Press Room
TMT Recognizes Local Organizations, Unveils New Education Compact
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan 30, 2003
Contact: Jennifer Sanzi
775-829-2819
jennifer@o-apr.com
Truckee Meadows Tomorrow’s (TMT) honored seven local organizations tonight for the work they’ve done on quality of life indicators over the past year.
Saint Mary’s was named the outstanding overall adopter for their work in multiple areas with a number of indicators. The health care organization encourages parental involvement in schools and works with parents to become effective agents to prevent alcohol and drug use by children with the Parents Against Substance Abuse project. Parent groups have been established in three high schools and over 2,800 students were exposed to prevention activities. Among other activities, Saint Mary’s programs allow seniors and adults to access both computer and health education lectures through the health provider’s Health and Wellness Division. Saint Mary’s also provides a wide variety of lifestyle modification classes and preventive health screenings such as weight loss programs, smoking cessation and heart fitness. Additionally, Saint Mary’s is currently working on a new center focused on risk modification that will include diabetes wellness, cholesterol screenings and a number of different activities.
Recognized in the following categories were:
Economic Vitality: Washoe County Library
TMT cited the library’s arts & culture offerings with their participation in Artown’s River City Storytelling, the National Library Week Chautauqua performances, the Northwest Library’s art gallery, the Wallace Reader’s Digest Youth Storytelling program and collaboration with the Nevada Festival Ballet and Sierra Ballet to offer “Nutcracker” programs to 480 last year.
Education: Children’s Cabinet
The Children’s Cabinet provides GED class instruction in Spanish to help prepare adults for the GED test. ESL (English as a Second Language) classes are offered to provide a basic skill needed to continue long-term educational goals. The Children’s Cabinet also provides assistance to childcare providers in order for them to continue their educational goals because a key indicator to a quality childcare setting is the educational level of the childcare providers. And, the organization works with pre-school children to increase their pre-literacy skills to better prepare them for school.
Health: Sky Tavern Ski Program
This long-standing sports youth program collaborates with the Reno Housing Authority, family resource centers, the Neil Road Sports Coalition and others to provide scholarships to the junior ski program for at risk youth. This enables these participants to enjoy the benefits of education and the healthy lifestyle that skiing offers.
Land Use & Infrastructure: Ridge House
Along with their Reno program, now celebrating its 20th year, this agency last year replicated their local program in Las Vegas. The national average of offenders returning to jail after a year is 68%. Reno’s number is 20% and the first year in Las Vegas was 21%. The Urban Institute nominated the program late last year for a national award for “promising practices”. The organization served for the first seven years as a halfway house for their criminal justice clients and has been a full treatment center for 13 years.
Natural Environment: City of Reno Urban Planning Commission
This volunteer city commission is involved in a number of programs regarding tree planting in general and the protection of existing trees on City of Reno lands. This group sponsors an annual tree-planting day and coordinates on-going public education regarding proper tree care.
Public Safety & Welfare: REMSA
REMSA sponsors the “No Exceptions, No Excuses Nevada Buckles-Up” program which assures seat belt protection for all ages. They also started a Court Diversion Grant, which provides non-compliant parents with education and referrals. REMSA’s Window Flier program educates about children traveling at risk and their Bike Program provides education on bike helmets and safety laws and distributes helmets and bikes to needy children. REMSA’s Ski Helmet program distributes ski helmets at a reduced cost.
TMT also announced a new quality of life compact at this evening’s event. The new Washoe County School District and the Washoe Education Assoc. compact will focus on parental involvement in schools. The compact plans to achieve the following during the next year: increase the number of parent volunteer hours; increase attendance at parent conferences; encourage school participation in the National PTA certification program involving parent involvement; provide professional development for education professionals so that they better utilize parent volunteers in their classrooms and schools; and compile and distribute a “Best Practices” booklet on parental involvement.
Recognized for the work they did on the first two quality of life compacts were Washoe County—for their first compact on natural environment—and the second compact—on Open Space—was a joint effort by the Nevada Land Conservatory, Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful, Hands on Northern Nevada (a United Way program), Sierra Pacific Power Co. and the Girl Scouts of the Sierra.
Tonight’s attendees were able to visit one of the area’s newest elementary schools and enjoy their student choir, the Double Diamond Chorus, while enjoying food and decorations from Scolari’s.
Truckee Meadows Tomorrow is a community-based, non-profit organization that enhances our community’s ability to continually improve our quality of life. It defines, measures and reports on quality of life issues in the area. TMT’s mission is to be an authority, change agent, and advocate in improving the community’s quality of life through collaboration and partnership.