Spotlight on Volunteers - Harvey Grady
The city of Cottonwood has been working on the creation of a Youth Commission. This commission will hold the same powers and duties as other commissions and boards serving in an advisory capacity to the Cottonwood City Council. Youth will actively participate in the city's decision-making process.
Community volunteer Harvey Grady observed a need and envisioned a better community with youth participation in local government. Armed with the idea, youth crime statistics and an action plan, he met with City Manager Brian Mickelsen, who agreed the concept was a good one.
The idea was broached to the City Council in November 2003, and a committee chaired by Grady was appointed to study the concept and report back. The committee designed an ordinance that serves as a voice for children and youth. The Youth Commission will interface with municipal government to promote a positive environment for the community's younger residents.
Acutely aware of vulnerable populations, Grady created and chairs the non-profit Cornucopia Community Advocates, tirelessly working 40-plus hour weeks to better the lives of at risk children, youth, families and seniors.
Wife Julie and Grady are both Arizona natives. Grady's mother spent her 1930's teenage years in Jerome. His father was an eight-term Greenlee County Sheriff, but a back injury sustained in a car accident caused him to resign and move his family to Phoenix. "My dad's law enforcement background most likely influenced my decision to work in delinquency prevention in the juvenile justice system," Grady says. "I was a tough little kid," he adds. "I formed a group in grade school that handled the bullies."
After earning his bachelor's degree at Los Angeles' Occidental College, Grady worked for the Arizona Department of Transportation. His most widely published work is the state's "Littering Highways Unlawful" signs. Grady says, "Understanding that the word "don't" deliberately encourages 15 percent of the population to do what you don't want them to do, ADOT became convinced that the "Don't be a litterbug" signs were defeating their intended purpose."
Deciding that he needed to "work with people and not paper," Grady became a probation officer in the midst of the Los Angeles Watts District's racially-incited riots. "I was involved in helping a torn-up community heal after the 1965 riots. That's when I decided it was more important to put efforts into prevention rather than focusing only on correction."
After his mother suffered a stroke, Grady moved his family to Phoenix to help in her recuperation. Working as director of treatment programs for Maricopa County's Juvenile Court, he started his first real prevention program.
The award-winning program won state-wide accolades, and Grady applied for federal money to expand. He met with the newly-formed Arizona Justice Planning Agency that was administering Department of Justice block grant dollars. "I went down to the state capitol to ask for money, and they wanted to hire me," Grady says. After training a good staff member to replace him, he made the switch.
"When I started, a thousand kids a year were committed to state correctional institutions. I worked with Juvenile Court judges, and told them if they weren't creating local resources and had to send kids to state institutions, their community just wasn't doing its job."
Grady says judges that deal with youth are generally very conscientious and caring people and easily motivated. Collaborating with them on prevention programs, Grady tracked statistics. Within one year the state's local juvenile justices dropped their institutional commitments by half.
Community planning concepts continue to prosper in Grady's volunteer work. He chairs the Yavapai County Community Health Services Primary Care Planning Committee. They are working to obtain federal funding to expand the wellness clinic in Cottonwood with satellite operations in Camp Verde and Sedona. "We are realistically looking at another year to get federal funding for our county's Community Health Center that would double or triple the present budget of state tobacco tax money funneled into the local area," Grady says.
Grady is also president of the Cultural Diversity Council. The group promotes multi-cultural understanding and relationships. They group is planning their first cultural diversity celebration in November. City and town councils will have an opportunity to interact with the diverse residents of their communities, talk with each other, discuss programs for children, and enjoy culturally diverse music and food.
Grady is the new coordinator for Youth Count. He also works with Generations United, a group that promotes interaction between generations. He chairs two Northern Arizona Council of Government committees, the Social Services Block Grant Committee and the Poverty Community Action Board.
Grady's Cornucopia Community Advocates recently started a kids' piggy bank program that raises money for children with specific needs. "The piggy bank program sponsored eight kids' attendance at the Boys and Girls Club last summer," Grady says. "Cornucopia assists communities in working better for people."
Grady first came to Sedona in 1946 when he was 6. Between the ages of 9 and 12, he lived part of the year on a family ranch in Cherry. "There were a greater number of cows, horses and chickens than there were people," Grady chuckles.
Growing up on horseback, Grady participated in cattle drives off the southern part of Mingus Mountain. He worked as a guide at an Oak Creek Canyon horse stable managed by his aunt, uncle and cousins. "It was a neat experience for a kid," Grady reminisces. "One of the trails led to Cave Springs, the other to West Fork, the only real branch to Oak Creek in the canyon. It was a world unto itself."
Grady spent another part of his career in the field of integrated medicine. He has four children and three grandchildren, with one on the way. He and wife Julie permanently moved to Pine Valley, three miles east of the Village of Oak Creek, in 1995. They continue their quest to identify gaps and needs in the community in the terms of things that make life worthwhile, including the arts and community services.
They are nearly finished completing a community directory that will help the 600- plus non-profits in the Verde Valley learn about each others' existence and services.
The final ordinance creating a city of Cottonwood Youth Commission will be heard by the City Council before year-end. Mickelsen says, "The challenge of the Youth Commission is to empower youth to make a positive difference in our community and provide them a mechanism to give back to the community."
Community members are encouraged to attend upcoming City Council meetings finalizing the Youth Commission ordinance. Agendas are available on the city's Web site at www.ci.cottonwood.az.us.
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Spotlight on Volunteers recognizes the invaluable contributions volunteers make to the betterment of city government and the community. There are many opportunities to volunteer and make a positive difference. Volunteer today!