What follows is the text of Mayor Heartwell's State of the City address of January 2004:
January 24, 2004
Good morning
I am delighted to have such an outstanding audience this morning for my first State of the City Address. Annually the mayor speaks to the citizens of our city using the occasion to highlight challenges and accomplishments and to set goals. This speech, above all others a mayor gives during the course of the year, should paint a compelling vision for the future, a bold challenge to the entire community to accomplish a worthy goal.
In this sense, my first State of the City Address is not that different from those of my predecessors. Generations of mayors have used this pulpit to unite the community behind a challenging objective. The State of the City Address is the signal flag for community engagement, the first rallying cry to bring citizens to the front lines.
In another sense, this Address is quite different from those of my predecessors -- at least, from those of the modern era. I have chosen to deliver the State of the City here at
The first challenge a mayor has in delivering this annual address is to choose the topic. It ought to be weighty: a threat to our community or a grand opportunity to take us to a higher level of excellence. It ought to be a topic that challenges and inspires people. Finally, it ought to be a topic that is germane to city government but that has wide-reaching implications for other systems of our community.
Today's topic meets these tests.
Of all our community assets none is as valuable as our children. And no issue is more central to our children than education. I have chosen today to speak about the interdependent relationship between the City of Grand Rapids and the Grand Rapids Public Schools, to propose new possibilities for partnership, to challenge citizens to engage individually in supporting a future of excellence for the public schools, and to call on all sectors of the community -- business and labor, neighborhoods, colleges and universities --to join city government and a growing number of community partners in realizing a vision for educational excellence for all our children.
There may be those who say, "Heartwell, your most pressing issue ought to be the role of the city in the region." To them I say that is exactly what this speech is about.
Next Thursday when I speak to the downtown Rotary Club about the importance of the city of
There may also be those who say, "Heartwell, your most pressing issue ought to be the local economy." To them I say that is exactly what this speech is about. We must prepare our young people to assume the complex, demanding jobs that we want to attract to our community. Employers need to know that a sophisticated workforce awaits them here, trained and eager to take the high-tech, high-pay jobs they offer. Furthermore, to those businesses considering relocation to
On February 24th I will speak to the Economics Club of Grand Rapids and set forth my vision for a strong economy in our city. You can bet that education will play a prominent role in that speech.
Finally, there may be those who say, "Heartwell, your most pressing issue ought to be the City budget." To them I say that what I propose today is a long-term approach to a complex problem. Good reform takes time. Collaboration requires patience. We must be prepared to stay the course. Yes, we have enormous challenges before us as we pare the City organization to fit the current revenues. I intend to work with the Commission and City Manager to develop a thoughtful, balanced budget. But while we do this work we do not have the luxury of ignoring other problems facing us; nor may we walk away from partners who need us.
The education of our children is of paramount importance to the community. We cannot be the great city we envision if we do not have great public schools. Our futures are inescapably intertwined.
Our city has an important tradition of strong non-public schools. Indeed, 40% of school age children in
A strong, healthy city will help them keep families from fleeing to the suburbs. The initiatives I will describe today are directed principally to the public schools. However, what's good for the public schools will be good for the city; and what's good for the city will be good for all schools --public and non-public alike.
The needs of the Grand Rapids Public Schools are obvious to us. We see the old, deteriorating buildings and we read about low test scores. What may be less obvious is the incredible progress that the schools are making. You may not be able to see up close the dedication of skilled teachers, the creative work of the Board of Education, or the administrative mastery of the Superintendent and his staff. What I can tell you as one who has moved in close to observe the public schools is this: teachers are teaching, kids are learning, and the scant resources available are being used judiciously. I view our schools as challenged. I do not view them as failing. What I offer today is a rallying place for us as a community to embrace our public schools with the commitment and necessary supports to help our children succeed.
I will present you with a vision in three parts. First I will challenge us to a higher standard of community literacy; second I will propose operating partnerships between City and schools, and third I will unveil a new initiative, months in the development, called Education Renewal Zones.
Literacy
Superintendent Bleke and the Grand Rapids School Board are on the right path in their single-minded focus on reading in the schools.
The recently reorganized Student Advancement Foundation has chosen literacy as a key focus area in support of the school district's goal. The Foundation is raising resources for library and classroom materials.
Furthermore, volunteers from the community are coming into the school buildings to mentor children and to tutor them in reading. The HOSTS program is a partnership between Heart of West Michigan United Way and the GRPS. Volunteers in the HOSTS program give one-half hour each week for tutoring a student in reading.
