el Independiente
A publication of the University of Arizona School of Journalism
Summer Events for la familia Page 42
Killing the San Pedro River Page 24
Is the Largest Proposed Mine in the U.S. Going to be an Environmental Bust? Page 32
Migrant Children Seek Safe Haven Page 16
Ruff Times in South Tucson Page 8
From the Editor:
The mission of El Independiente magazine has always been to tell the stories of Southern Arizona by focusing in on the 1.2 square miles of South Tucson. This year, reporters did just that before expanding the view to Tucson and outward to Southern Arizona.
This year, UA Journalism students found themselves drawn to the familial relationships that bring the Southwest to life.
As stories began trickling in, we came to realize that the idea of family was much larger than we had anticipated. In South Tucson, Grandparents raise their grandchildren (page 38), families of jockeys prepare for races (page 4) and a father and son team up to tells their community’s
El Independiente Staff
story through tattoos (page 10).
Once we broadened our view, our own sense of family was altered.
We saw migrant children from Central America risking death to find refuge in the United States (page 16) and school children who may soon lose their field trips to the San Pedro River (page 24).
We thank you for opening the pages of this spring edition of El Independiente and discovering with us what la familia means to Southern Arizona.
News Editor
Christianna Silva
School of Journalism, University of Arizona s www.journalism.arizona.edu s 520-621-7556
Managing Editor
Alexandra Adamson
News Editor
Christianna Silva
Newsroom Manager
Alexis Wright
Spanish Editor
Adriana Espinosa
Copy Chief
Jacquelyn Silverman
Copy Editors
Sara Cline
Daniel Burkart
Sydney Haliburton
Photo Chief
Jordan Glenn
Photographers
Julianne Stanford
Baraha Elkhalil
Designers
Alexandra Adamson
Jacob Tellez
Faculty Advisor
Maggy Zanger
Reporters
Ashley McGowan
Sergio Calderon
Hunter Kerr
David J. Del Grande
Design Consultants
Alicia Vega
Gawain Douglas
Daniel Ramirez
Photo by Jordan Glenn
Cool nights in Bisbee make summer fun.
Table of Contents s Spring 2016
Cover Photo of Angelina Estrada, left, and Ricky Sanchez at Children’s Museum Tucson, by Julianne Stanford
Back Cover Photos by Jordan Glenn, Julianne Stanford and Sara Cline
Photo by Julianne Stanford Spring flowers speak of coming summer heat.
Story and Photos by Julianne Stanford
The sun hangs high in the mid-afternoon sky as the smell of hay and beer wafts through the air at the Rillito Park Race Track as Jesus Osuna settles in at the starting gate.
Osuna braces himself on Fayvorite Flyer, the horse he will be racing for the second match of the day. He’s wearing a green jersey with white pants and shiny, black boots over his small, wiry frame, with a green riding helmet topped with a pom-pom strapped to his head.
“Easy money,” he says to himself, like he does before each race. It’s his mantra.
The bell rings, the gates open and his horse
speeds off. This is Osuna’s favorite part of racing.
“The rush.” Osuna said. “The rush coming out of the gates. There’s nothing like it.”
It’s a feeling most of Osuna’s family knows and loves. He comes from a long line of jockeys.
Jesus Osuna’s brother, Andres Osuna, and his cousin, Martin Osuna, are also jockeys. They were trained by their fathers, and their fathers were trained by their fathers before them, all under the Tucson sky. The Osuna family has lived in Southern Arizona for generations and has raced on the same soil.
“It’s a family trade,” Jesus Osuna said. “It
runs in our blood.”
For the Osuna cousins, racing was not a choice, but a birthright.
“We’ve been in it since the ’80s. Our fathers took over in the ’90s and we took over in the late 2000s with a new generation of Osunas,” Martin Osuna said. “It’s a bond that we share and hopefully we’ll get to share it with our kids some day.”
The training the cousins received from their fathers make them equally matched in talent and capability whenever they have to race against each other. Or at least that’s what the cousins will humbly tell you.
