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CREO Pathways Mentoring Program

CONNECTING SOUTHERN ARIZONA

“Feeding Santa Cruz County“ Community Food Bank

Happy Holidays from Border Eco

5th Annual Job Fair & Expo

McTeacher’s Night Challenge

ADEQ Training

Border Eco Updates Part-Time Office Clerk Job Help Wanted

CREO Pathways Mentoring Program

Allstate Insurance currently has a part-time job opening for a an office clerk. They are looking for a motivated individual who has good customer service skills, bilingual and data entry skills. For more information on this part-time office clerk job opening please contact Jorge Guayante at (520)287-0837 or email resume to: a007868@allstate.com Visit the office at: 545 N. Grand Ave. Ste. #4 Nogales, Arizona 85621

Feeding Santa Cruz County

10 People that “echo”Efrain Trigueras 11 5th Annual Santa Cruz Job Fair

Border Eco Mission

Our goal is to continue reporting on the great people, organizations, and services in our community. We want to change public’s perception of our border town. Border Eco is focused on the positive people, organizations, and services within our community that makes our bordertown unique. Santa Cruz County is a beautiful community with lots of history and cultural background. “It is never too late to bring in change, that you want to see around you. Let it be the forefront for introducing new ideas and new concepts to make our community a better and safer place for all of us.”

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

McTeacher’s Night Challenge

ADEQ Training

Superintendent of the Year

Editor: Adriana Romero Student Intern Reporter: Chris Alcaraz Student Intern Reporter: Nadia Sandoval Magazine Graphic Designer Consultant: Adriana Romero Sales Representative: Tony Montanez Information is correct at press time. Check www.bordereco.com for updates.

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Border Eco, LLC © 2018 copyright all rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without the permission of Border Eco Magazine is prohibited. Any material produced is the property of Border Eco. Any material published is not necessarily the opinion of Border Eco and will not be held responsible. Border Eco Magazine accepts material from advertisers, clients, readers and various sources which are not necessarily the opinion of Border Eco Magazine in print or on Border Eco websites and will not be held responsible.

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The College and Career Readiness and Educational Opportunities Project/ Youth Career Connect in Santa Cruz County is implementing its first CREO Pathways Mentoring Program. The experience is bringing together local community members, business and industry professionals, and high school students who are ready to take a closer look at what life may be like after graduation. A series of three workshops facilitated by the Santa Cruz County School Superintendentâ€™s Office and Lead Local, an organization from Tucson, AZ, are currently being held at the Santa Cruz Center. CREO Pathways Mentoring, designed collaboratively with the input from mentors, focuses on the needs of our youth, as well as the bright spots and barriers that make Santa Cruz County unique.

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The mentoring opportunity is open to CREO juniors and seniors at Nogales and Rio Rico High Schools. Approximately 30 students and 15 mentors engaged in the fall series of workshops that took place September 19th, October 22nd, and November 14th. The twohour gatherings involved all in timed activities that encouraged purposeful story-telling, personal style exploration, college & career pathways, school & workplace culture, and practice at networking. The goal of the program was to identify studentâ€™s strengths and interests, make positive connections between students and potential employers, and create career growth opportunities such as internships.

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Many of the students did not know what college & career opportunities are available right here in Santa Cruz County. Representatives from the Produce Industry, Healthcare Services, Government, Business and Finance, Engineering and Manufacturing, Law Enforcement, Education, and Mining shared their stories and provided guidance and advice with regard to post-secondary education and being resilient on their pathway. The program will continue in the spring of 2019 with a new group of students and will take place at Rio Rico and Nogales High School. For more information about the program, or if you would like to volunteer to be a mentor, please contact Maya Donnelly, CREO Program Director, at mdonnelly@ santacruzcountyaz.gov.

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The Community Food Bank serves nearly 200,000 people a year with emergency food assistance throughout five counties in southern Arizona covering a 23,000 square mile area. Our local food bank in Santa Cruz County serves approximately 2600 families. The local food bank mission is to feed the hungry. They provide emergency food assistance to children, families and seniors. The food bank also partners with our local schools to encourage healthy eating habits. They currently work with 6 local schools, and the Boys & Girls Club to distribute produce to children and families within the community. “The Kid’s Farmers Market program enables the food bank to distribute produce to 2,650 students on a monthly basis. Approximately 45,000 pounds of fresh produce are distributed to children and families in the community. “We change lives by feeding the hungry today, and building a healthy, hungerfree tomorrow,” said Efrain Trigueras Nogales Operations Site Director.

