Fiscal Note
No appropriation required.
Title
Celebrating and honoring the life and work of Paul H. Kusuda.
Body
WHEREAS, Paul H. Kusuda devoted his life to helping others and had an immense impact in the City of Madison, Dane County and the State of Wisconsin, especially in addressing the needs of the elderly, refugees, immigrants, underprivileged youth, Asian community, the homeless and the advancement of affordable health care for all; and,
WHEREAS, Paul obtained his Masters of Social Work in 1949, from the University of Chicago, worked for the State of Wisconsin Department of Corrections and was Chief of the Bureau of Research. He retired as the Deputy Director of Juvenile Services for the Department of Corrections in 1987; and,
WHEREAS, upon his retirement in 1987, his wife expressed concern that he might succumb to being a do-nothing homebody. Because of his deep-seated values, Paul felt the need to “give back to the community” for the good life he had had and the comfortable retirement he was about to enter. For Paul, retirement was not an entitlement or a reward for work previously performed, it was another opportunity to personally identify inequity and engage in actions of change to the best of his ability for the betterment of his community; and,
WHEREAS, it was Paul’s awareness and understanding of the importance of voluntary action in order to create change within a community, as Paul states, “I changed from being an ‘inward thinking’ person to one of ‘outward thinking’. I became interested in making a difference for others”; and,
WHEREAS, locally, his involvement in advocacy included:
• City of Madison Committee on Aging (Paul also served on its predecessor Senior Citizen Advisory Committee). His efforts included having the City’s Committee on Aging moved to be directly under the Mayor, thus enabling it to provide a stronger advocacy role for Madison older adults.
• Dane County Area Agency on Aging Board; Legislative Advocacy Committee, ...
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