Flag one of best cities for young people
Read this article.Programming for local young people is being recognized with funding and plaudits.
Today, the Coconino Coalition for Children and Youth will celebrate Flagstaff being named as one of the nation's "100 Best Communities for Young People" for its attempts to keep kids and young adults engaged.
Next week, the early childhood education and welfare organization First Things First will hand over nearly $2 million for the state agency's Coconino region programs for the next fiscal year.
More than 300 applications came in from around the country for the "100 Best" honor. The Coconino Coalition for Children and Youth headed up Flagstaff's application, which contained a lengthy list of social support services and positive diversions for youth.
Ruth Ellen Suding, the Coalition's executive director, said it's important for caring adults to be friends and neighbors with youth. She said the "100 Best" title is a testament to the work of many and, it is hoped, a morale-booster.
"It's such a tough time right now for social service providers and for people who are trying to keep programs and activities going, particularly for children and youth," she said. "And with budget cuts and constraints financially I think it was a really good time to highlight all the really great things that we are doing and are able to do."
Suding recognized Nancy Tabor, a sixth-grade teacher at Sinagua Middle School, for assigning all of her students to write an essay about what makes Flagstaff a good place for youth. Suding said she appreciated the effort on the relatively small project.
"It's people like that who push our youth to be better and to be more involved that really makes a difference," she said.
COLLABORATION ON 'TRANSITION' SCHOOL
Recognizing that young people face serious crisis and more adult-like challenges, Flagstaff's application mentioned the variety of services for youth who are abused, runaways, homeless or in jail. That includes the Alternative Center and the Flagstaff Youth Shelter, Project Safe Place and outreach.
Robert Kelty works with at-risk youth as the Coconino County Superintendent of Schools. The "accommodation" school district under his supervision includes the compulsory schools for minors inside the adult and juvenile detention centers, a transition program for youth who have just been released from custody, and the alternative Ponderosa High School (and its sister school in Page, Tse'yaato' High). He said it's unique for the school district to work so closely with the county court system to provide a safety net.
This is the first year Ponderosa made "Adequate Yearly Progress," according to the federal government, and enrollment is up to between 65 and 70. Students are generally between ages 17 and 21, and they may have already dropped out, had a child, or been in jail.
Kelty has held office for about a year. In that time, he has partnered with the Ponderosa High arm and the juvenile court office to create a day program at the court and detention facility that allows recently released offenders to ease back into school.
"I think it's that type of attitude of everyone saying, 'Let's put our best ideas on the table and then implement them and then see if they're going to be successful' that really makes us stand out," he said.
LENGTHY LIST OF SERVICES
The application, at 14 pages long, included student-written essays, a nod to Paula Stefani, an Arizona Daily Sun Citizen of the Year and local child and family advocate, and a wide range of opportunities for youth of diverse backgrounds. Here's a non-exhaustive list:
-- Social, recreational and cultural outlets: the city's "Youthfest;" the YMCA and the Club 4Twelve youth center connected to Grace Fellowship Church; Big Brothers/Big Sisters; scouting; sports leagues; programming for youth through Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG); Outta Your Backpack filmmaking and social justice programs; Girls on the Run; Flagstaff Youth Theater and Theatrikos; the NAU Community School of Music and Dance; and enrichment opportunities with the Second Chance Center for Animals, the Museum of Northern Arizona, Lowell Observatory and Willow Bend Environmental Education Center.
-- Educational: robotics and Odyssey of the Mind teams at many schools; the Kinlani Dormitory that allows students from the nearby reservations to attend school in town; and opportunities for motivated high school students to take classes at Coconino Community College. Flagstaff Unified School District was mentioned for its Teenage Parent Program, Project New Start alternative school, many services for low-income families, the before and after-school FACTS care program and Camp Colton, the sixth-grade science camp.
-- Civic leadership: the city's Flagstaff Youth Advisory Council, the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association's I.A.M. Youth program, Grand Canyon Youth, Teen Court, Project Citizen (which has encouraged kids to research and advocate for real current events, such as bike lanes and school closure), and the Coconino Youth Conservation Corps.
-- Health: the county health department's traveling immunization clinics and dental varnish and fluoride treatments; low-cost checkups from North Country HealthCare and Native Americans for Community Action and Sacred Peaks; Flagstaff Medical Center's Fit Kids and Maternal Child Health programs; the city's youth bike helmet ordinance and Foodlink school gardens and nutrition lessons.