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The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona currently employs about 130 people in the five counties it serves. The Nogales branch has 11 employees. “Volunteers are essential to our Community Food Bank! People are always welcome to volunteer by inquiring at the Nogales branch or going online to our website and clicking on the tab “Get Involved,” said Trigueras. The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona was recently recognized as the 2018 Food Bank Member of the Year by Feeding America, a network of the 200 largest food banks in the United States. The Food Bank was recognized for its work in rescuing edible produce from being thrown into the landfill, and getting the produce to people who need it, not only in Southern Arizona, but to other parts of the state, and country. The Community Food Bank was also recognized for being a supportive community partner. If you are interested this holiday season in helping the local food bank you can hold a food drive or make a monetary donation, this is a great way to help support your local food bank. For more information on donating to the local food bank please visit their site at www. communityfoodbank.org

Border Eco | December 2018

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This month people that echo recognizes Efrain Trigueras the Nogales Operations Site Director from the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. Mr. Trigueras was born in Yuma, Arizona but raised in San Luis, Arizona He comes from humble beginnings a family of 4. His mother and father were both hard working farmers, who worked in the fields of San Luis. Mr. Trigueras is single. He has a 19 year-old son currently living with his mother in Guadalajara, Jalisco Mexico. Mr. Trigueras has extensive experience working with the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona in Tucson. He was working with our local community food bank for over a year before he was promoted to site director. He moved to Nogales in April.

“I really enjoy working here. I have a great team. I do believe it is important for us to work towards a shared purpose and common goal. They are all hard working individuals who are passionate about helping people. I have an open door policy, everyone has a voice and everyone matters. Organizations perform well when their people work effectively as a team. This is because good teamwork creates harmony. We are like a family here. Nogales is like a second home to me,” said Mr. Trigueras. According to Mr. Trigueras his grandfather was his source of inspiration throughout his life. “My grandfather taught me how to use my core values to achieve my dreams. I owe everything I am to my grandfather. This has always been my dream job. My goals are to continue educating and advocating for those families in need. It is important for us as community members to support programs that help families in need. I came from from humble beginnings. I understand some of the hardships many of these families go through,” said Mr. Trigueras.

Mr. Trigueras is currently working on the planning and development of a community garden. The garden is currently being built within the premises. The purpose of the community garden is to help promote sustainable agriculture, and work with local schools to help teach students basic gardening skills. Another project currently in the works too, is a computer lab. Mr. Trigueras vision is to teach basic computer skills to their clients. “It is an opportunity for our clients to learn basic computer skills and possibly find employment. We are currently working with Arizona@Work,” said Trigueras.

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Border Eco | December 2018

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Arizona@Work hosted their 5th Annual Santa Cruz Job Fair and Community Expo at the Nogales High School Ray Molera Gymnasium on Wednesday, October 10th from 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Every year Arizona@Work host this annual event is to help dislocated workers, and new career job seekers connect with local employers in Santa Cruz County. This year a total of 802 people participated in the job fair with more than 116 employers were in attendance. The job fair included variety of sectors from healthcare, education, non-profit, government, retail, transportation, and manufacturing industries.

â€œWe are extremely content with the outcome of this event. It is our goal to help people in our community succeed,â€? said Maritza Cervantes, WIOA Director. The event is held during the month of October helping local employers find the workforce they need for their peak season. Santa Cruz County has the second highest unemployment rate in the state. This was an opportunity for potential employees to meet with employers and learn a bit more about the local businesses in the area. According to the Department of Economic Security approximately 2,216 people filed for jobless benefits during the month of August.

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Santa Cruz County has a high unemployment rate of 7.2% in comparison to the national unemployment rate. This is a big challenge for our local government. The local government is responsible for bringing in new businesses to the area. Arizona@ Work in Santa Cruz County works closely with local businesses and government organizations in Santa Cruz County to help meet their workforce needs. The Arizona@Work not only hosts this annual event but also provides an array of services to the community. For more information on how the Arizona@Work can help you contact them at: (520) 375-7670 or visit the office at: 610 N. Morley Avenue, Nogales, AZ.

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Checks were presented to each of the school’s principals today during a reception at McDonald’s restaurant. As part of McTeacher’s Night, a portion of McDonald’s sales during a two-hour period benefited each school. The school’s principal and teachers “worked” at McDonald’s greeting customers, working the registers. Families of students and local school supporters visited McDonald’s and tipped their teachers to help raise funds.

Nogales McDonald’s restaurant, at 470 W. Mariposa, held a McTeacher’s Night Challenge in October raising more than $4,250 for local schools. Five schools participated including: RM Bracker Elementary, Mary L. Welty Elementary, Challenger Elementary, AJ Mitchell Elementary and Lincoln Elementary. R.M. Bracker Elementary won the “McTeacher’s Night Challenge” raising the most money per student with its fundraiser, receiving an additional $500 donation from McDonald’s owners Pat and LeAnn Richards.

