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Alan Stock 0:00
Joining us right now for our Nevada news and views Friday, see how we switched it around this week from Thursday to Friday, just one time. And by the way, we want to find out more about Nevada news and views. Go to Nevada news and views.com the best in and news commentary, local, statewide and national as well. Nevada news and views, calm and right now, representing Nevada news and views on Friday here is Erica Neely. She is founder of the Hispanic Latin Alliance and a candidate for the ninth Assembly District, and she’s got a lot of other titles we’ll tell you about as well. Erica, how you doing?
Erica Neely 0:37
Good morning. I’m doing great. It’s Friday. It’s going to be a wonderful day today,
Alan Stock 0:40
and it’s gonna be a wonderful day and and boy, Happy Mother’s Day in advance to you too.
Erica Neely 0:46
Oh thank you so much
Alan Stock 0:47
will talk more about that in a little bit. I want to talk about something else. One of the things you wrote about in the Nevada news interviews had to do with homelessness. And as I said, you off the air before we got on the air, it was that a lot of people running for political office, Democrat and Republican, both have talked a lot about homelessness. I’ll do something about it. And most of them, almost I can’t remember any who have really done anything significant about it, seriously at all, and but you say that there are real solutions out there. I am all ears, please. What can we do to significantly reduce homelessness in this country and in our local communities especially?
Erica Neely 1:32
Well, number one, thank you so much for having me. Yes, I toured the facility. It’s Vegas, stronger down in downtown, and I met with the CEO, Dave Marlin. He’s the CEO and co founder of Vegas stronger, and so there they have a facility where they treat in inpatients and out and daily patients, and they just don’t put a bandage on the situation. They actually go all the steps with drug addiction and helping, they’d have a plan for recovery. How do they administrate medication? How do they get back to eating healthy? How do they go back in learning trades, just going shopping and getting back into daily life? This is not a bandage to a one time solution. This is preparing people back into society, helping them, educating them and treating their addictions. So this is a great opportunity that Vegas stronger is doing for the community. And they need help. They need help. And as a legislator, I think that we could allocate funds to help help the situation, and it also has to do with safety too. The police and our law enforcement needs help. When we cut when we cut funding for the police, we also cut opportunities to help these people get on the right track.
Alan Stock 2:58
So the specific focus on homelessness at the Vegas stronger is on drug addiction.
Erica Neely 3:07
That’s correct the road, the road to staying in the streets, families turning their back from them. They decide to go a different route. And so that’s effect down that a drug addiction leads to homelessness.
Alan Stock 3:22
Okay, I mean, I’m going to go a little more macro on this issue, just a little bit, and that is, this is a micro version of what needs to be done. We’re talking about drug addiction, and of course, you could talk about alcoholism as another aspect of it, you can talk about mental illness and other aspect of homelessness. So each one of those have their own need to be able to focus on what I think we need. And I’ve been preaching this for years, and it’s not my idea. I picked up on it, and I’m preaching Oscar Goodman’s idea, and that is the need for a triage facility outside of the right outside of the community, that could house the homeless folks, regardless of what their what The needs are, whether it’s drug, alcohol addiction, whether it’s a mental illness, whatever, but could house them as in a triage center long enough to determine what the situation is with each one of them. Maybe they’re there on the street and they just need to, you know, get cleaned up and get a resume together and help get a job. I mean, whatever it happens to be, Oscar suggested that years ago, on my show back in in 1999 suggesting that we use the women’s prison, closed women’s prison in gene as a triage facility. And of course, the newspaper the next day said what Mayor wants to send homeless to prison, which is not what he wanted to do, but. Mean, what we need is a triage center, though, to treat all of these and then disperse them out into the particular areas of treatment. And one of those areas you’re talking about happened to be Vegas, stronger, but I think we need, on a macro level, a larger triage facility. What are your thoughts on that?
Erica Neely 5:20
I agree with you. The problem is the funding they offer services and through Medicaid, everybody they run them through Medicaid, and Medicaid only pays 60% so we’re talking about having lack of resources to help fix this problem. And as a legislator, we could allocate the funds and see programs that are actually working like Vegas stronger, they actually have short term, short term timelines and long term to help the to help the problem, find solutions. So I think the biggest problem is, you’re right the facilities, but we need funding for that, and that’s one of the things that I was looking at as I toured the facility, that there is hope in in people’s eyes when they’re there, trying to get help and asking for help, and then the other side being there, reaching out and helping them.