Fritz Crabb, the Director of the program at
The City of
I know what Susan means. I serve as a HOSTS mentor at Southwest Community Campus (
Southwest Community Campus HOSTS Coordinator Joy Larink, who is also here this morning, always makes sure that materials are available and the lesson plan for the day is clear. She makes my job easy. HOSTS needs more volunteers. Before you leave here today see Fritz Crabb of
If we are going to expect our children to become readers then we adults must also make reading a part of our lives. The same NEA report I cited earlier states "Teachers should be supported by parents, skilled education support personnel, [and] communities that value and promote reading."
80% of the brain's development occurs in the first three years of life. Without the stimulation of hearing stories read aloud, a child's brain will not develop to its full potential.
The long-term implications of this are obvious. These children grow to become adults who do not read for themselves and do not read to their children. When one in five of us is functionally illiterate the community suffers. Civic engagement suffers. Economic vitality is hampered.
The Department of Labor estimates that illiteracy costs the nation over $225 billion per year. Because illiteracy is higher in urban areas we bear the greater share of the economic burden. Therefore,
Today I place the full support of my office behind an emerging initiative called Grand Rapids Reads. Kent County Literacy Council Executive Susan Ledy is one of the key players in this new project along with staff of
I have asked for and been granted a key role in designing and promoting the work of Grand Rapids Reads. As your mayor I will encourage this coalition to share resources and to seek new funding, to reach communities in our city and county who may not have adequate access to literacy services, and to be bold and innovative in addressing the problem of illiteracy.
I will work with Governor Granholm to establish literacy as a priority goal for
We have a marvelous resource in
President Olivarez and I will soon announce a local Literacy Summit to collaborate and leverage our community resources for improvement on literacy issues. We will collect the key players in this field to strategize a long-term, sustainable initiative to bring down the illiteracy rate in
Making
Partnerships
Working in partnership is one of the abiding strengths of our community. When wecome up against confounding problems and thorny issues we have learned that working together is better than going it alone. When the industrial sector came face-to-face with the challenge of globalization the Right Place Inc. created a Manufacturer's Council. The group -- many of whom are competitors -- found that working collaboratively increased market share and improved productivity. When the health care sector discovered that in some neighborhoods of
Partnership isn't easy --partners in each of these three ventures can tell you about high points and low points -- but partnership is essential to getting the job done.
We're sitting in a space that would never have come to be without partnership, without substantial investment by both public and private sectors. If partnership works here, if it works on bio-solids, in Baxter, and in our urban and suburban industrial areas, then why shouldn't we make it work for our public schools?
Let me give you some data before answering that question.
You have at your place this morning graphic evidence of the need for City and Schools collaboration: the just-published data book of the Office of Children, Youth and Families, a productive five year partnership of the City and the Schools. You are the first public audience to see this data collected as it is. Let me highlight a few facts from the book. Over 20% of our citys children live in families that are below the poverty level. 20,000 of our children depended for their nutrition on food pantries last year. 70% of our public school children are eligible for free and reduced price lunches. 31% of the children tested for lead poisoning in our lowest income zip code area tested at medical intervention levels. And 37% of the potential GRPS graduating class of 2000 dropped out of school between 9th and 12th grades.
These are numbers to be sure; but the children behind the numbers also have faces. They have names. They have dreams. They have futures. If they are to reach their full potential we must come together as a community in ways we haven't done before.
I propose a new and improved relationship between the community and the GRPS, and I pledge the efforts of the Office of Mayor to help forge this relationship. We need to come together as a community in support of our public schools or, as a community we will suffer the continued demise of our children. This is my call to action to each and every one of you. Together we must invest in our children, raise the standard of quality in our school buildings and playgrounds, and dedicate the resources to make a positive difference in the lives of every one of our city's children.
.
The
The Expanded Learning Opportunities Initiative with 118 community partners has been working diligently to ensure our children have quality learning and enrichment opportunities after the school bell rings.
So too, City government is stepping up to the plate and will assume a new partnership role with the schools. I have assembled a team of City and GRPS staff to explore the full range of possibilities for joint operating partnerships. Cost savings that might be derived from partnership will benefit both parties, as we struggle with diminished financial resources. Examples of shared operating functions might include: recreation facilities and programming, property management, and certain business functions. The City and Schools will leave no stone unturned in seeking ways to use operating partnerships to maximize the tax resources available to us.
Educational Renewal Zones
Another key piece of City/Schools partnership will be the creation of an Education Renewal Zone for
Education Renewal Zone is a concept developed through a community reform design process. The Education Reform Initiative, convened by the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, Frey Foundation and Steelcase Foundation spent over two years researching effective school reform models and designing a plan of reform for education. The broad-based citizen group that carried out this work conceived the idea of Education Renewal Zones in its 2002 Straight A Plan for Education Reform.
Let me tell you what an Education Renewal Zone would do for our children in the public schools.