“We were delighted to bring this McTeacher’s Night Challenge to the Nogales community and work with our local schools to raise money for education,” said Pat and LeAnn Richards. “We take great pride as local business owners in giving back to our community.” R.M. Bracker Elementary Won McTeacher’s Night Challenge, Receives Additional $500 Donation. For more information, visit www.mcdonalds. com, or follow us on Twitter @McDonalds and Facebook www. facebook.com/ McDonaldsUS/.

Border Eco | December 2018

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Rio Rico High School teacher, Chris Peters, was surprised while teaching his Financial Literacy class when Principal Vroegh unexpectedly entered his classroom accompanied by an entourage of administrators and strangers. Vroegh announced that guests were interested in making a brief presentation. Tucson Values Teachers Chief Operations Officer, Katie Rogerson, approached the front of the class, and announced that Chris Peters had been nominated by his colleague Nagesh Kumar to receive the Tucson Values Teachers (TVT) Teacher Excellence award. Rogerson presented Peters with roses, a certificate and two checks -- one from partners Office Depot and Office Max, and one from Tucson Values Teachers. TVT is a partnership of business leaders, educators and individuals with a shared mission to help schools and districts attract, retain and support the very best teachers for every K-12 classroom in Southern Arizona. The organization selects one teacher in Southern Arizona each month to be recognized as an excellent teacher.

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ADEQ Training at the Santa Cruz Center The City of Nogales along with Innovative Consulting and Training, LLC, held their 1st ADEQ Cohort training on October 16 -18, 2018 at the Santa Cruz County Provisional Community College Center. There were 10 people from the City of Nogales Public Works Department who participated in the 1st ADEQ training. The City of Nogales sponsored the training session costs for their employees. The purpose of this training was to provide city employees with information on technical concepts on water and wastewater management, so they are able to take and pass the Arizona state operator certification exam. This first training was focused on Water Distribution operators Levels 1 and 2. The 2nd ADEQ Cohort took place on Nov. 28-30, 2018. The 3rd ADEQ Cohort is scheduled for Dec. 4- 6, 2018.

Innovative Consulting and Training, LLC, (ICT) is a company dedicated to train water and wastewater operators to prepare them to pass their professional state operator certification. Both Mr Warren Dancer and Mr. Castaneda are the company's principals. Both have ample professional experience in training water and wastewater professionals. Both were onsite to provide the review training to NTUA operators during the training sessions since the training was delivered as a team approach. Topics typically covered by Mr. Castaneda are: Math for water/wastewater operators, Water Quality topics, Laboratory topics, Environmental Regulations topics. Topics typically covered by Mr. Dancer would be: Water and Wastewater Treatment Processes, Operations and Maintenance for Water and Wastewater, Wastewater Collections and Water Distributions Operations, Health and Safety.

Other trainings were scheduled for Wastewater Collections Level 1 and 2 for the City of Nogales during the last week of November and first week of December, 2018. ICT emphasis is on water and wastewater treatment (www.innovct.com). ICT will continue to work with the City of Nogales and the Santa Cruz County Provisional Community College on their training needs. For more information on these trainings contact the Santa Cruz County Provisional Community College at: (520) 394-7181

Border Eco | December 2018

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Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District No. 35 Superintendent David Verdugo has been selected as All-Arizona Superintendent of the Year for Medium Districts for 2018-19 by Arizona School Administrators (ASA). Verdugo received the award for “working to create a strong positive culture that has unified the schools” at SCVUSD35, said ASA Executive Director, Mark Joraanstad. · The district’s exemplary growth rate was cited in a national study conducted by Stanford -- students’ test scores improved dramatically more, on average, between third and eighth grade than those of the average student in the U.S., placing SCVUSD35 in the top 99th percentile in growth rates among U.S. school districts.

In 2017, the high school was designated an A+ School of Excellence™ by the Arizona Educational Foundation, bringing the total number of SCVUSD35 A+ Schools of Excellence™ to four. “The results are evident from a 5-Star preschool program to a nationally recognized high school with multiple A+ Schools in between,” said Joraanstad. “David came into the position with a brave and bold goal for our District to simply be the best. A lofty goal and not an easy one to reach,” said SCVUSD35 Governing Board President John Hays. “David’s work on behalf of the District, our students, and our community is inspiring those working with him to give everything they can to work towards that goal.”

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Verdugo will be honored by his colleagues at the Arizona School Board Association/Arizona School Administrators Winter Conference at the Arizona Biltmore, December 13, in Phoenix.

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