not born here, and that our rights and obligations should not be taken for granted!
With the primary run-off elections around the corner, the Walker County Republican Party hosted a Candidate Forum for residents on May 10th at the H.E.A.R.T.S. Veteran Museum of Texas, allowing the residents of Walker County to hear from the candidates one last time. And, if residents weren’t able to attend in person, the Huntsville Item lived streamed it so that almost everyone could be informed.
LEAP Ambassadors Morgan, Heather Erin, and I helped with check-in, while candidates also manned tables highlighting their candidacies. Ms. Mckenzie introduced things.
Despite being the quietest of the group–or, in fact, any group–I was asked by Ms. Mckenzie to say the pledges.
The questions for the forum were submitted by members of the community, out of which only seven were selected by a committee for each office: County Judge and District 12 State Representative.
Judge Tracy Sorensen was the moderator for both, which was nice, because we always enjoy the opportunity to see and spend time with her. In fact, she recently spoke at our Pre-Law Society and hooded our graduating members.
In this forum, each candidate had two minutes to respond to the questions. These questions varied from state and county-specific issues, depending on the race, to why they thought they were the best candidate for the position they were running for which they had three minutes to answer.
Morgan assisted in keeping time and informing the candidates how much time they had left.
The first to go were the candidates for state representative of District 12, Kyle Kacal and Ben Bius, followed by Colt Christian and a representative for Mr. Frank Olivares (Olivares was ill not able to attend personally)
Election day is on May 24th, however, why wait? Early voting opened yesterday, May 16th, and closes on Friday, May 20th. Be sure to get your vote in!
If you have 30 promising freshmen together in one place, it’s a good bet that the Freshmen Leadership Program (FLP) is involved. If those freshmen are involved in a civic engagement exercise, the LEAP Center may be part of the proceedings. The collaboration of these two offices, under the stewardship of Lindsay Lauher and Mike Yawn, led to a Mock City Council in Council Chambers on a Wednesday afternoon late in the spring semester.
“We are always looking to push students’ leadership skills,” noted Lauher, “and civic leadership is a key component of our program.”
The Council meeting involved students adopting various roles: angry citizens, media officials, city council, and city staff—all of which involved a deep dive into public policy. In particular, the council members of Mockville, Texas, explored the possibility of “legalizing cannabis” and “implementing an extensive wellness program” for City staff. Both, as one might imagine, were controversial.
In addressing the legalization of cannabis, for example, students had to assess the health ramifications (Public Health Director), the impact such a policy would have on crime (Chief Public Safety Officer), the legality of a city moving against a state law (City Attorney) as well as the political implications (Council members) of the ordinance.
Students initially thought that a wellness program might be less controversial, but questions of privacy slowed down the proceedings. The ordinance involved “free” Fitbits provided to all City of Mockville employees, with the hope that this recourse might offer helpful reminders to stay healthy. But devices such as Fitbits also collect a lot of information about the wearer: exercise habits, sleep habits, location, and, in some cases, both dietary routines and sexual health. Putting that information in the hands of employers met with resistance among the council members.
Apart from the policy issues, however, perhaps what most impressed the students was the difference between their perceptions and the reality of a council-manager form of government. Tristen Anderson, a freshman Criminal Justice major and “Mayor” during the proceedings, was surprised at how little power the mayor had: “On television, you see these super powerful mayors, but that’s just not the case in most cities.” This realization, he noted, “changed my entire perspective on that type of politics, perhaps even to the point of seeking out such an office later in life.”
Jared Scott, a freshman Accounting major, agreed. “I enjoyed the whole experience, and although I am an Accounting major, I hope to run for City Council in whichever city I settle down in.” For one of the sessions, Scott did serve as a “Council member,” while serving as “City Manager” in the other session. Both impressed him, and, in fact, Scott was so struck by the experience, he actually attended the next City of Huntsville Council meeting, just to compare it to his experience. “All in all,” he continued, “I learned a lot from this activity, and I’m glad that both the LEAP Center and FLP are open to students of all majors.”
“It’s a pleasure to work with high-achieving students,” said Yawn, “and I think good things happen when offices on the academic side of things (LEAP) collaborate with offices on the student affairs side of things (FLP). We all have the same broad mission.”
The FLP offers rich learning opportunities to test, refine, and further develop the leadership abilities of first-year students. For information, contact Lindsay Lauher at lindsay@shsu.edu or 294-2347. The Center for Law, Engagement, And Politics offers students unique activities that promote the public good. For information, contact Mike Yawn at mike.yawn@shsu.edu or 294-1456.
For our last meeting of the semester, we had a guest speaker, Judge Tracy Sorensen from Walker County Court at Law. In addition to presenting, Judge Sorensen also provided all of our graduating students with their stoles, and was our official lottery master for various prizes.
To start the conversation, Judge Sorensen spoke about the 10th court of appeals trials that were held here at Sam Houston last week. People were able to ask her questions about the cases and her thoughts on them, and she gave her honest, thoughtful opinion.
