
Redding Mayor Kristen Schreder delivered the State of the City address Tuesday at the Redding Civic Auditorium.
Editor’s note: Below is a transcript of Redding Mayor Kristen Schreder’s State of the City Address delivered Tuesday to an audience at the Redding Civic Auditorium. Transcript provided by the Redding City Manager’s office.
Revitalizing
Welcome and thank you for attending the City of Redding 2018 State of the City. Wow, what a year we have had. When summer began, the focus was on the downtown region. The community was excited to embark on a new adventure of building and creating.
But, on July 23, the Carr Fire began. And 3 days later, it began invading our community; and it invaded our homes.
Through heroic efforts of 1st responders, much of our City was saved, though we lost precious lives, cherished homes, and our sense of security.
Our city departments provided a unified response to the Carr Fire including Redding Police, Redding Fire, Redding Electric, Public Works, Parks and Maintenance and our Information Technology departments, who all worked extraordinarily hard to keep our City up and running. They kept our water clean, safe and available, our electricity flowing in the midst of catastrophic damage to critical infrastructure, our communication flowing between responding agencies, trails and open space paths clear of hazards for fire personnel and much much more.
We had 11 utility companies provide mutual aid to help repair our electric lines and poles. Additionally, hundreds of agencies representing 1st responders, law enforcement, and fire companies from Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Florida, and at least a dozen other states, as well as Australia and New Zealand, left their homes and communities to come to our aid in fighting the Carr Fire.
To all of the organizations that came to our aid, we say a collective thank you. The Carr fire was formidable, but we are Stronger than Carr! The fabric of our community has been torn. Many of our community members have been impacted by the fire. A close member of my family lost their home of 50 years 1 block from my home. It was a home we spent countless family celebrations that included 3 generations. The greatest challenge and reward is witnessing how we are stitching the threads our community back together.
Recovery
We have much to remember and much from which to recover. This summer we lost two people who played a major role in our fire department. Chief Gerry Gray and Inspector Jeremy Stoke. To their families, I say thank you for gifting them to us. Our community thanks them for their service, and our hearts grieve with their families.
In spite of our losses, and the devastating Carr fire, we cannot forget how committed we are to rebuilding. We have a lot to be proud of as we begin the process of healing and recovery.
Thank you Visit California for the generous contribution to our tourism efforts! Over the last year, the City completed the Victor Ave. project. A $1.2 million dollar project funded by federal highway money and no City out of pocket funding. The City won a 2018 Public Works Project of the Year award; The project improved pedestrian crossings and walkways with flashing beacons, protected bike lanes, and speed reducing roundabouts, all aimed at improving the safety of that corridor especially for children and families.
Caldwell Junior Bike Park was completed with donations and labor from the Redding Trail Alliance, Redding Parks & Trails Foundation, Redding Recreation, and The McConnell Foundation; This park provides our young people with an amazing space to play and ride bikes on a course built for the budding adventurist.
Downtown, the City, along with K2 Development Companies, the Community Revitalization & Development Corporation (CRDC) and The McConnell Foundation, were approved for a combined $44 million dollar in grant funding designated to building spaces for people to live, work, and enjoy downtown. Redding’s downtown region is slated for a nearly $300 million overhaul that will include living, retail, and parking as well as a new courthouse, new restaurants, new biking and walking trails, and new places to relax and unwind.
Coming up, the Martin Luther King Jr. Center will celebrate its 50th Anniversary. Built in 1968, the MLK Center has served our community for the last 50 years. It offers programming and services that benefit our area’s youth through the promotion of the ideas, philosophy and teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. Please join the community in commemorating 50 years of the MLK Center in Redding. There will be a 3-day celebration September 28-30.
United Airlines just announced a new direct flight to LAX beginning March 8, 2019. This will provide increased opportunity for economic development and tourism.
And the Mt. Shasta Mall is undergoing renovation and expansion. These projects give us hope that as the smoke clears, we continue to have safe places to walk, bike, and play. They increase our economic vitality, and give us hope for a Stronger Redding.
Rebuilding
Rebuilding is bigger than physical structures, it’s about rebuilding families and youth who are the future of our business, economy and leadership. Families in our City were already a high priority for me, and now I am even more convinced we need to focus our efforts on youth in this City As we rebuild we need to understand the trauma that our community has gone through and especially support the youth in our community. Toxic stress and Adverse Childhood Experiences are layered through the recent trauma. Many of us have heard the term ACEs – or Adverse Childhood Experiences, and our incidences of young people with ACEs in our area is double the state average. The term ACEs comes from a study out of San Diego by Dr. Vince Felleti and Dr. Robert Anda. They discovered that many of the health issues along with social issues are a construct of the past trauma experienced during childhood. This original study also stressed that these adverse experiences do not just occur in situations of poverty but are true for every socio-economic status. There are so many children in our area that need our support and our focus. Something as simple as mentoring can have a tremendous impact on a young person’s life.
