All-Saints students present ideas for city improvement to Tyler city officials

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) – 8th grade students from All-Saints Episcopal School had the opportunity to present their ideas to improve Tyler to city officials Friday.

“Our Voices for a Better City” was a collaboration between All-Saints and the University of Texas at Tyler. Nine groups of students presented their ideas to an audience of city officials including Tyler Mayor Don Warren, City Manager Ed Broussard, and Deputy Manager Stephanie Franklin at Liberty Hall.

The students have engaged in a semester of design-based work to investigate ways to better the city. UT Tyler students have served as guides for the All-Saints 8th grade students and then worked with city of Tyler officials to develop plans for improvement. Some of the topics include traffic mitigation, services for the homeless, park beautification and programs for animal services

“We want to get a sense of the younger voices in the community to determine what sort of ideas do they have to improve Tyler,” said Dr. Rick Helfers with the University of Texas at Tyler Social Science Department.

Mayor Don Warren said they appreciate hearing the new ideas from young people.

“We get stuck in a rut and we think we are doing everything the right way. We’re not perfect and that is what’s so fun about these young people is you hear the new energy, you hear the new ideas. We heard them and we listened,” Warren said.

Warren said city officials were taking notes through all the presentations so that what the students said was being heard.