Judge Tracy went to South Texas College of Law, and she talked of when she began her practice. She knew she wanted to come back to Huntsville after law school. She was particularly interested in family law, so that is what she focused on. Her first contested hearing, which was in family law, made her pretty nervous, primarily because her opposing counsel was a veteran attorney who was about 6’6″, more than a foot taller than Judge Sorensen! That attorney, Don Kramer, however, ended up mentoring her and being a great friend and, later, a District Judge.
Professor Yawn served as moderator asked, “How do you have the conversation with your clients on how to dress in court?”
She tells her clients to wear their “Sunday Best,” but that does not always work… She told a story about how in a jury trial her client wore a Houston Rockets outfit and said that was what he wears to church. The court coordinator continued the case because he just could not be seen before the judge in shorts. She started telling her clients to bring what they are going to wear a week before the trial to combat this issue.
Professor Yawn then inquired, “Tell us about the times when your client has lied to you and how you dealt with it.”
This is a major problem for defense attorneys, and she has dealt with it on matters of child custody, divorce, as well as criminal matters. In some cases, you just have to have a backup plan to prepare for the worst in case they aren’t fully honest.
Richard Tran, following up on Judge Sorensen’s admission that she hadn’t been the best student, asked: “How did you move from ‘not the greatest student’ to a judge”?
Her response was a lesson in not digging a hole for yourself. She had a poor first semester, got some bad advising, and then spent the rest of her time in education digging herself out. Despite this rough start, she was offered a great job with an energy company when she graduated, but then the energy market collapsed (following the Enron debacle), and the job offer was withdrawn. And this, as it turns out, was what led her to law school.
Following her wonderful presentation, Judge Sorensen did something we’ve never done before: she “hooded” our graduates.
And this included our President, Heather Barodi, who very successfully led the organization her final year.
Another thing we haven’t done–at least not recently–is take a group photo. So, we did, and got our first photo since 2016!
Although we had spent a day in the nation’s capital, this was our first day of the conference, and we were a bit unsure of what would follow. But we were greeted by friendly Colonial figures, putting us in a light mood.
NLC Opening General Session
The National League of Cities Conference (NLC) exists to educate and inform the public about the work of cities, but it also serves as an in-house informational resource for the cities across the country. And no gathering is larger than the Congressional City Conference in Washington, DC, where hundreds of local officials gather to learn, educate, and cooperate. A theme of this conference is the Biden Administration’s “American Rescue Plan” (ARP) and how cities can use it to make their localities better.
We were greeted by numerous officials from some of the largest cities in the United States. Mayor Victoria Woodards of Takoma, Washington, as NLC’s first vice president, set the stage by emphasizing the importance of local officials–which, as interns for the City of Huntsville, we were aware of!
The introductory speakers, many from the Executive Branch, described how hard the White House had worked to ensure ARP funds made it to the cities directly. Julia Chavez Rodriguez, for example, went even further, noting that rescue acts under the previous administration didn’t go as far as ARP, but with the distribution of ARP funds, more cities would be benefitting.
Gene Sperling, Senior Advisor to the President, also extolled the virtues of ARP, noting that unemployment had declined to 3.8%, but he took a more assertive tone with some in the media and to states giving tax breaks–“which were only possible because of the funds coming in from ARP”.
The conference did a good job of making one and half-hour time slots go quickly–different panels were moved quickly in and out to provide diversity in topics, intro and outro music greeted each speaker, and the sessions were punchy and direct, sometimes reverting to soundbites.
The caliber of speakers, however, was top notch. One brief panel, for example, included Andy Berke (US Department of Commerce; former Mayor of Chattanooga), Carlton Waterhouse (Deputy Administrator of the EPA), Samantha Silverberg (Deputy of Infrastructure Implementation with the White House), and Victoria Woodards (Mayor of Tacoma, WA and VP of NLC). In fact, we enjoyed being in one of the world’s largest selfies with Mayor Woodards!
Homelessness in Focus: Local Government Roles in Intervention and Prevention
Jessica Cuevas
Some of the ambassadors chose to attend a session led by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Senior Advisor Richard Cho, Case Manager Jeff Olivet, and the National Alliance to End Homelessness CEO Nan Roman. They spoke on homelessness and the roles of local government following the opening session.
Homelessness has always been an issue, but the amount of homeless people has increased greatly following COVID. Cities such as Boston that had little to no homelessness cases are now seeing alarming rates of them and are currently grappling with this issue.
The funding in a city’s budget to address homelessness is limited and some are struggling with providing them the help and resources needed. Many organizations, programs, and funds have been created during the pandemic and this may help. The intention of newly established programs are designed to help fill in the gap of the missing funds, including the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).
These resources have allowed the community to work together to provide aid and shelters. Also, many governments enacted temporary moratoria on evictions, and governments may also have alleviated pressure through child tax credits.
All three of these insightful speakers came to agree that the key element in reducing homelessness is housing. And once housing is available, cities, according to the speakers, should focus on providing the newly-housed with the resources they need, such as health care, to aid them in being able to sustain their new home.