The competition was first held in 2005 and is sponsored by the America's Promise Alliance, which is dedicated to mobilizing Americans to end the high school dropout crisis and prepare young people for college and the 21st century workforce.
Flagstaff will receive a $2,500 grant, signage identifying it as one of the nation's 100 best communities for young people and access to the alliance's community development resources.
Hillary Davis can be reached at
hdavis@azdailysun.com or 556-2261.
$2M to boost early childhood services
The local council of the early childhood wellness-focused First Things First is preparing to divide up its $1.9 million allocation for fiscal year 2013.
Julianne Hartzell is the council chair for the Coconino region. Next week, she will be on hand when the statewide First Things First presents the check.
First Things First is a state agency funded by a voter-approved tobacco tax, with monies having gone toward the KinderCamp kindergarten preparation program, oral health outreach, training for child care providers, childcare scholarships and in home visits to support families. The agency has regional councils, with the Coconino region covering all of Coconino County (aside from the Navajo Nation), Winslow and the Hopi, Kaibab-Paiute and Havasupai tribes. The Navajo Nation has its own council.
The agency builds in lead time - FY13 doesn't begin until next July, and revenues are being collected now for FY2014 - to make sure the money is in hand before it is disbursed. The local team, now aware of how much they have to work with for the coming year, will begin proposing how to spend it this week. The state First Things First board will review and possibly approve the plan in January or February.
Hartzell said the allocation varies every year, depending on a formula that takes into account poverty rates and number of kids in the region. The funding is slightly lower next year compared to this year.
The planning sessions for how to spend next year's money will take several meetings.
"There are so many needs out there and we have to make sure that we're doing the best we can to the best of our ability," she said.
Source:
http://azdailysun.com/news/local/education/flag-one-of-best-cities-for-young-people/article_b3f39e97-7971-5c19-ade0-ef4d91e40f92.htmlLabels: Az Daily Sun, Flagstaff
ADAPT OR DIE
Courtesy of the Arizona Daily Sun
Feb 27, 2011
It is 20 minutes before dawn on a Tuesday morning and there is already a man barking at Valerie Caro.
The local Realtor calmly sifts through one of three stacks of papers piled up on her desk as the man offers positive, real-estate-centric tips with the subtlety of a drill instructor -- all via voicemail.
"You only have yourself to blame if you don't sell today," the man says before hanging up.
Oddly enough, Caro says the daily motivational messages from a Las Vegas-based real estate coach are one of the reasons she is having one of her best years on record as a Realtor.
Her small team sold a total of 83 homes in northern Arizona, a personal best for Caro.
She already has an ambitious goal of selling 17 more than that in 2011 -- an even 100 -- despite less-than-rosy forecasts for the national housing market.
With the overall housing sales flat, Caro will need to capture a big slice of the real estate pie to sell more houses.
REALISTIC PRICING
The centerpiece to that goal is on the corner of her desk -- a stack of expired listings that didn't sell with other Realtors.
She calls the owners, using a script to briefly introduce herself and gauge whether they still want to sell their house.
In this economy, it is often a difficult decision.
Many don't want to hear "the comps" -- what similar houses in the same neighborhood recently sold for -- after trying to sell their house for months or even years.
"I'm the doctor telling them they have cancer," she said.
The size of the price reductions vary, Caro says, because she ties the prices to what the market will bear. Some Realtors, she says, will list houses for whatever the seller wants.
She won't take the listing if the seller can't be realistic about the current value of their house.
"My business model is not to tell them something that's not true," Caro said.
It is a hard decision for many to list their houses for less than they think it is worth, but Caro reminds the seller there are other costs associated with not selling when they need to, ie, mortgages, utilities and lost opportunities to move, etc.
She said for every 10 phone messages she leaves, roughly three return her call.
Those relistings now account for roughly 60 percent of her business.
CONTINUAL SELF-IMPROVEMENT
Caro has been receiving the phone messages from a real estate coach named Mike Ferry for the last 2 1/2 years.
There have been other coaches in the 25 years she has been selling real estate in Flagstaff, but she chose to work with Ferry for his advice on how to sell more homes in less time.
