COLTON COURIER We ekly
Vol 147 , NO. 37
August 29, 2019
2019 Nonprofit of the Year, ReWritten, pr ovides ‘Futures for the father less and the under ser ved’
www.iecn.com Gloria’s Cor ner Pg. 3
PHOTOS
Community celebrates life of J o h n F u t c h J r. Pg. 5
For mer homeless youth accepted to univer sities Pg. 6
INSIDE Gloria’s Corner
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Words To Think About 5 Opinion
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Legal Notices
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H OW TO R E AC H US
Inland Empire Com munity Newspaper s Of fice: (909) 381- 9898 Fax: (909) 384-0406 Editorial: ie cn1@ mac .com Adve r tising: sales@ iec n.c om
FRANK PEREZ
ReWritten serves children elementary age through young adult/college aged in challenging situations such as single-parent homes, those facing financial hardships and unstable social environments. Pictured is ReWritten CEO Frank Perez at the State Capitol where he was honored for being named the 2019 Nonprofit of the Year in California’s 47th District by Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes. Pictured on the right, a note written to Perez by one of ReWritten’s 13-year-old participants. By Marina Rojas
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t all started as a small after school program at an apartment complex in Colton. A few years later in 2013, three friends, Frank Perez, Jeremy Livermore and April Hoss decided to take a leap of faith and turn that program into a cutting edge
learning center. Establishing ReWritten, a nonprofit public charity that would be a safe place for kids and teens to learn life skills, explore the arts, receive tutoring and build mentoring relationships, the friends wanted to bring real change into the lives of the young people they served. Tucked away in a corner suite in
South Colton at 1076 Santo Antonio, in Suite A, ReWritten serves children elementary age through young adult/collegeaged youth in challenging situations such as single-parent homes, those facing financial hardships and unstable social environments. The ReWritten motto is “Futures for the Fatherless and Underserved.”
Company CEO Frank Perez said that about 40 to 60 kids walk through the hallways at ReWritten on a normal day. “When we have special events where the kids in the program can invite friends, we can see a much bigger group in here, from 100 to ReWritten, cont. on next pg.
Colton City Council makes changes to commission application requirements By Manny B. Sandoval
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n Tuesday, August 20 Colton City Council amended the qualifications of the commissioners and appointment procedures application requirements. “This item is on your agenda pursuant to city council direction from the April 16 council meeting earlier this year. City council provided direction to staff to amend the application for service on city commissions. The directed change was to add a section to the application soliciting information about whether or not an applicant has been convicted of a crime,” said City Manager Bill Smith. “Subsequently we also had the suggestion to add the requirement that applicants be a registered voter. That is the ordinance that you have before you, which
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CITY OF COLTON
City Manager Bill Smith briefing Colton City Council on commission applicant requirements.
would amend your ordinance to include these two items as a requirement to be a commissioner. Today you could either approve these two items, neither of them, or provide alternate direction to staff,” continued Smith. At the meeting, Councilmember Isaac T. Suchil provided direction to the proposed change; specifically regarding the topic of requiring a former elected to be on hold for a year or two before being allowed to join a commission in the city. “I was recommending that we omit Section B of the ordinance, while we clean up the text. Does any other city in the area have this type of one or two year cooling off period for a former elected?” asked Councilmember Suchil. The city attorney said they did research to determine if any other local jurisdictions require a cool-
ing off period for a former elected to serve on a commission and no other cities in the area hold such requirement. “What this does, is it keeps away a lot of people that have a lot of knowledge and experience on commissions. I think this keeps educated people who know what they are doing involved in our city,” concluded Suchil. Ultimately, in a 5-0 vote, city council decided not to move forward with the ordinance, but approve the new draft commission application, as included in the staff report. Moving forward, the commission application will still require applicants to be registered voters and now require applicants to provide five years of criminal history, instead of three. For more information, visit coltononline.com.