First, an ERZ will assist us in focusing public resources that support children and families in school facilities. Public sector partners such as the FIA, the Kent County Health Department and the Kent County Mental Health Department will provide services in the school buildings to the neediest children and families. On a pilot basis we have already begun this work. Andy Zylstra, Director of the Kent County FIA has a social worker in
Not only public partners like FIA and Community Mental Health but also private partners would staff programs in each school under the Education Renewal Zone. United Way human services agencies, arts and cultural organizations, and mentoring initiatives would have a home for after-school and evening programs and an integrated plan for service delivery.
Second, an ERZ would generate new resources to support academic performance and student achievement. The initiative will enable the schools to reach children of pre-school (0-5 years) age with a variety of learning and brain-development experiences. It is critical to a child's development that they receive stimulation when they are young. If we can reach these children early the likelihood of their succeeding in school rises dramatically. Partners are in place to make this happen. What we need are the financial resources and program coordination to maximize the impact on our youngest learners.
Under the proposal ERZ schools would get funding for an extended learning day and school year. Paid staff and volunteers would work together in reading and other after-school projects and in summer programs that promote continuous learning and positive life models.
Also under ERZ the secondary school system would receive certain one-time state funding to support the efforts of the Superintendent and School Board to create small high schools with nimble academic curriculum and focused staff resources.
To build and manage the framework of public/private partnerships required to support the activities of the ERZ, the City of
This latter is perhaps the boldest element of the ERZ plan and will require a substantial community dialogue --beginning today -- to move forward. In keeping with the recommendations of the Education Reform Initiative's Straight A Plan, I propose the creation of both public and private capital financing options for the GRPS.
Like other elements of the Education Renewal Zone proposal this one will require state enabling legislation. That is why I am delighted to note the presence in the audience today of Senator Wayne Kuipers, Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema and Senator Bill Hardiman whose district includes all of the city of Grand Rapids. Also present and essential to passing this legislative package are State Representatives Jerry Kooiman, Michael Sak, Glenn Steil Jr., and Jim Koetje. These legislators will take on the burden of shaping and debating the legislation to permit the bold initiatives that will give us the tools we need to renew our public schools.
Let me simply sketch for you the elements of this financing plan.
First, it would create new private sector financing opportunities. It would establish a set of incentives for attracting investment capital to public school facilities. In much the same way that partnerships are created to invest in low-income housing in return for income tax relief we will appeal to individuals, corporations, and institutional investors to finance rehabilitation of school buildings using income tax and single business tax credits for these investments.
Second, legislation would permit new forms of public investment in the schools. At the correct point in time the City of
The concept is simple: economic growth pays for itself. Great schools will substantially improve overall property values. I propose to dedicate some portion of that growth to reinvestment in the schools. This would not require a tax increase. It is predicated on the concept that growth-pays-for-growth and it is anchored in my personal belief that the future of the city and that of its schools are inseparable. Together we will excel, or together we will slowly die.
All the literature I have read on being a successful Mayor advises me to pick low-hanging fruit. Enjoy early successes with small initiatives. Build your support base gradually by showing your effectiveness.
By supporting this initiative I am ignoring that good counsel. Education Renewal Zone financing is not low-hanging fruit.
But let me tell you a story. I followed the photographers around when the images were taken for the data book. I got an eyeful at
I didn't seek this job to pick low-hanging fruit!
I sought this job to make a difference in the lives of kids and families in Grand Rapids: to improve the quality of life for all of us, to make certain that no childs self esteem -- not to mention their health -- has to suffer by playing the clarinet over the hiss of a boiler in a school basement.
In his book Savage Inequalities Jonathan Kozol wrote:
It is a matter of national pride that every childs ship be kept afloat. Otherwise our nation would be subject to the charge that we deny poor children public school. But what is encompassed by the one word ("school") are two very different kinds of institutions--children in one set of schools are educated to be governors; children in the other set of schools are trained for being governed. The former are being given the imaginative range to mobilize ideas for economic growth; the latter are provided with the discipline to do the narrow tasks the first group prescribes--by our schooling patterns, we assure that soldiers' children are more likely to be soldiers and that the offspring of the generals will have at least the option to be generals.
From this day forward, let it not be so in
Ours is a community that cares about children. We understand that they are our future, our most important community asset. We must be certain that our care extends to all children, not just to our own, not just to those in our neighborhood, in our social circle.
All these precious children belong to the community and it is up to the community to see to their well-being.
Friends this is the state of our city. We are balanced on the precipice of opportunity. This city has more going for it today than it has at any time in the last four decades. We can step from this precipice and soar or we can fall to ignominious destruction.
The spirit of this community says, "Soar! Reach new heights! Achieve further greatness!"
We can only do it together. There is no option of leaving some part of us behind. Our history -- our tradition -- is one of taking bold, concerted action to accomplish great visions. There is no vision greater than our children's success. Today we dedicate ourselves to the children, to all the children--to all the children.
May God grant us the courage to walk this way together. Thank you.