Newton County Board of Commissioners

District 3 Newsletter

District 3 Newsletter
August 2010

AUGUST 2010 NEWSLETTER

Despite the intense heat, summer seems like a blur to me. School is already back in session and football season is just around the corner. During the past month, I have had the privilege of working with two young people, Mary , a volunteer and Faraad , an intern from the NEGRC workforce development program. These two fine young people are graduates of Alcovy High School and are pursuing their dreams of a college education. They spent several days during the month of July assisting me with improving communication with the residents of District 3. Thanks to Mary and Faraad, District 3 now has a Facebook Group, a new HOA database, and updated newsletter information.

Today was Faraad’s last day as an intern and I asked him to reflect on his experience. His entry is included below.

It was a joy to work with these two young people. Hopefully, after graduation from college, they will return to Newton County and we can offer them a place to work, live and raise their families.

Hello District 3,

My name is Faraad, and I will be attending Georgia Perimeter College this coming fall. My ultimate goal is to attain a Master’s Degree in Computer Engineering, from Georgia Tech through the tag program. For the last several weeks, I have been working diligently with Newton County Commissioner Nancy Schulz under the Northeast Georgia Regional Commission (NEGRC) internship program gathering and reporting information to keep District 3 updated on local projects such as, the Neighborhood Stabilization Project.

Newton County’s Board of Commissioners along with its constituents have been engaged in countless projects. Despite our nation’s economic decline, the county’s public sector in cooperation with the local government, have adopted a Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). The NSP is a grant funded project, which buys foreclosed property and allows low income families to become either first time or re-registered home owners through strict counseling and evaluation. I admire how cooperative and vulnerable our community has allowed itself to be, to adopt a reform, that in the past has not rendered expected outcomes, but, to put that aside and plan for the future now, is honestly a blessing.

Before moving to Newton County from New Jersey, I had already established a negative perspective towards the south in general. Part of it was because of rumors of how inconvenient services were and how important it was to have mobile transportation. I remember having to tell my uncle days in advance my plans for the week if I was going to the gym, because it was 15-20 miles away and I just kept saying to myself, “well why can’t they just build a gym that is more convenient.” It wasn’t until my experience with the NEGRC that I came to the understanding that it costs greatly for the placement of a new or pre-existing business, and the process is prolonged because of other development and pre-registered planning. Through the NEGRC internship I was made aware of other more important issues, rather than my selfish desires.

In conclusion, I would like to thank Commissioner Nancy Schulz and the NEGRC for allowing me to become more knowledgeable of my community as well as the ability to communicate to the public. It is through this experience that I will stay in my new environment and hopefully one day give back to a loving, productive and nurturing community.