I was fortunate enough to be re-elected for a third term last month, and I am immensely grateful to San Antonians for allowing me to continue serving them as mayor.
Being mayor is an honor that I take seriously, and I will be working hard over the next two years to keep our city moving in the right direction as we strive to continue our recovery from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Workforce development will be one my key priorities in the coming two years.
The pandemic brought record unemployment and forced record numbers of families to use the San Antonio Food Bank and other assistance programs set up by the City of San Antonio and others.
Those developments put a spotlight on the fact that too many of our neighbors are living paycheck to paycheck – always just an unexpected medical bill or other unfortunate setback away from financial disaster.
Our goal is to help San Antonians find jobs with a future.
Already, we are training more than 2,300 residents in various career fields through the Train for Jobs SA program set up in 2020 as part of our COVID-19 Recovery & Resiliency Program.
Some 17 percent of the program enrollees are African American and 65 percent are Hispanic. Two-thirds are women, and 61 percent are living below the federal poverty line. Additionally, seven percent were formerly incarcerated.
The current training program includes a stipend opportunity for trainees to help them pay their bills while they are training for a new career.
The program’s focus is to help San Antonians train for jobs that already exist so they can find good-paying jobs as soon as possible.
For example, media reports have documented an ongoing truckdriver shortage across the nation. While the shortage is causing consumer prices to rise, it also means that there is plenty of opportunity for those interested in the field. Train for Jobs SA is providing commercial driver’s license training and truck driving classes.
That’s a quick way to get to an open job.
Training also is being provided for jobs in tech, manufacturing, health care, and more. If you are interested in enrolling, call 311 to get started.
This fall, SA Ready to Work — the four-year job training program approved by voters last November — will replace the current program and continue offering job training and career preparation.
Over the next four years, SA Ready to Work will provide job training opportunities for thousands of trainees annually.
Other key issues in the next two years include the 2022 bond package. Work on identifying the specific projects will get underway this fall. The exact amount of the bond program has not yet been determined.
Among my priorities for capital projects are parks, greenspace and providing walkability in San Antonio neighborhoods.
We will soon begin work on the Fiscal 2022 budget as well. I am committed to continuing the equity focus that we have used for budgeting in the four years that I have served as mayor.
Equitable budgeting means we will focus on providing infrastructure and services in the parts of the city that need it most. Accomplishing that goal means that we must invest more dollars now in the areas of town by that been disadvantaged by past redlining and other discriminatory policies that have long thwarted progress.
The next two years will be exciting and challenging, my goal is for the city to emerge in better shape than it was before COVID-19’s dramatic disruptions slammed our community.
Ron Nirenberg is mayor of San Antonio.
