The Downtown Austin Alliance’s Mandi Thomas will join the International Downtown Association’s 2019 Emerging Leaders Fellowship. The fellowship, according to a press release about the honor, “is a week-long experiential program bringing together a cohort of IDA professionals from within the urban district management industry. The fellows learn essential leadership and place management skills and gain practical tools in the areas of place-based economic development, the live-work-play experience, and public-private partnerships.” As the director of strategic partnerships, Thomas manages programming and partnerships for Republic Square. “Mandi Thomas is an excellent addition to the IDA Emerging Leaders Fellowship program and we are thrilled she was selected,” Dewitt Peart, president and CEO of the Downtown Austin Alliance, said. “Her leadership and commitment to building relationships with Austin businesses, organizations and artists have made the programming at Republic Square, a downtown urban greenspace, and annual events such as the Downtown Holiday Stroll a huge part of Austin’s cultural fabric.”

Those curious about the state of water and water policy in Texas might want to head down to the Capitol next Thursday, when Schreiner University, Texas Tech University, Texas Public Radio and the Hill Country Alliance will be holding the Texas Water Symposium. State representatives Kyle Biedermann (District 73; Comal, Kendall and Gillespie counties); Vikki Goodwin (District 47; western Travis County); Andrew Murr (District 53; western Hill Country counties) and Erin Zwiener (District 45; Hays and Blanco counties) will talk about water and water issues in a panel hosted by Vanessa Puig-Williams of Puig-Williams Law, PLLC. It all takes place at the state Capitol Extension, room E1.014, from 7 until 8:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public (with a recording of the discussion to air on Texas Public Radio one week later).

Austin will observe the first anniversary of the Austin bombings at a memorial ceremony today. The ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. at City Hall, and speakers will include Mayor Steve Adler, City Manager Spencer Cronk, Police Chief Brian Manley and Pete Winstead, president of the Greater Austin Crime Commission. In 2018, five package bombs exploded around the city, killing two people and injuring five. The memorial program will remember those killed and injured and pay tribute to those who aided in the investigation.

St. David’s Foundation has pitched in to the movement to preserve workforce housing in Austin, with a $450,000 operating grant to Affordable Central Texas, the nonprofit that manages a recently formed fund charged with buying local apartment developments and keeping rents at a level affordable to middle-income residents. The grant will help the organization with its operational and staffing expenses. In a statement, foundation CEO Earl Maxwell said preservation of workforce housing is a public health issue because nurses, teachers, emergency first responders and police officers need to be able to live in the communities they serve. The Austin Housing Conservancy Fund has thus far completed the purchase of three multifamily apartment properties with roughly 800 housing units, and plans to purchase four more in 2019.

The city has opened up the survey portal to gather ideas for how best to use the $12 million in bond money voters approved in November to preserve and create music venues, art studios and other spaces for creatives. The input gathered from the survey will be included with feedback from a joint meeting of the city’s art and music commissions, with a working group from those bodies charged with crafting a formal recommendation that will need to be vetted by city legal and approved by City Council. Asked about the importance of the survey, Music Commission Chair Gavin Garcia said, “With arts advocates’ support, the survey was constructed with the commercial music industry in mind as a primary creative focus. That’s an achievement in itself. Although there’s no precedent, I think Austin music understands the degree of responsibility it has in identifying how the city can best utilize the funds. Whether it’s acquiring land and constructing or renovating existing property, music patrons, performers and facility staff will have an equal say.”

The Austin Parks and Recreation Department invites the public to participate in a community discussion about future programming at the recently reopened Oakwood Cemetery Chapel, a city historic landmark in Oakwood Cemetery. The chapel, which was built in 1914 and completely restored in 2018, serves as a visitors’ center for the cemetery, Austin’s oldest municipal burial ground. The community meeting will take place Wednesday, April 17, from 5-7 p.m at 1601 Navasota St. You may also offer your feedback online here.

