Friday, March 28, 2008

The mayor gives Dallas kids a real internship program

By Michael Davis of Dallas Progress

Mayor Tom Leppert announced another program which speaks to his commitment to education and opportunity for Dallas' youth. He announced a a paid internship program for students of select DISD schools, which will also allow them to interface with top company execs. Here's the DMN story on the program from Rudy Bush at the DMN.

For now, it is limited to a few schools. I'm sure that this program will expand as more opportunities present themselves.

These are the types of programs that save lives. I speak from experience.

When I was in college, I was part of an called INROADS. INROADS helped provide internships as well as business experience that helped me move forward in life. Additionally, when I was in junior high and high school I was part of a very small program called Expose, which was started by a top commercial real estate CEO in my home town of Philadelphia. In addition to a paying job, this CEO allowed me to shadow him and learn the business world as well. I also learned basic skills like balancing a checkbook and working a HP 12-C before my teenage years (my commercial real estate people know what I'm talking about).

This is the difference between Tom and others. Sure, no one expects you to agree with everything Tom tries to do as Mayor. But what you see is a constant execution of his campaign promises, which sets him apart from many politicians on the city and county level that exploit the hopes and dreams of a community for votes by campaigning on ideas you never intend to implement.

I wonder what the people that were behind those stupid flyers and commercials that made fun of Tom and put out a bunch of lies during last year's Mayoral campaign think about great programs like these. Some of these same people are now giving Tom shout outs during their radio segments; they sure changed their tune on that issue.

Here's something else that I find amusing. Others that call Tom and Dwaine all sorts of names in various news articles show up at City Hall and ask for help because no one else will listen. How do you reconcile such behavior? Because it's all a front, that's how. I look at folks like Tom, Dwaine, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, and others that keep their heads down and deliver for my community.

Also, Dwaine's ninth Community Teen Summit will be held at City Hall on this Saturday, March 29th. Here's the flyer. You know the drill; Dwaine has held these on a monthly basis since he was elected. The topic is "the real power of Myspace and Facebook." I know that Dwaine has probably never been on Myspace or Facebook unless I showed him a page, but he knows that teens use these online portals to interact and he should therefore find a group that can speak to kids about these things. Dwaine does have a YouTube page if you didn't know. Collectively, his videos have gotten over 30,000 hits. This forum will also include an education fair and a scholarship opportunity along with breakfast and lunch like always.

I get several emails every week from Eddie Bernice Johnson's office about positive programs that she's gotten funded or passed. I think about last summer, when she ignored the typical politics that hurt real people on the ground to make sure that Hutchins had a bridge so that its residents could get better ambulance service. Nothing's changed. This Saturday, Rep. Johnson is hosting a 'Super Saturday' to help lower-income people file tax returns and get other valuable information.

This summer is going to be off the hook! Major things will be jumping off to keep the kids having fun, learning, and doing positive things to divert their attention from the streets.

This is what real elected officials do in office. Stay focused, ignore the haters, and deliver to the community.

Pegasus News content partner - Dallas Progress

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