Jenny Hanson. Works at a downtown-based non-profit providing lower income residents with the resources necessary to empower themselves.

Jenny Hanson can tell you stories. Stories about unemployed residents who can’t afford the bus fare across town to go to job interviews. Stories about parents who can’t apply for – or hold onto – much-needed jobs because they can’t find or afford childcare, or because after the extremely time consuming trip across town they get home too late to pick up their kid by closing time.

But Hanson is optimistic. She believes the city can make small changes that would open up big opportunities. To receive assistance services in this city, she says, one often must first pay for it – and many simply can’t. “How can you end up getting city assistance when you don’t even have the money to pay for a birth certificate for your child, ora social security card?”

She’d love to see the city setting up licensed childcare in some of the low income apartment complexes. Or what about for those receiving Medicaid or food stamps, they also receive a 30 day bus pass and an opportunity to get a voucher for a birth certificate?

She also believes the city can make a bigger effort to reach out to its underserved residents. There are a lot of non-profit resources in Las Vegas that most people don’t even know exist. Even simple marketing and advertising campaigns could make people aware of townhalls and of these non-profits, allowing residents to empower their quality of life and that of the city as a whole.

Jessica Boudreau, Founder and Executive Director of a Leadership Non-Profit for Local Youth

Living in Las Vegas for 11 years now, Jessica enjoys her life here. She’s found her social community and sees her work making a difference locally. She works with many residents, however, who want to do better but are struggling just to get by. In fact, she’s rarely met any locals who’ve risen to positions of leadership within their community.

Breaking out of the cycle of generational poverty is, she says, a sizeable obstacle to overcome. The city’s predominance of tourism-generated, low-growth potential jobs contribute to this long term challenge. Combine that with a lack of systems in place for attaining higher level positions and you get an absence of proof points for success. How does one learn how to work their way up when there are so few local models who’ve actually done so?

A combination of resources and guidance is key. Jessica would like to see residents’ basic, everyday needs being met more efficiently, allowing them begin focusing on longer term goals. Why not break down the tremendous school district into various regions in an equitable way? More micro-grants and pooling of government finances, along with educational opportunities for business and leadership, would also help residents move forward.

“When you don’t have people in leadership who come from the community, the residents tend to be poorly represented. “Jessica offers. “People are pretty committed to living here once they decide they like it. They’re self-motivated to make it a better place. They often just need a little guidance.”

Jim Brooks, a resident of 20 years who’s very involved in the city’s music community

When a friend across town calls Jim to see if he wants to get together for coffee, he’s generally going to say no. Not because he doesn’t want to see them but rather because, as he put it, it feels like they’re on the other side of the moon. The city’s sprawling, indirect infrastructure layout makes getting across town quite a challenge, even if one avoids public transportation altogether.

In fact, Jim says he never goes downtown. The Fremont Street mall isn’t geared toward locals. Coffeeshops or restaurants one can walk to don’t really exist there as it’s mostly casino-oriented or residential (true?). Although the city has made efforts to implant a downtown hub, Jim would like to see it develop more of an all-encompassing, thoughtful approach to planning before any building begins.

As someone whose life centers around music, Jim believes that developing a more thriving arts district would create a more centralized area for those with a common passion. As it is now, the relatively new Smith Center for Performing Arts is a good 20 minute drive from the Las Vegas Philharmonic.

As a model to revitalize the arts, Jim looks to his midwest hometown, where there’s a fairly new concert hall with opera, ballet and symphony all under one roof – and all of its controlled by a single board. “Those disparate efforts in the arts there have now come together so wonderfully.“

Tiffany Jackson, works for the City of Las Vegas in Youth Development Services

Working and raising kids in Las Vegas, Tiffany has a lot invested in seeing this city thrive. As a westside resident, her children are in magnet schools because the public school system is so weak. She’d love to see more grocery stores in her neighborhood, as well as areas for kids to play in. Fortunately her job allows her to help empower lives. But for lasting change she believes the city can definitely step it up more.

