12/31 Weekly Email + Resolutions

Hi all, 

I’m getting this email out early again due to tomorrow’s holiday. I’ll return to my normal Thursday schedule this coming week. 

New Year’s Resolutions: I wrote a bit about goal-setting in my email from last January - rather than retreading old ground, I’ll just link it here. The general gist is that there are a few techniques you can use to improve the likelihood of achieving your goals each year. I also talked a little about setting some unconventional goals for yourself - goals can be fun and whimsical ways of bringing joy to your life, not just hard pass/fail states for personal or professional improvement. Goals can be about additional ways you want to connect with the people you care about, ways to beautify your space, ways to simplify your life and remove stressors, spiritual practices you want to return to or be more consistent about, specific books, movies, music, or art you want to see or engage with, places you want to visit, additional activities to boost your mood/sense of purpose/connection/or self-worth, and so on. 

In addition to what I said last year, I also want to encourage people to take advantage of the free or heavily discounted resources Tempe (and other Valley cities have) for supporting most common goals. Tempe Public Library (and many other Phoenix libraries) provides access to an app called Rocket Languages, which is a free way to learn Spanish, Chinese, German, Arabic, and a dozen other languages. Tempe’s Educational Credit might be something you can use for specific further education (it’s worth checking with Employee Development in advance, but you can generally get approval for classes as long as they relate to jobs offered by the City of Tempe). Tempe’s Edna Vihel Art center offers dozens of art and adult recreation classes. Tempe employees have access to Tempe’s adult recreation centers for free (albeit, some perks may be taxable) and employees on Tempe’s healthcare program can get discounted access to thousands of regular gyms nationwide. Employees over the age of 35 on City insurance should also consider using some of their healthcare perks to stay on top of their health goals - don’t forget you have access to free head and chest MRI scans through Prenuvo. Finally, don’t forget to track your healthcare accomplishments on healthymetempe.com to get your healthcare discount and potentially win prizes - there’s a new healthcare challenge revolving around eating fruits and vegetables that will kick off on January 12th. 

Finally, this year I also wanted to encourage people to think about ways they can support their communities more. This is not a call to overcommit yourself, merely a suggestion to think of goals beyond yourself and your family so we can collaboratively build a stronger future. Things like the SNAP shutdown in 2025 helped illustrate how many people are in economically precarious situations, and there are a lot of ways you can give back, even if you can’t commit any money. Committing time to supporting a local cause is usually just as good as donations - labor has a value, and consistent volunteerism helps groups like food banks spend more of their donations on food and less on staffing. 

One very easy thing you can do in 5 minutes to support fellow Tempe employees is to sign up to donate to the Tempe Employee Relief Fund. The group collects donations from Tempe employees and distributes them in the form of grants to other employees who are experiencing unexpected financial hardships. Donations can be as little as 50 cents a paycheck (or could be several dollars, depending on what you can afford). 50 cents a pay check ($13/year) may not seem like much, but it adds up fast when there are hundreds of donations from fellow employees two or three times a month, and the more donations ERF gathers, the stronger of a social safety net all employees will ultimately have.

Mobile Mammograms: The City is once again offering free mammograms through the Mobile Mammography group throughout the month of January. They also have a new service this year that will provide even more accurate cancer detection for an extra $40 - while not free, the cost could be covered by your Flexible Spending Accounts or Mediflex accounts. 13% of women (1 in 8) will develop breast cancer at some point during their life and 2.3% of those with breast cancer will die from it - it’s really worth it to take advantage of this resource if you’re covered by Tempe insurance. 

January Member Meeting(s): UAEA will be having its first-ever annual members meeting on January 15th. This meeting will go over what UAEA worked on in 2025, what we’re planning to do in 2026, upcoming opportunities for member involvement, and will have a little time for one-on-one questions with the board. We are planning to do two sessions on January 15th, one at 5:30am at TMOC Building 1 (2090 W Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe, AZ), and one at 12pm at the Tempe Historical Museum (809 E Southern Ave, Tempe, AZ). Both sessions will be available virtually if you can’t attend in person, but we’d love to see as many members as possible. You can rsvp here for both sessions and submit questions in advance. 

Thanks for a great week, all, and see you next year!