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Councilman Greg Stanton's
Arcadia News Column
February 2002
Phoenix committed to keeping kids in school
As chair of Phoenix's Education and Youth Subcommittee, I am proud of the city's partnerships with schools. We support educators' efforts to give young people the best opportunity to succeed. Each year, the city invests $60 million in support of schools and youth programs. The money goes for after-school services, social and recreational programs, court diversion programs, volunteer activities and special awards, such as the city of Phoenix Young Man/Young Woman of the Year Award.
But recently a report came out indicating there is more we need to do. The U.S. Department of Education recently reported Arizona has the worst dropout rate in the nation.
The dropout issue is not just an education problem. It will take the support of families and the whole community. For Phoenix to stay competitive economically and to maintain our quality of life, we must tackle the dropout problem head-on.
I will chair the "Graduate Phoenix" Task Force to determine how our youth programs can better be used to confront the dropout problem. The task force will be co-chaired by Raul Cardenas, Jr., a respected educator at Arizona State University. It will be comprised of a broad cross-section of community, business and education leaders. Its charge is simple: How can the city of Phoenix youth programs be more supportive to schools in preventing young people from dropping out of schools?
The "Graduate Phoenix" Task Force will develop specific policies to be adopted by the mayor and City Council by the end of April this year.
Because of the unique relationship that the city has with youth - from police to fire to recreation to a variety of youth advisory committees -- we are in the position of offering help to keep youth in schools. By making this a priority, it will pay long-term dividends for our community.
If you have any questions, please give me a call at 602-262-7491 or send an e-mail with your comments to greg.stanton@phoenix.gov.
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