Join us for our May Monthly meeting and hear Coral Evans, Hillary Sparkes-Cannizzaro and Thomasene Cardona!
About the Speakers:
Mayor Coral Evans
Coral Evans is the Mayor of Flagstaff and the Executive Director of the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association. She grew up in Flagstaff with her twin brother and her mom. Her mom was a school teacher until injury forced her to go on disability. Growing up Coral benefited from public programs and community support that sent her to summer camps and allowed her to play ice hockey. She got her first job at 13.
In 2008 Coral was working as a community organizer when the city council was debating selling the historic Dunbar Elementary school in Southside. Dunbar had been the segregated elementary school in Flagstaff until it desegregated two years before Brown v Board of Ed. The Southside community objected to the sale and expressed a desire to turn it into a community center. Coral organized the community to save the historic building. After months of lobbying and marching and organizing the city council still wasn’t listening to the community. It was at that point Coral asked a mentor, Joe, who city council worked for, she was going to talk to their boss. The next day Joe brought her papers to run for office. That was 12 years ago, she’s been serving the community and championing the people as an elected official ever since.
Hilary Sparkes Cannizzaro
Hilary Sparkes Cannizzaro is a teacher at Brightside Preschool and is a candidate for the Prescott Unified School District.
Thomasene Cardona - Yavapai Apache Nation
Thomasene Cardona considers herself to be a passionate community servant. "As a Yavapai-Apache woman, a daughter and granddaughter of two spiritually strong women, my mother, and grandmother who have taught me that striving through strife are where well-being can be found.
I am committed to service based on personal and professional experiences. I take pride in engaging in a social justice-based approach toward community building. Through compassion I have been able to inspire significant change in my communities.
"These attributes, as well as my experiences, have naturally inspired me to become a strong voice for the underrepresented and a beacon of hope for all”