Mentoring builds personal relationships, which can make all the difference in the world for a person who has no one to lean upon. Research has shown that the benefits of mentoring include:
• Increased high school graduation rates
• Lower high school dropout rates
• Healthier relationships and lifestyle choices
• Improved attitude toward school
• Higher college enrollment rates and higher educational aspirations
• Enhanced self-esteem and self-confidence
• Improved behavior, both at home and at school
• Stronger relationships with parents, teachers, and peers
• Improved interpersonal skills
• Decreased likelihood of initiating drug and alcohol use
As we proceed to rebuilding our community, I want to emphasize that we build healthy families through the creation of positive youth interactions.
Resilience
We have programs in town that were developed because their creators are aware of the struggles of our youth. We need to support these organizations and invest in our young people. The United Way Prosperity Initiative is an ongoing effort to find and produce greater economic mobility opportunities for residents of Shasta County. Their goal is to create a connected and vibrant community with a thriving economy that benefits all residents. The Prosperity Initiative strives to empower communities by developing a framework focused on the support of youth programming in our community. Reach Higher Shasta is determined to provide opportunities for our young people to work and gain employment skills. They have partnered with institutions of higher education to provide a streamlined path to postsecondary education, while providing access to gainful employment and internships with local companies.
The Youth Violence Prevention Council now known as Youth Options Shasta, provides healthy and safe alternatives that teach youth how to react more effectively to adverse conditions, strengthen leadership and increase self esteem. Girls, Inc. is an organization aimed at providing opportunities for young women that increase self-confidence, self-awareness, and self-empowerment.
Aaron Hayes of Catalyst Mentoring has created a program that connects adults with youth who need them the most. Catalyst Mentoring has trained over 300 mentors in our community, sending them into over 20 different mentoring organizations including the YMCA, California Heritage Youth Build Academy, and many others. Research shows that of all the preventive measures you can take, the most powerful is to connect a young person with a healthy adult. The young people in our community are facing greater challenges than ever before, it has never mattered more that we invest in our city’s youth to invest in our city’s future. If we want to see change in our community we must not forget that no significant change takes place without a significant relationship.
The resiliency of our community must not only be found in our ability to rebuild buildings and homes but must also be found in our ability to rebuild in the hearts of the young people who will lead us into the future. It’s about revitalizing our families by investing in our youth, it’s about recovering from adversity such as the Carr fire and coming out stronger on the other side, it’s about rebuilding the character and economy to create a community in which families can succeed and it’s about promoting a culture of success
Enterprise choir students sing “Brave” at the Redding State of the City Address. Video source: Redding Facebook page.
Young people from Boulder Creek, California Heritage Youth Build Academy (CHYBA), Enterprise High School and UPrep have just entered with flyers that provide information about mentoring and feature some options to get involved. I challenge you to commit to spending the next year getting to know a young person who needs you. I encourage you to receive a firsthand account of how influential you can be in someone’s life by volunteering to be a mentor. You can fill out the bottom of the card and leave it on your table. Indicate if you are interested in mentoring or learning more about mentoring, ACES or Strengthening Families. Someone from Catalyst Mentoring will reach out to you to help you find a program that fits you best. If you would like to involve your organization, make sure to note that as well and Aaron would be happy to help.
Our City has taken a hit, but it won’t keep us down. We will continue to revitalize Redding, we will recover and rebuild, because we are resilient, WE ARE REDDING!
Redding Mayor Kristen Schreder was born and raised in Redding, and after graduating from Enterprise High School she attended California State University, Chico, graduating with honors and a bachelor’s degree in Social Science. She is married to Jack Schreder, and between them they have seven children and 15 grandchildren.
Kristen was elected to the Redding City Council in Nov. 2014 for a four-year term. Previously she served as an elected school trustee for 17 years, on the Shasta Union High School District Board of Trustees and the Redding School District Board of Trustees.
She has been the founder and leader of several non-profit organizations in Redding. Some of Schreder’s community service includes: Project Lead, Health, Housing & Hope Alliance, Redding Area Homelessness Coalition Project, 2017 Leadership Redding graduate, Founding Cabinet Member and Past Chair of The Women’s Fund, Founding Board Member and Past Chapter President, North State Chapter, California Women Lead, long time member of American Association of University Women, and League of Women Voters. Memberships also include the Shasta Historical Society, Shasta Living Streets and the Shasta County Arts Council.
Schreder is an incumbent currently campaigning for another term on the Redding City Council.