What if the city partnered with its surrounding counties to tackle the homelessness problem? With pooled resources they might find a lasting solution that benefits all invested. Affordable housing is another major obstacle. Tiffany’s friend with three kids temporarily lives with her from time to time, simply because she can’t afford to rent or own. “The city isbuilding new homes, but only for those who can afford it, not for the people who already live here.” She’d like to see housing developed outside of lower income areas. And why not have casinos pay an education tax? “Tourism money is mostly going right back into tourism,” she said.

On a smaller scale level she’d love to see more marketing and resources aimed at providing informational drug awareness programs for kids and their parents. Many homeless people have housing options they don’t even know about. If the city had more programs letting people know how they can improve their lives, that could go a long way toward enriching the city as a whole.

Captain Stirling – Pilot, Instructor and Evaluator at Creech Airforce Base

Born and raised in Montreal – and having lived throughout the United States since he was a teen – Captain Stirling has a lot to draw from when comparing life in Las Vegas to other cities. As a new father and Las Vegas resident for 3 years now, he’s happy with his life here. The northwest corridor suits him and his family well. It feel safe, has lots of families, and is free of poverty and homelessness.

Stirling and his wife have a sizeable commute but there’s barely any traffic. He’s observed, however, that construction in Las Vegas takes much longer than it does in other cities. He’d like to see that go a lot faster. Since his neighborhood is very suburban, when he and his wife want to go out to nice restaurant or to a show, they have to commit to going to the strip, which is expensive and full of traffic and crowds. Having the casinos, entertainment, stadiums and all the attractions in one place works for the tourists, he says, but for locals? Not so much.

Although quiet and pleasant with friendly neighbors, Stirling’s residential community doesn’t feel close knit. He misses the way he and his wife used to socialize with neighbors like they did in California. He’d love to see more sit down restaurants and activities for locals there, which would increase social opportunities and help unite the community more.

Michelle Larime, Worked for City of LC Historic Preservation Commission. 11 year resident.

In a city of large roads, high speed limits, and few alternative infastructures, Michelle is more dependent on her car than she’d prefer. She tends to avoid public transportation because the travel times are too long, and there’s rarely an easy, straightforward route into the busier areas of town. Although she loves her downtown historic neighborhood, it would certainly be nice to have more walking and biking options there, as well as throughout the city as a whole.

Michelle’s grocery shopping options are limited to a couple large chain stores. She’d love it if a few smaller, health-focused markets opened up near her, allowing her to make healthier choices. She also sees vast amounts of open space in the city that’s being underutilized. More areas designated for adult recreation, dog parks, BBQ and picnic areas, sports, and even just public benches would be ideal. Considering the harsher desert climate, simply adding more shade could make a huge difference for residents.

“Maybe the city could offer temporary public uses, or pop-ups, as experiments to see what people will do when they have more lifestyle options,” suggests Michelle. If there were one or two expressways, along with more direct routes to the main areas of town, people would go and stay outside more, which could encourage more connectivity among residents.

Mark Miller, downtown resident involved with the Fremont Street Experience, a pedestrianized entertainment district of downtown Las Vegas designed to appeal to tourists.

As Las Vegas resident for over two decades, Mark Miller strongly believes the vast homelessness issue is the most challenging one facing the city. On a daily basis he’s unable to avoid panhandlers even while performing the simplest of daily tasks, such as going to the pharmacy or grocery store.

The homelessness issue, however, extends far beyond the experiential day-to-day level. Miller views homelessness as an obvious and formidable obstacle to the economic growth of the city, which relies on tourism as its largest source of income. As someone who’s focused on making Fremont Street as desirable as possible for tourists, Miller looks forward to the city finding a long term solution for resolving the problem. He notes that all previous government attempts at improvement have merely resulted in shuffling people from one area to another. He’s confident that if/when? the city comes up with the right plan – a real long term solution – core groups of residents and businesses will get behind it and help fund it.

Miller also looks forward to the better use of open spaces as a means of building more social cohesiveness throughout the city, and especially downtown. He’d love to see more parks, trails, open fields (outside of schools), and basketball and tennis courts, for example. “This would create more connected communities by getting people out of their houses. And it would improve overall health too,” says Miller.