On November 7th, 2007 the St. Pius X Community Action Team (PXCAT) held its first public action meeting with MOP to advocate for more full service and affordable recreation centers and programs for youth and families in Aurora.  After PXCAT leaders spoke with almost 500 community members from within the parish and the surrounding neighborhoods, the top concern we tallied was regarding the strong disunity in Aurora; disunity that came between even neighbors and parishioners that live on the same block and attend the same church. Beyond the concern with disunity however, we also realized that hundreds of community members also shared concerns around safety, crime, gangs, and the lack of opportunities for youth and families.  As a result and after much research, PXCAT leaders decided that Aurora needed more full service and affordable recreation centers to create safe places where everyone could come together in positive ways. In addition, more recreation centers would also give our youth positive alternatives to getting involved in gangs, crime, and unsafe situations. 

Therefore, a public action meeting was called and PXCAT invited public officials from Aurora City Council and Aurora Public Schools so that we could address our community concerns and begin planning how to create more recreation centers in Aurora.  PXCAT leaders and other community members shared some very moving testimonies as to why more recreation centers are needed in Aurora. Then PXCAT leaders asked each of the public officials if they would support in the creation of a taskforce to help us realize more recreation centers in Aurora. Testimonies included those of the public and PXCAT leaders Bobbie McClure, Alfredo Hernandez, and Dan McMahon.

PXCAT leader José Jimenez and the Salvation Army's Joe Kramer presented a research report and PowerPoint presentation that clearly demonstrated the serious lack of recreational space for youth and families in Aurora,  as compared to other parts of the metro Denver area. In the Aurora's Library, Recreation & Cultural Services Department Information Packet of 2006, the city itself admitted that "Aurora does not have the full-service recreation centers that most metro communities have. Based on the current population of Aurora, there should be 6 full-service recreation facilities... Existing facilities have significant deferred maintenance needs and functionality issues, and fail to meet existing needs."

During the meeting, public officials were given the opportunity to share their own vision for recreation centers in Aurora, followed by a statement made by PXCAT about their dream for Aurora which would be "to acquire 6 new full service and affordable recreation centers by 2018 to meet the metro Denver standards set in 2006." All public officials at the meeting, including Deborah Wallace (Ward I), Bob Fitzgerald (at Large), Larry Beer (Ward III) and John L. Barry (Superintendent of Aurora Public Schools) supported the creation of a taskforce by the end of the first quarter of 2008. PXCAT leaders look forward to the formation of the taskforce and partnering up with the city to begin planning for the creation of safe, affordable, recreational space that is vital and needed by the youth and families of Aurora and for the well-being of all the city's community members.

...and Coming Up!

The newly formed Citizenship T.O.C. - working to strengthen the immigrant vote and civic participation through citizenship classes at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Aurora - will be partnering with the "Ya Es Hora" coalition to help more legal immigrants become citizens, register to vote, and become more civically engaged. MOP's former Immigration T.O.C. realized that it was trying to move too many issues affecting immigrants without a strong immigrant voter base. Therefore, the T.O.C. has changed its focus and has become the Citizenship T.O.C. to begin building a stronger immigrant voter base so that it can better contribute to immigration reform in the future.

The Citizenship T.O.C. is currently looking for volunteers to help assist with a citizenship workshop hosted by "Ya Es Hora" on February 2nd, starting at 9:00am at the Mi Casa Resource Center on 4th and Acoma St. Volunteers are asked to arrive at 8:00am to help set up and then at 9:00am, begin helping people fill out their citizenship application forms and recruit individuals for the citizenship classes at St. Pius X. If you are interested in helping out at the workshop please attend the next Citizenship T.O.C. meeting Monday, December 17th at 6:00pm at the MOP office or call Alfredo at 303-324-3274 for more information.