Dear Tucsonans, It is with a heavy heart this week that I grieve the loss of my mentor and friend, Representative Raúl Grijalva. On behalf of Tucsonans, I’d like to extend our deepest condolences to the Grijalva family. With over 50 years of service to our community, Congressman Grijalva will be missed greatly. His legacy of service and leadership will be felt for generations. For us here locally, he championed the streetcar helping to bring over $4 billion dollars of private investment to Tucson. He secured funding to our parks, splashpads, housing projects, cultural and heritage sites and investments in our neighborhoods. On a statewide and national level, his leadership protecting our environment and public lands, including Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. On a different note, our work continues. Please share this application for the Pima County Summer Youth Employment program. The City of Tucson supports this program and brings approximately 100 young people historically disinvested communities into city jobs throughout our departments. Also, this weekend, I hope everyone takes some time to check out the Tucson Festival of Books. Our Festival is the third largest in the country and attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year. In addition to author talks, there are cooking demonstrations, science activities for children, art experiences and, best of all, it is free. As we know from the Prosperity Initiative, building positive reading habits is a huge indicator of future success in schools and jobs for young people. Thanks to all of the people who work to organize this event and the hundreds of local volunteers who make sure it happens. In community, As always, please feel free to reach out to me at Mayor.Romero@tucsonaz.gov Register for my newsletter here! http://eepurl.com/gUDhsf