Therapists who work with trauma victims often need to augment their own education with specialized treatment methods. The psychotherapeutic treatment known as eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or EMDR, has been found to be particularly helpful for victims of sexual assault. EMDR works to somehow “reset” the brain’s information processing system so that survivors can move toward healing and lessen their focus on disturbing emotions and traumatic memories. The Austin Police Department is offering EMDR training to qualified local therapists free of charge, in exchange for agreeing to partner with APD Victim Services and provide 50 pro bono sessions to trauma victims over the next three years. Training starts in May and consists of two weekends and a series of consultation sessions. Counselors must be licensed as an LPC, LMFT or LCSW (or pursuing licensure) and preferably have at least three years’ experience working with survivors of trauma. To apply, submit a letter of interest to APDemdr@gmail.com detailing your background and how you meet the requirements, a resume and three letters of recommendation from individuals who are familiar with your work with survivors of sexual trauma.

Attention, swimmers: Deep Eddy Pool at 401 Deep Eddy Ave. is about to close for its annual spring cleaning. The pool will be closed from Monday, March 25, through Sunday, April 7, and will reopen on Monday, April 8, at 8 a.m. In the meantime, if you simply must take the waters, Barton Springs, Bartholomew, Stacy and Springwoods pools will all be open and welcoming bathers.

The Dell Medical School Family Residency Program at the University of Texas and CommUnityCare Blackstock Health Center are both relocating to the Central Health Southeast Health & Wellness Center at 2901 Montopolis Drive. CommUnityCare moved from its downtown location to Southeast Austin on March 18. “Integrating Dell Med doctors into CommUnityCare continues to create a pipeline of physicians,” said Mike Geeslin, president and CEO of Central Health. “Data shows that doctors who train in a community often stay and practice in the same community. We believe many of these Dell Med family medicine residents – under the supervision of exceptional faculty – will stay in Travis County and care for residents with low income for years to come.” Moving Blackstock to Central Health Southeast Health & Wellness Center is expected to increase the center’s available primary care visit appointments from 12,000 to 20,000 annually. Said CommUnityCare VP of Health Center Advancement Matt Balthazar, “As Austin demographics have changed, our patients are moving further away from Austin’s core and into surrounding communities. Relocating to the Central Health Southeast Health & Wellness Center allows us to provide a one-stop shop for our patients and families that includes specialty care, x-ray, pharmacy, lab, and a host of wellness programs, all under one roof.”

For the third year, the East Austin campus of Huston-Tillotson University will host Earth Day Austin. Billed as “the largest sustainability event in Central Texas,” the festival’s exhibits and programs will focus on reducing waste, green living, conservation, eco-friendly transportation solutions, wellness, and much, much more. Expect live music, lots of delicious organic food, and activities for adults and kids of all ages. Sunday, April 13, noon to 6 p.m, at 900 Chicon St. For more information, visit Earth Day Austin.

All Austin Independent School District schools and offices will be closed for spring break from March 18-22. The district will open for business on Monday, March 25. Visit the district calendar for information about upcoming AISD holidays and events.

Small businesses throughout the city are asked to attend a March 26 workshop at the Asian American Resource Center on Cameron Road to learn how to apply and be considered for city contracts of less than $50,000. The session runs from 2-4:30 p.m. and will feature representatives from the city’s Purchasing Office, Small and Minority Business Resources Department, the Small Business Program, Economic Development Department, Capital Contracting Office, Austin Energy and Austin Public Health. The Austin Business Journal reports that the city has seen a decrease in the number of vendors applying for city contracts – with small businesses receiving roughly 15 percent of the bids – and that applicants are especially wanted in the fields of electrical services, training, consulting, safety equipment, landscaping, plumbing, fleet management and technology. Growing small businesses that provide jobs in what’s typically referred to as workforce positions with middle-class incomes has become a priority for the city’s economic incentives program, which is expected to be formally adopted later this year.