Education, homelessness among topics discussed at Mat-Su town hall meeting

WASILLA — The Legislative delegation from the Valley returned to Wasilla to hear from constituents during a town hall held at the Menard Center. More than 100 people packed a conference room to speak directly to their legislators on a variety of issues.

Prior to opening up the microphones to the general public, the Valley delegation allowed a brief period for youth in the community to have open dialogue with their elected officials. Rep. Kevin McCabe said he came up with the idea to open up the first half-hour of the town hall for youth issues. Sen. Mike Shower and Representatives Cathy Tilton and DeLena Johnson discussed education opportunities for young people interested in getting involved in politics.

“We’ve got an education bill that we’re working on right because the public schools have been failing far too often in this state. We’ve got pockets of excellence but we have got some serious gaps where we’re 50th in the nation and spending almost top dollar and so looking at that bill might be something you want to do. One of the things we want to make sure is students actually learn how to read. We are pushing kids and graduating them when they haven’t really learned the material. They have not mastered the objectives, also during the pandemic a lot of online schooling some of it was done well some of it was done terribly and so we want to stand up virtual education so when it’s needed and when a student is interested it will be top quality,” said Sen. Shelley Hughes.

Numerous youth discussed housing and homelessness issues, led by MyHouse case manager Justin Pendergrass.

“I like to think that I know a thing or two about what’s going on here. I work with the highest demographic and the most high at risk teens in the state of Alaska which is our homeless youth and I want to know what it is that you guys want to do when it comes to suicide prevention for this state, because I can give you the numbers I can give you the statistics, I can show you the people but I want to know what you guys are doing up there at 30,000 feet to help the kids,” said Pendergrass.

Shower asked Pendergrass how he found success in reaching homeless youth. Johnson sits on the Suicide Prevention Council and has volunteered for crisis hotlines, discussing the abstract process by which the actions of the legislature can have a positive effect.

“These people, how do they get touched by it. For me it’s my big gap is how does this program help people. We know we have a huge program with self harm and suicide in Alaska, it’s statewide and I believe that covid has made it way more difficult for people to connect,” said Johnson.

Legislators praised the work of MyHouse in the Valley and Hughes said she hoped their program could be replicated throughout the state, but that guidance and oversight needed to hold nonprofit organizations accountable.

“I think in general the government can’t be the solution. More or less we need to be in the place of getting out of the way of solutions because more often than not, we are the problem,” said Kurka.

Dajonee Hale asked members of the audience to stand if they knew anyone experiencing homelessness and nearly the entire room rose to their feet.

“MyHouse is one of the most important things for us to hear about is the programs that are successful because there are many programs that are being funded that are not successful,” said Hughes.