Posted Jan 19, 2022, 5:19 pm
Sarah Launius — former chief of employees for the Ward 3 Council workplace beneath Councilmembers Karin Uhlich and Paul Durham — has been tapped to guide the Tucson’s new Group Security, Well being and Wellness program, Mayor Regina Romero introduced Wednesday.
The brand new program was central to Romero’s “State of the Metropolis” speech in December, and duties Launius to work “carefully” with a number of metropolis departments and group teams to “execute the mayor’s imaginative and prescient for group security, well being, and wellness,” metropolis officers stated.
Together with group teams, Launius with work with the town’s public security departments—together with the Police and Fireplace departments and 911
Communications— in addition to metropolis housing, planning and improvement, code enforcement, and metropolis courts.
In 2020, the town launched a pilot program throughout which metropolis officers—together with the mayor’s workplace and the town supervisor’s workplace—carried out greater than 35 listening classes, together with 5 particular to every of the town’s six wards.
Launius served because the chief of employees for Councilman Paul Durham
earlier than he resigned in Feb. 2021, and later labored for his substitute
Karin Uhlich, who did not search election to the workplace final yr. Councilman Kevin Dahl succeeded Uhlich after profitable the 2021 election in November.
“Launius
brings a wealth of expertise constructing coalitions to advance group
security, well being, and wellness for Tucson residents, companies, and
neighborhoods and can proceed the town’s efforts to have interaction with the
group by means of surveys, focus teams, and city halls as this effort
evolves,” stated metropolis officers, including that she has “a confirmed observe
file of constructing inter-departmental and inter-agency efforts to
advance community-driven quality-of-life enhancements.”
“That
contains researching, creating, and coordinating a multi-departmental
group to deal with excessive call-generating vacant and uncared for properties
and efforts to revitalize neighborhood associations in areas of
historic disinvestment, poverty, and crime,” metropolis officers stated.
Earlier than she labored for the town of Tucson, Launius labored with space
nonprofits to “develop and coordinate applications and work in collaborative
coalitions with public businesses to advance shared objectives,” metropolis
officers stated.
“I’m thrilled to be becoming a member of the Group
Security, Well being & Wellness Program developed by Mayor Romero and the
Metropolis Council,” Launius stated. “My expertise working carefully with Tucson
residents to co-develop options to advance their group security
gives an necessary grounding for the visionary work forward.”
Romero
stated she had the “full confidence” that Launius is “the suitable individual to
efficiently information this initiative from program improvement to
implementation.
Town’s new Group Security, Well being and Wellness program was a serious a part of Romero’s December tackle outlining her priorities.
“Our group is intentional about placing fairness and justice on the forefront of housing, local weather, financial improvement and now…group security, well being and wellness,” stated Romeo. “Final spring, we took the daring step of re-imagining what group security will be,” she stated, including that in December the town was partnering with group organizations to
“tackle these points holistically.”
“We all know that to create a vibrant and strong group, we should tackle the foundation causes of violence and crime: poverty, historic disinvestment and lack of financial alternative,” Romero stated, including that the “beneath the umbrella of Group Security, Well being and Wellness, we’re within the strategy of hiring a program director to guide this program.”
Two weeks in the past, the town launched the Reimagining Group Security Survey, a six-month survey program, in partnership with the American Buddies Service Committee, that may search opinions for the town’s Well being and Wellness program.
Town stated that the survey would search to “deal with racial injustice and inequity for communities of coloration,” and would use survey outcomes to “drive progress towards a extra equitable justice system” by in search of viewpoints from communities about what “constitutes security of their neighborhoods.”
“This in depth group outreach and enter are very important for the town of Tucson to higher serve its residents,” metropolis officers wrote. The survey will likely be accepting responses for the subsequent six months.
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