ACTIONN hears from officials on school and jobs programs

City and state officials, including the city manager of Carson City, got on board with support for programs proposed by an organization called ACTIONN during the group’s founding convention. ACTIONN, which stands for Acting in Community Together in Organizing Northern Nevada, had the convention in St. Therese Church of the Little Flower in Reno on Tuesday evening.Programs planned by the 22-member faith-based organization include those promoting jobs and education or training, including one aimed at filling the training pipeline leading to jobs in the health care field.“We have an extremely tough time in finding qualified people to help us,” said Larry Werner, city manager of the state’s capital city, speaking of the lack of trained people to fill jobs in health care.He expressed support for the idea, which is based on a coalition approach to help fill vacancies in the health care field.After extensive formative work before the convention, ACTIONN nearly filled the church. The session featured a period during which Werner and other public officials were asked to voice support for the group’s ideas.The platform, along with the health care approach, will encourage teacher-parent home visits, linked learning, smaller schools, and will push community benefits agreements to promote local hiring for Northern Nevada development projects.Other officials on hand to voice support were Mayor Geno Martini of Sparks; Adriana Fralick, Nevada State Board of Education vice president; Maria Sheehan, Truckee Meadows Community College president; and Pedro Martinez, Washoe County schools superintendent. Fralick voiced strong support regarding the education approach.“I’ll bring the ACTIONN platform before the board,” the state board vice president said, also pledging to advocate it at the Nevada Legislature. “I want Nevada children to have a great education.”