Week 4: Meaningful Conversations
Toby C -
Hi everyone!
This Wednesday, I met with the Prescott Valley Town Manager. Despite the Town Manager being an appointed position, not an elected one, he has great experience in both state and local government, having served as Wilcox City Manager and Chief Operating Officer for GOYFF. We’ve also talked about his experience running for student council president during his time at the University of Arizona, and he detailed his strategy when it came to door-to-door campaigning. He offered me the opportunity to shadow some of the department heads in the coming weeks, which will give me a chance to contrast the workings of local and state government. I’ll keep everyone updated on that!
On Sunday, I also had the opportunity to meet with Mr. G, a member of the Prescott mayoral recall committee and prospective candidate for the anticipated special election. We had a long conversation about the recall process, the reasons he’s involved himself with it, and the choices the mayor has after the recall passes, one of which is to enter a special election. On Saturday, which is when the aforementioned intergenerational roundtable is taking place, I’m planning to invite Mr. G, where I hope that we can conduct a more formal interview.
On a side note, we also held our second webinar for the Governor’s Youth Commission Education Workgroup this Sunday. We had a panel of students from Stanford, ASU, U of A, and Diné College come speak about student life, transitioning from high school to college, and cultural and ideological diversity. Through this three part webinar series, it’s been interesting to experiment with what works as far as outreach goes, whether that’s dropping off physical fliers to stores, sending out mass emails, or partnering with other educational organizations who have established communication channels. Reaching as many people as possible and selling your message is critical in politics, and I’m glad to be getting some practice in that area.
In short, this week was mainly about talking to people and hearing from their experiences; thanks for reading!
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