Mayor Michelle De La Isla of Topeka, Kansas

         9/15/2018

Mayor Michelle De La Isla

c/o Office of the Mayor

City Hall

215 SE 7^th Street, Room 350

Topeka, KS 66603

Dear Mayor De La Isla,

My name is Matt Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan and I have a strong interest in learning history and social justice.  In these subjects I like to learn the need for Civil Rights to be stronger to reduce discrimination, protect the environment form pollution, and many others. Mayor De La Isla, the main reason I’m writing you a letter is to explain how I find your work as Mayor of Topeka, Kansas to be very inspiring to me.

in January 2018, I was amazed on how you made history by becoming the first Hispanic woman to become Mayor of Topeka, Kansas.  In your current role as Mayor of Topeka, Kansas, I truly appreciate on how you are a strong supporter of Civil Rights by advocating for people with disabilities’ rights, supporting funds for women including minorities businesses to help them compete in the economy,  working with city council to expand laws to combat against hate-crime to help protect minorities including people who are different, and expressing the need for equal pay for women to help protect them from being discriminated in pay based on gender.   Pushing for more job-training programs to help train youth including workers to develop work-skills, expanding tax credits to small businesses to help them hire more people to work for them, and heavily advocating for the need to raise the minimum wage to help assist minimum wage workers afford to live is common sense to improve the economy.  On education, I like on how you increase funds for special education to help students with disabilities get the educational resources they need to improve learning, implement more after school programs to provide youth on getting help on their assignments from tutors, expand  more literacy programs to help youth improve on their comprehension, and support funds for arts, history, and diversity classes to help make education diverse to learn. On the environment, I like your approach to protect the environment by supporting funds for renewable energy resources to help reduce addiction to oil with gas, encouraging businesses to use energy-efficient products to reduce high energy cost while reduce pollution, and providing funds to help clean parks including water resources to make them safe for people to use.  Another thing that I like about your work as Mayor of Topeka, Kansas is how are a strong advocate for immigration reform to help protect immigrants including refugees from being oppressed, push for funds to help restore historical sites including attractions to help improve tourism while make learning history a better place, and push for more homeless shelters to help people who are homeless get the care they need. 

Mayor De La Isla, I have autism with a learning disability.  Having a disability is hard for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different advance subjects, sometimes I struggle to communicate my thoughts, and get teased.  Your commitment to be a strong supporter of Civil Rights including people with disabilities’ rights really inspires me to work hard on my disability.  On cjonline.com The Topeka Capital-Journal article “Michelle De La Isla becomes Topeka’s first Hispanic mayor” because I enjoyed learning about how you overcame you struggle  of being homeless to have a college degree,  working for Topeka Habitat for Humanity, and later get involve in local politics.  Also your role as Mayor of Topeka, Kansas gives me motivation to continue to learn history with social justice. My future goal is to someday work in these areas to help emphasize the need for Civil Rights to be stronger to reduce discrimination, protect the environment from pollution, improve social justice to make communities a better place, and many others.

I strongly believe that you made a great difference in your current role.  I’m very proud on hoe you accomplished on overcoming your struggle on being homeless to become the first Hispanic women to become Mayor of Topeka, Kansas.  Another thing to add is that I like on how you are working hard to support Civil Rights, protect the environment, and improve social justice.  You have inspired me to continue to work hard on my disability, be motivated to learn history including social justice, and enjoy learning about some of your life.  Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, working hard to make a great difference, and inspiring me. I wish you the best to continue to make a great impact on society.

Sincerely,

Matt Winick