“I don’t know, I think we’re evenly
Bonded By Blood, Sweat and Soil Generations of trainers and jockeys call Rillito Park home
matched,” Martin Osuna said. “We all started with each other, and [our fathers] taught [us], and we’re family.”
The Osuna family is not the only clan here that has been working and living by the saddle for generations. Their horse trainer Monica Ortega has a similar tie to the sport. She inherited her trade from her father who was also a jockey.
The Ortegas and the Osunas are tied by a shared history and a long-standing family friendship.
“It’s neat. Both of their dads were trainers and we were just kids running around the track,” Ortega said.
“Now we’re all grown up and doing the rid-
Jesus Osuna flies out of the starting gate at the Rillito Park Racetrack in February.
ing and the training. It’s nice.”
The Osuna cousins have been racing Ortega horses all of their professional careers, and have been training on her horses for more than a decade. Jesus Osuna began racing four years ago and Martin Osuna was licensed to race four months ago.
The Osunas have not looked back since, and neither has Ortega.
“[Martin]’s an awesome kid. He just got started,” Ortega said. “That kid has a positive attitude. He works really hard and he has a really bright future ahead of him.”
As for Jesus Osuna, “He fits my horses perfectly. Every time he and I pair up we always win,” Ortega said.
Their successes together have made Jesus Osuna and Ortega something of a legend around the race track.
“It’s a lethal combination,” Jesus Osuna said. “Every time I ride for her it’s either a win or second place.”
Lethal indeed.
Out of Jesus Osuna’s seven races this day in February, he came in first place twice and second place twice.
Ortega loves a win almost as much as she loves the sense of community at the racetrack.
“There’s so much family around here. There’s so much history here,” Ortega said. “This is my most favorite place in the whole wide world.”
Entrenadores y jinetes consideran a la pista Rillito Parktrack su hogar
El sol brilla fuerte a media tarde, mientras que el olor a paja y a cerveza flota en el aire de la pista Rillito Parktrack, mientras que Jesús Osuna se instala en el punto de partida.
Osuna se abraza a Fayvorite Flyer, el caballo que montará durante la segunda carrera del día. Su cuerpo delgado viste una camiseta verde con pantalones blancos y unas botas negras y relucientes, también trae un casco de montar color verde con un pompón atado a su cabeza.
“Es dinero fácil”, se dice a sí mismo, tal como lo hace antes de cada carrera. Es su mantra. Suena la campanilla, los portones se abren y su caballo dispara corriendo. Para Osuna, esta es una de sus partes favoritas de las carreras.
“Sentir la adrenalina”, dijo Osuna. “La adrenalina que se siente al abrirse los portones. No hay nada que se le compare”. Es una sensación que la mayoría de los familiares de Osuna conocen y que les encanta. El viene de una larga descendencia de jinetes.
Al igual que Jesús Osuna, su hermano Andrés Osuna y su primo Martín Osuna también son jinetes. Ellos fueron entrenados por sus padres que tambíen aprendieron de sus padres, todos bajo el cielo de Tucson. La familia Osuna ha vivido en el Sur de Arizona durante muchas generaciones y todos han corrido en el mismo terreno.
“Es un negocio de familia”, comentó Jesús
Osuna. “Corre en nuestra sangre”.
Para los primos Osuna, las carreras no fueron una elección, sino un derecho de nacimiento.
“La familia ha estado en esto de las carreras desde los años 80. Nuestros padres se hicieron cargo del negocio en los años 90 y nosotros a finales del 2000 con una nueva generación de Osunas”, dijo Martín Osuna. “Es un vínculo que compartimos y que esperamos poder compartir con nuestros hijos algún día”.
El entrenamiento que estos primos han recibido por parte de sus padres los hace igual de talentosos cuando corren uno contra el otro. O por lo menos eso es lo que ellos humildemente dicen.
“No sé, yo creo que somos igual de talentosos”, dijo Martín Osuna. “Todos comenzamos compitiendo juntos, nuestros padres nos entrenaron y somos familia”.
