CORRESPONDENCE - 65C - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Mitre -Ramirez, Norma From: Hilary McCreery < Sent: Saturday, February 4, 2017 9:22 AM To: eComment Subject: Letter in Support of Makara Center for the Arts - CEPG Categories: Correspondence Dear Mayor Pulido and City Council Members, My name is Hilary Holley and I'm a Librarian as well as Board Treasurer of Makara Center for the Arts, an arts & culture nonprofit based in Santa Ana. For the past 10 years, I have worked with various nonprofit arts organizations, museums, and libraries, including PEN Center USA, the UCLA Library, Claremont Museum of Art, and currently Oceanside Public Library in north San Diego County. Serving on the board of Makara has provided me an opportunity to get to know Santa Ana as a city and community. I have come to understand that it is a vibrant and inclusive place, home to a wide variety of residents that represent families who have lived here for decades and newer arrivals looking to shape the future of the community. I know that Makara's mission is tooted in both serving and celebrating this unique community and as the City moves forward with an economic and municipal revitalization, Makara will contribute to this exciting new era by ensuring that all residents have easy access to arts and culture resources and programming. I have known and worked with Marytza Rubio, Executive Director of Makara, for many years and am consistently impressed by her passion for her community and her drive to make a difference there. I am confident in her ability to lead our organization to success and make a lasting impact on the City. Makara is one of the community organizations that was recommended to receive funding through the one -tune Community Enhancement Program Grant. The rating panel recommended our organization to receive between $35,000 - $38,000 for our Lending Library & Art Center. While this represents less than 1% of the city's budget surplus, this funding will enable our organization to serve over 3,000 Santa Ana residents in one year. Makara's professional development programs will support the city's continued economic development, and the Lending Library will contribute to crime prevention by providing an after-school haven for youth to enrich themselves through art and literature. With the CEPG funding, we look forward to establishing a Lending Library & Art Center and building a network of Little Free Libraries in the city to complement the city's efforts in increasing education and wellness for its residents. Providing residents with free access to education and literature will only further the city's goals to increase public safety, engage youth, and provide economic development opportunities for residents. Libraries and arts organizations seek to inspire, educate, and connect residents and are dedicated to cultivating a physical space for the community to meet and exchange ideas. Now more than ever, there must be a place in the community for this kind of dialogue as well as a space to engage with each other and express ourselves creatively. By providing this space, as well as access to resources and programming, libraries and arts organizations have the unique ability to transform lives and make a measurable difference in the community. The initiatives that Makara has set out to achieve will benefit residents of Santa Ana and encourage the intellectual and artistic growth of the City, as a whole. Thank you for your commitment and service to Santa Ana. I look forward to meeting you at a future Makara event.