Alan Stock 6:10
So we do put a lot of money into the homeless issue, and very little, we see very little effect. Again, specifically Vegas, stronger is working on the one particular of addiction, and I think it’s absolutely great. We need to focus on the individual treatments for the for these folks. But again, a more macro type of approach as well, to use some of that funding for a facility to house them all, triage them all, figure out where they need to go, and then to direct them. And those who have drug addiction going to places like Vegas, stronger alcohol addiction, perhaps, is another facility mental illness, we should have another facility set up for that to treat them as well. And I mean, it’s a very logical type of progression that we need to use, and we’re not doing it. And I think until we, you know, I mean Oscar’s words, I think were wise. They’re not mine, and I so I don’t take credit for it, but I am promoting what he suggested many years ago. So stay with me. I want to come on back and talk about the fact that there’s Teacher Appreciation Week, and you say specifically, there’s one aspects of Teacher Appreciation Week we shouldn’t forget about among others, but we should not forget about one in particular. I’ll be talking about that right after we check in with traffic and your fox five first alert, weather update and a good morning. Erica Neely is joining us. She is a candidate for the ninth Assembly District. Also writes for the Nevada news and views. One thing I want to give you a chance to mention. Don’t have a lot of time, but this is a Teacher Appreciation Week, and you wanted to especially give a big shout out to one aspect of teachers, one area of teachers, and that is?
Erica Neely 7:57
The homeschool moms. They are they are thriving, the kids are learning, and we cannot forget those home school moms,
Alan Stock 8:05
Right, and dads too. I mean the parents who are doing home schooling and who are out there driving their kids to everything. I mean home schoolers. Home school parents, you know, pay taxes to be able to promote and support public schools. The government run schools, and yet they also put additional money out to pay for their own child’s education when the education may not be adequate and or in some cases, as you experienced, your child was was bullied and the school did nothing about it.
Erica Neely 8:40
Absolutely yes. So homeschool parents are they’re happy to contribute to society and help we want to see the public schools get fixed. We want to see everybody educated. And you’re right. They pay taxes, and we can’t forget about those home school families that do that do raise their kids to be productive, educated students in society, right? So we’re very proud of the work that homeschool parents do. It’s growing nationwide. Five years ago, was about 2 million homeschool families nationwide, and it’s up to 10 million. So something is shifting, something is working, and we can’t forget about those families.
Alan Stock 9:21
Absolutely the case. And I know that you know, running for the ninth Assembly District, there may be some, a couple people out there who say, Oh, well, okay, so she’s running as soon as she has kids. But the fact that you have kids is so important, because you you understand what families are going through. And the ninth assembly district is made up of families, men, women with with, you know, moms, dads with, with children, and you understand the problems and challenges that these families have, because you live them every day.
Erica Neely 9:55
Absolutely, I would like to have seen somebody that legislates for family tree. Tech family, not the other way around, where they have no experience about what the daily activities that you have to do as a family, and then they legislate against parental rights and families. So it is a big deal for me. I have You’re right. I I have six children. I care for them, I love them, and I know many people feel the same way about their own children and their pets, so we should be legislating protecting parental rights and families.
Alan Stock 10:26
Yeah, you wrote a great book about about adopting a child that was really very heartwarming and and everything. And believe me, of all the folks running for office, I I wholeheartedly support you, and I want you to get in. I think you would be a great representative for families here in the ninth assembly. And by way of disclosure, it is my district. I’m in the ninth assembly district that we need you in there. We’ve had a horrible, horrible representation over the last few years about a guy who didn’t give a crap about families, quite frankly. And we need to turn that around. And you, I know, would focus on that big, big time. And so we got to get Erica Neely in as the as the assembly person, Assembly Woman for the ninth assembly district. We need her badly in there. Also this, I want to take this opportunity to the same time. Wish you a happy Mother’s Day, because it is Mother’s Day. And I know you, you know again, you are, you’re a mama bear. You focus on your kids and you’re there. You’re going to protect them, you know, come hell or high water, and I respect you for that.
Erica Neely 11:37
Thank you so much. Thank you for the blessings also. This is a great Yes, a great opportunity to call your parents, call your mom, wish him a happy Mother’s Day. Yes, very important,
Alan Stock 11:47
absolutely the case. Well, Happy Mother’s Day to you and the best in your in your candidacy. I know that the sheriff, Kevin mcmael, has endorsed you because he knows you will be the best there to support the officers who had turned are supporting families in the ninth assembly district as well as throughout the entire county. So I mean, you’ve got all the right endorsements. The governor endorsed you, rightfully so. And and so I again, I want everyone to remember the name Erica Neely for the ninth Assembly District. Erica, thanks for being with us once again. Happy Mother’s Day, and you and I will talk again very soon.
Erica Neely 12:25
Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day. Enjoy your weekend.
Alan Stock 12:27
Bye.
