Dear Moreno Valley Residents,
At our State of the City event last week, we shared some of the amazing accomplishments we have achieved over the last year.
And we were able to surprise some very special residents with some much needed assistance to help them continue to pursue their educations.
For the last year, the City of Moreno Valley has been a competitor in the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge, a nationwide competition which challenges cities to tackle their toughest problems with bold solutions.
Six months ago we were named a 2018 Champion City, just one of 35 cities out of hundreds who submitted their ideas in the hopes of winning the $5 million grand prize to turn their solution into reality.
For the majority of Moreno Valley residents, formal education and career training stopped at high school, creating a barrier to advancement into positions with higher wages and greater opportunity.
To overcome this obstacle, we created a program called MoVaLEARNS to help pay students’ expenses while they go to school.
This helps students overcome the “earn vs. learn” dilemma and advance their skills while still providing for their families.
This idea – the result of collaboration with our educational partners at Moreno Valley College – has the power to transform the lives of our residents and the very fabric of our community.
As a Champion City, we received $100,000 to test and fine-tune our prototype, with the help of tailored support from innovation experts. Stipends of $1,000 allow working adults to pursue education and technical training. No strings attached.
Focusing on a core group of 40 Moreno Valley College students we learned about their struggles, their hopes, and their dreams.
To qualify, each one of these students had to be a Moreno Valley resident over the age of 18 and enrolled at Moreno Valley College.
On Wednesday, members of the inaugural MoVaLEARNS class joined me on stage at our State of the City event.
It was our opportunity to thank these students for helping us learn about their barriers to education – and put our heads together to figure out how to overcome these challenges.
Thanks to the funds we received from Bloomberg Philanthropies, we were able to surprise these students with an additional $500 each to help them pursue their educational goals.
The City submitted its final Mayors Challenge application on August 20. One City will be awarded $5 million and four others will receive $1 million each to help turn their solutions into reality.
Winners will be announced in October.