Join us for an education mini-forum!
Saturday May 15th from 10:30 a.m. – noon
Hayward City Hall, 777 B Street, Room 2A
Our featured speaker is Dr. Marlena E. Uhrik. Dr. Uhrik is a long time resident of the Bay Area and currently lives in Sacramento. She has been working at the California Department of Education (CDE) since 2005. She is with the CDE P-16 Policy and Information Branch where she is an Education Programs Consultant.
An educator for over 40 years, she has her Doctorate degree in Educational Leadership and has taught everything from pre-school students to graduate students from around the world. She worked for Hayward Unified School District for 10 years as the Coordinator for Safe and Drug-free Schools and Communities and Tobacco Use Prevention Education. She also served on Hayward’s Human Services Commission and was one of the adult advisor for the Youth Commission before moving to Sacramento.
Dr. Uhrik is the Founder and past Executive Director of Hayward’s “The Kids’ Breakfast Club” which received recognition in the US House of Representatives Congressional Record in 1993. She has received numerous local, state and national awards and recognition for the work that she has done for children and their families. She was the recipient of the Community Hero Award in 1996 and as a result ran as an Olympic Torchbearer. She has started Our Kids’ Community Breakfast Club in Sacramento and in August 2009 received the US Presidential Award for Service.
Dr. Uhrik is an award winning published author, is married and has three grandchildren living in the Bay Area.
RSVP for the event by calling Anna May at 510-886-ANNA.
Last night I had an event where I explained to my supporters why I am not running for re-election to the Hayward City Council. I felt that I owed them an explanation and promised they’d understand once I got done with them!
It started this way. What did I promise when I ran for the 2-year term in 2008?
- Fresh voice (fresh indeed!)
- Putting Hayward on the map
- Bringing together business and government
- Focusing on Senior Citizens and Kids
- Bold leadership
What am I proud of during my term?
- Filmmakers came to Hayward, increasing our City’s attractiveness to the public and bringing in employment and a jolt to economic development (I didn’t say this last night but I’m taking the Hayward Film Task Force with me when I leave the City Council!)
- Business & Government further involved with each other, i.e. finally having a Council Member with extensive business background serving, leading to the first ever Hayward Chamber of Commerce mixer at City Hall, which had the highest number of attendees at a mixer in Hayward, (ever! from what I’ve been told)
- Increased focus on City of Hayward-centric issues and being the only Council member to speak out against exporting dollars outside the City limits to fund outside groups. We MUST focus on helping to strengthen the groups that ARE located within the City of Hayward first and foremost!
- Hayward-Yixing China Sister City relationship. Yes, China is the next super-power and we can learn from each other. (Ask me about my trip to China last year when the Vice Mayor of Yixing told me that I should be proud of having ancestors from the Hunan province of China, since Chairman Mao was from there!)
- Proudly earned the nickname “Pest” for being relentless
Schools are THE most important factor that families consider when buying a home and even rental rates are affected by the quality of the schools. As both a real estate broker and City Council Member, I know from every-day life how important this issue is in my community. There’s NOTHING the City Council can do that’s more important than what the School Board can do in this community right now.
Last year I started asking folks in the community if they’d be interested in running for school board for the November 2010 election and NOBODY was interested until I said I’d step up to do it, then joined by another high-profile running mate. Now SO MANY people have been inquiring about being our third running mate! Where was everybody last year when we were trying to get others to run?? I suppose now people have HOPE.
(Since I’m leaving the City Council, by the way, I will be moderating a Candidate Debate next week for the Hayward City Council candidates for the June election.)
The 80’s…perfect.
What I mean is the 1980’s.
That was when my generation came of age.
The nostalgia of the music, the clothes, the eyeliner, the….well, maybe not the hair, although I wish I had as much hair now as I had back then!
For those of us who came of age in the 1980’s, we may not be thinking of retirement the way we should be. Or perhaps we’re taking care of our parents or grandparents who are retired and need care.
Or if you’re lucky like me, I joke with my healthy but dramatic mother about how she better not give me grief or I’ll “put her in a home”!