La familia Osuna no es el único clan familiar en esta región que ha estado trabajando y viviendo en el ambiente de las carreras durante generaciones. Su entrenadora de caballos, Mónica Ortega, también tiene lazos similares con este deporte. Lo heredó de su padre, quien también fue jinete.
La familia Ortega y la familia Osuna están vinculadas por una historia en común y por una antigua relación de amistad.
“Es algo muy bonito. Ambos de sus padres eran entrenadores y nosotros solamente éramos unos niños corriendo alrededor de la pista”, dijo Ortega. “Ahora todos hemos crecido y estamos compitiendo en las carreras y entrenando”.
Los primos Osuna han estado montando los caballos de Ortega durante toda su carrera profesional, pero han estado entrenando en ellos durante más de una década. Jesús Osuna comenzó a competir en las carreras hace cuatro años y Martín Osuna recibió su licencia para competir en las carreras hace cuatro meses.
Desde entonces los Osuna no han dado vuelta atrás, como tampoco lo ha hecho Ortega.
“Martín es un gran muchacho. Apenas comenzó”, comentó Ortega. “Tiene una actitud bastante positiva. Le pone todo su esfuerzo y tiene un gran futuro por delante”.
En cuanto a Jesús Osuna, “todos mis caballos son a su medida. Cada vez que nos toca trabajar como equipo, siempre ganamos”, dijo Ortega.
Todos los triunfos que han logrado juntos han hecho que Jesús Osuna y Ortega se conviertan en una leyenda en la pista.
“Es una combinación letal”, dijo Jesús Osuna. “Cada vez que monto sus caballos, ganamos o quedamos en segundo lugar”.
Verdaderamente es una combinación letal.
De las siete carreras en las que ha competido Jesús Osuna el día de hoy, ha logrado el primer lugar dos veces y el segundo lugar en las otras dos.
A Ortega le encanta ganar tanto como le encanta el sentido de comunidad que se siente en la pista.
“Hay bastante ambiente familiar aquí y también hay bastante historia”, comentó Ortega. “Este es uno de mis lugares favoritos en el mundo entero”.
Escrito por Julianne Stanford Traducido por Maritza Flores Campuzano
Entrenadora de caballos Mónica Ortega, a la izquierda, y jinete Martín Osuna, a la derecha, se preparan mentalmente para la carrera.
Religious Store Holds Blessed Statue
By Alexandra Adamson
Towering above the shelves and bookcases, her hunter green and blue tinted mantle drapes touch the floor. Gold stars and matching gold trim runs across the painted fabric of the cloak.
Her dark rose red dress drapes to the metal rods holding her above the ground. White trim peeks from her wrists and neck. Her hands gently touch in prayer. Her head tilts as her eyes look down tenderly.
She is a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The large figure looms over Jesus Mary and Joseph Ministries, a nonprofit and religious store in South Tucson. JMJ Ministries opened in 1995 and is the only 100 percent Catholic religious store in Tucson, selling memorabilia, books, tapes, pictures, postcards and religious jewelry.
Large black and white tiles cover the floor. Three walls are garnished with a multitude of photographs of the pope, saints and Jesus hanging on the cross. Outside the barred windows are cars roaring past the strip mall on South 12th Avenue.
The owner of JMJ Ministries is Gayle Sims. Her necklace of over a hundred religious medals jangles as she walks through the maze of bookshelves and baskets in her store.
“We are a one stop shop,” Sims says. “We have always kept our prices low and I just try to accommodate everyone.”
Our Lady of Guadalupe sits high above the bookshelves at Jesus Mary and Joseph Ministries in South Tucson, Arizona.
Sims opened the store on the south side out of necessity. She said there were no other Catholic religious stores open in 1995 in South Tucson. Now people travel from all over Arizona and the world to see the store.
“This store is my life,” Sims says. “I am here six days a week and sometimes on Sunday. I just can’t imagine being without it.”
She has traveled around the world on pilgrimages where she has gathered authentic figurines and other objects to sell in the store.
