HERE, THERE, and EVERYWHERE

 

Yesterday's community coffee!

On the first Saturday of every month, I host a Community Coffee at 304 S. Union Ave at 9am. Yesterday’s coffee brought out about 40 people and we had such lively conversations that I can hardly wait until next month’s coffee. We talked about everything from health care to education to the criminal justice system to state parks. It was really incredible and I loved that there were such a wide variety people present from regular attendees to newcomers. Join us next month – who knows what we might be talking about? But, it’s sure to be interesting!

 

 

Talking about my mom on Go Red Day

#GoRed  Check out the #GoRed hashtags on my Twitter feed (@SenGiron)! It was Nat’l Wear Red Day on February 1^st and the whole month is designated American Heart Month – so says a joint Senate/House resolution I sponsored with Reps. Rhonda Fields and Perry Buck on Friday. I made some remarks about heart disease being a particular area of concern for women, with about 8,000,000 women in the U.S. living with heart disease, yet only 1 in 5 women believes that heart disease is her greatest health threat. I mentioned my mother, who died of heart disease 20 years ago and all the symptoms specific to women that are indicators of heart disease. In the 10 years since Americans started “going red,” we have been able to reduce the number of women dying from heart disease by 21%. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the U.S., accounting for 40% of all deaths and costing hundreds of billions of dollars each year in health care services, meds, and lost productivity. 

PAACO  The PAACO (Pueblo African-American Concern Organization) folks sure know how to throw a party! Their annual dinner raises money for college scholarships and this year, they awarded 18. Since they were founded in 1992, PAACO has helped more than 300 students attend college. I especially enjoyed the jazz music of Carlos Crull.

MT CARMEL BREAKFAST  I look forward to the first Sunday of every month because it means eating breakfast at Mt. Carmel Parish with friends and neighbors. I never know who I might run into and I wake up thinking about which delicious homemade breakfast plate I’m gonna choose. This week, I ran in to Art and Veronica Urbina and ate a big bowl of menudo. Art and Veronica are the parents of Chris Urbina, Director and Chief Medical Officer of the Colorado Department of Health and Environment (CDPHE). There are so many incredible connections to Pueblo all throughout the Capitol and our state government. I can’t wait to see Dr. Urbina at the Capitol and showing him my great picture with his parents. I talked and laughed and visited for nearly two hours with a huge table of friends, including the Markuson-DiPrince family, the Trujillo’s, and the Sanchez-Tucker family. That breakfast is a Pueblo mainstay and is served every first Sunday from 8am-1pm. Steve’s favorite is the long table of homemade pies, cakes, donuts, and other desserts. I’m already regretting that I didn’t buy a whole Valentine cake to take back to Denver.

DROPOUT RECOVERY PROGRAMS  This week, I took my second trip of the session to the Senate Education Committee. It was much less controversial than the first go-around with ASSET. I was moving forward SB31, a follow up piece to a bill I sponsored last year that allowed for the partnership of School Districts and Community Colleges to do dropout recovery work. In the two years that I’ve worked on this, I have been so moved by the students I’ve met here in Pueblo and those who have testified in favor of the bills. Drop out recovery helps us provide resources and support where they’re critically needed. I am reminded again and again in this, my third year, that the work of good legislation isn’t always contained in one bill and that our public policies are living documents that must change and evolve to fit the needs of our communities. The best thing about this bill (and last year’s, too) was the unanimous, bipartisan support that carried it through!



My friend, Jackie, having her taxes done

TAX HELP COLORADO  Great resources are available for filing your taxes! I learned about them on Saturday as I toured one of the locations offering free tax return preparation to anyone earning less than $49,000 a year. The Piton Foundation has partnered with Colorado colleges to offer Tax Help Colorado, which helps families who are eligible for tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. These kinds of tax credits help move families from poverty and dependence to self-sufficiency and have long been recognized as one of the greatest anti-poverty tools in America. Economists estimate that money returned to local economies and the state from tax refunds is turned over 3 times (meaning that each dollar hits 3 different places), therefore greatly benefitting Colorado’s economy. For example, over 33 million dollars came to Pueblo County in the form of Earned Income Tax Credits in 2009. So help me spread the word! Pueblo Community College is one site here in Pueblo for FREE TAX PREPARATION January 26-March 2, Saturdays 9am-3pm and Thursdays 5pm-8pm. Go to piton.org/taxhelpcolorado to find other sites throughout the state.

Last year, over $633,000 was paid out to 306 residents who had their taxes done at PCC