Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Dave Cortese, has addressed the community gathered in Pacifica Institute Silicon Valley branch on Februrary 26th. Cortese talked about his agenda throughout the year 2011.
Even though with the current $200 million deficit, he wants to go after ambitious programs for Santa Clara County. Cortese mentioned that he declared 2011 “The Year of the Child”. His first goal is to eliminate juvenile hall. He wants current juvenile hall employees to get involved with the community to deal with intervention, pr
evention and reform instead of punishment. He wishes to remove the jail term for children under 13 years old. “Direct Referral Program” is also in his agenda where first time young offenders will get an intervention. He quoted Frederick Douglass who, 150 years ago, said, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men”. Cortese believes that education is the most important goal in the Santa Clara community since the new generation will be competing more intensively and globally.
Cortese comes from an immigrant family. His grandfather migrated to California from Sicily about 100 years ago at the age of 13. His background makes him a perfect advocate of preserving cultural heritages. He has given the example of “Day at the Bay” multicultural festival held in Alviso. Since there are so many common goals between Pacifica Institute and his office, he says, he looks forward to working together with Pacifica Institute in the future.