Caro has always been open to improving herself and the services she offers her clients, she says, continually shifting with the ebb and flow of the local real estate market. It is why she spends $2,000 a month on real estate coaching with Ferry.
She spends several thousand more on an annual basis traveling to workshops Ferry hosts.
Ferry emphasizes pursuing expired listings and for-sale-by-owner properties using scripted cold calls in the current market.
PAYING THE HEATING BILLS
It's a stark change from five years ago, when some owners were getting multiple offers on the same day they listed their homes.
This is in addition to the usual costs: Staffing, rent and advertising.
There are different costs, too, like paying to keep bank-owned properties warm throughout the winter so that they can be shown to potential buyers.
This is another contrast with five years ago, when Caro spent part of her budget on raffles to attract crowds during the white hot real estate market when nearly everyone qualified for a house.
Today, Caro has as many as a half-a-dozen homes with utilities in her name at any given time.
She also employs "runners" to hang signs, turn on utilities and run errands.
"It is not all popsicles and ponies," she said.
The coaching has kept her motivated, helping her to make some of her first calls of the day before other Realtors get out of bed.
"People were excited to meet with me back then," she said. "It is a very hard conversation now because the home values are very different than in 2005."
LASER-LIKE FOCUS
Caro's four-person staff, including dad Joe Haughey, starts shuffling in shortly after 7 a.m. last Tuesday.
By then, she is ready to start making calls to her clients. Caro wants to be the first Realtor potential clients hear from in the morning.
She banters back and forth with a member of her staff, trying to discern which client to call and which cell number to use. It is 7:24 a.m. and she has received a cash offer for $210,000 on one of the houses she is selling.
An hour later, the sellers, a retiree and his girlfriend, are in Caro's conference room to negotiate the details.
It is in this room where she is in her element, poring over a thick document detailing the buyer's offer.
She knows every detail of the offer: Real estate rules, banking requirements and, more importantly, her clients.
Deep into the multi-page agreement, the client changes his mind -- the fridge, the washer and the dryer, are coming with him to Prescott.
"Some of the places don't have a fridge, Valerie," says the lifelong Flagstaff resident.
She disappears for only a few minutes, the whir and clicks of the printer the only sign of life as Caro amends the contract to reflect the changes.
The ink is barely dry and the client again wants another change: He wants to keep the curtains.
Caro again disappears.
Whether it is curtains or holding out for a better offer, Caro has a laser-like focus when the client is in the room or the phone.
She is deaf to distractions like phones ringing or new mail chirps on her Blackberry.
Or holidays, apparently.
The client picks up on the fact that the bid on the house came in on Monday, i.e. Presidents Day. He thanks her, but Caro is coy.
"I didn't know it was a holiday. Nobody told me," she teased.
ADAPTING TO MARKET FORCES
Less than an hour later, Caro meets with another man who remembers her from several years ago.
At the time he didn't want to sell his house, a decision he clearly regrets now that the home value declined dramatically.
The current economy has meant the man could no longer afford to keep his house and he turned to her to sell it.
He said he remembered Caro from a chance meeting they had two or three years ago, but it was an impression that stuck.
"You seem to care," he told her before signing a thick stack of documents.
The veteran Realtor has always placed a high premium on personal, one-on-one contact, but she concedes she shifts her market focus depending on the economy.
Five years ago, for example, a major portion of her business was representing a condo-conversion project in west Flagstaff, selling converted apartments for between $100,000 and $200,0000.
Today, she represents homeowners trying to sell their houses.
The relationship with the conversion project ended several years ago when the ownership of the 300-unit development changed. She played down the change, saying it was common in the industry.
"Partnerships change all the time," she said.
The condo conversion market in Flagstaff never saw the buying frenzy of other major metro areas at the height of the housing market. Some complexes in town still have units for sale, launching in 2006 or 2007.
Many have been sold to investors, who are now renting out converted apartments.
FRESH ROUND OF CALLS
At the end of the day, Caro has made a dent in the pile of expired listings, but a fresh round of comps will be added to the pile by the end of the week.
The pile is never empty, so Caro will get up early the next day and start a fresh round of calls.
Joe Ferguson, Sun Staff Reporter
Labels: Az Daily Sun, home pricing, Valerie Caro