This has been implemented in cities of which have been or bought motels and hotels to remove the homeless of the streets. By offering them a safe space, these cities have seen a reduction in the number of homeless. Of course, this costs a lot of money, which goes back to resources…
Closing the Digital Divide
Morgan Robertson
Professor Yawn and I chose to attend Closing the Digital Divide: Leveraging Federal Resources for Broadband, Digital Equity. The topic was heavily based on the importance of providing broadband for the underserved and underdeveloped.
The panel included five experts who are making great strides within this area: Julia Pulidindi, Kirk Burgee, Van Johnson, Christopher Mitchell, and Olivia Wein.
The first to speak was Julia Pulidindi from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Pulidindi presented an overview of the Infrastructure Act that allowed $65 billion for broadband funding intended to be administered in four different avenues: Bead, Digital Equity, Tribal, and the Middle Mile.
The Chief of Staff for The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Kirk Burgee, split his speech into two parts: digital mapping and data flow. The update on the progress of broadband and how it has developed was very insightful for my understanding of the topic. The data flow is split into groups, for instance, the FCC receives data from providers, tribal data, and local data which is beneficial because of the specificity involved.
Christopher Mitchell is a Director at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and much like his company’s name suggests, his primary goal is for everyone to have reliable and affordable internet. Mitchell spoke on the importance of the use of partnerships particularly for small cities.
The last panelist to speak was Olivia Wein, a Staff Attorney with National Consumer Law Center (NCLC).
Wein emphasized on the importance of broadband, why it is a necessity, and went into more detail regarding the Eligibility Criteria for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). There are a few of different benefits that households can receive through ACP, but they are limited to one of each kind. One ACP service, one ACP connected device and one lifeline benefit.
The topic got pretty detailed, but the key message was clear: in a rapidly advancing technological society, the gap between the digital haves and digital have nots grows, and it grows fast. Implementing programs, especially in rural areas for those who don’t have, is key to reducing inequality in the nation.
President Joe Biden
Erin Juarez
One speaker during the day wasn’t like other speakers. When President Biden was scheduled to speak, things changed considerably. Everyone was ordered out of the Marquis Salon, the room was swept, and then all the attendees lined up to go through security, allowing them to re-enter the room.
The conference hall was electric with excitement as the crowd was anxious to see President Biden. He entered the room to a standing ovation and a loud chorus of cheering as he took the podium to address the audience.
He touched on current ongoing issues, such as the rising cost of gasoline, as well as some of his goals for the United States including a $35-per-month health-care plan for all Americans, and reducing–or even eliminating–taxes for those who make less than $400,000 a year. The President indicated he had reduced the budget by 360 billion, while also overseeing a dramatic reduction in the unemployment rate.
President Biden left on inspirational notes, calling on the city leaders to assist him, and specifically noting that the young are key to his administration’s–and the country’s–success.
It was an absolute honor to have “met” and been within a few feet of President Biden!
Moving Forward with Affordable Housing
Morgan Robertson
Later in the evening, I attended Moving Forward with Affordable Housing: Strategies for Developing and Preservation. The session was led by three panelist who all had slightly different approaches, but all great ideas on ways to combat the issue.
Tony Pickett, the CEO of Grounded Solutions Network, introduced a couple of different ways to help homeowners maintain equity in their property. The first of which was a Community Land Trust. This nonprofit organization is governed by community residents and public representatives to help maintain equity opportunities and community assets. The main idea was centered around offering more mobility opportunities when buying and reselling houses.
Jason Jordan is the Policy & Public Affairs Director for the American Planning Association for Transport, (APA). Jordan presented many different examples on zoning reform that included feedback from the public. With very new statistics from March 2022, Jordan advised to take the newness into account, but also to understand how citizens and the public view zoning reforms.
Amy King is the founder and CEO of Pallet which provides rapid response shelter villages to reduce the number of homeless people on the streets. King’s company acts as a pathway for homeless people to establish a physical address, and after three to six months helps relocate them to permeant housing. This solution has made a major impact along the west coast, but as King stressed, it still has a lot more work to do.
The issue of the lack of affordable housing is not one that has an easy answer. However the work being done by these individuals and their companies and agencies are great strides towards helping resolve this issue.
Pi Pizzeria
Once the last session of the day was finalized, the ambassadors took to the streets of Washington D.C. to a nearby restaurant, Pi Pizzeria. Upon entering we noticed it was a nice, cute little restaurant.
We began with an order of Garlic Knots with marinara sauce as an appetizer and had their delicious Delmar Deep Dish and their thin crust Pi’Napple Pizza, basically Hawaiian with jalapenos.
Today was also their 14th birthday and Pi Day (3.14)!
As we walked back to our hotel, we went through a mini shopping mall area and wandered into Dolcezza Gelato and Coffee for Dessert.
They offered many kinds of Gelato and Sorbet flavors that we had difficulty choosing. After sampling a few flavors, we collectively ordered their Coffee and Cookies, Dark Chocolate, Champagne Mango, Pineapple Honey Lime Sorbet, and Lemon Ricotta Cardamom.
We enjoyed our delightful and flavorful gelato and sorbets that satisfied our sweet tooth as we made our way back to our hotel.
Center for Law, Engagement, and Politics 