Fifty-nine small boxes are stacked in rows of ten against the front window. Inside each drawer is a cluster of silver saint medals. A small white piece of paper says, “.50 cents each.” Colorful religious prayer cards create a lush rainbow blur as the rotating table they lean on spins.
“On the south side, this is where you come,” says Maria Haros, a returning customer and South Tucson resident. At the time she was looking for a particular rosary.
Large brown woven baskets are filled to the brim with blue, red, white and pink plastic 50 cent rosaries. Large spinning clear cases rests on a glass counter. They showcase multiple velvet-upholstered palm-size boxes, revealing stone rosaries in orange, pink, turquoise and emerald.
JMJ Ministries offers a variety of Spanish and English language books, prayer cards, pamphlets, magazines and tapes.
“This store is unique because people might not buy anything but they just come in to see what we have,” says David Galaz, vice president of the JMJ Ministries’ nonprofit committee.
“What’s special,” he adds, “is that people travel here just to come in and see Our Lady.” The statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe, undoubtedly is the centerpiece of the store. A man in Mexico sold it to Sims.
Originally she planned to sell the statue. But one day, a priest from England came into the store and told Sims the statue had a beautiful face. He wanted to bless it.
“Now she is here to stay,” Sims says.
Our Lady sits atop a bolted brass rod cage decorated with metal roses.
As customers walk through the windowpane door, they all look up toward Our Lady and release a smile. As they leave one by one, they took one last look, and say goodbye.
Photos by Julianne Stanford
Jesus Mary and Joseph Ministries is a one hundred percent Catholic store.
Ruff Times in
By Daniel Burkart
Kylo Rey sits back on her haunches, tongue drooping over her already saliva-drenched lower lip. She yanks her head from left to right, mentally digesting each small nuisance of sound as it reaches her floppy ears.
Seeking protection behind her owner’s legs, the 4-month-old chocolate lab waits in a small room with three shelves lining the far side of the wall. Nearly a dozen dog figurines of various breeds are mixed between animal care books and a rather festive lamp with a shade speckled with dogs.
Kylo is in to see the family doctor, Dr. ShanAnne Edwards, the third veterinarian to call South Tucson’s Arizona Small Animal Clinic home since its inception in 1948. Now going on a quarter of a century with the clinic, she’s continued a long-standing tradition of serving the community.
ventures away from the refuge of her owner’s legs, her stump of a tail pinging back and forth.
“The good news is I can’t find anything wrong with your dog’s poop,” Edwards says, cutting straight to the chase. “But the bad news is that it smells disgusting.”
Edwards’ longevity with servicing animals in South Tucson is not a fact to be overlooked.
“Most of the teachers that trained me are either dead or retired,” she says.
That may be true, but she has stood the test of time.
“When you come in and bring your puppies, they finish all their shots. After that I’m kind of like the family doctor,” says Edwards.
“You don’t have to pay for an office call, so when you’re like ‘my dog’s got the runs,’ I’ll take care of it versus having to go to some god-awful emergency clinic.”
As Edwards speaks, Kylo recognizes the familiar voice and
She redirects her prognosis from client to patient.
“You hear that Kylo? That’s your poop we’re smelling.”
Kylo’s ears perk up upon hearing her name and the owner glances from dog to doctor as she scrunches up her nose.
“Oh boy, she farted just now,” Kylo’s owner says.
“Holy mother of God,” Edwards sighs.
Edwards says that the reality of the situation is that she sees a large number of low-income customers. Some patients come from the nearby Veterans Affairs hospital, flocking to her clinic after hearing of her veterinarian and business standards.
“We don’t charge to see service dogs,” says Edwards. She smiles as she glances out into the waiting room. “I basically have a
Photo by Baraha Elkhalil
A puppy awaits treatment by Dr. ShanAnne Edwards, veterinarian at the Arizona Small Animal Clinic in South Tucson.
S uth Tucson
small clientele that’s very loyal.”
Five minutes later she’s walking down the narrow hall connecting the lobby to various backrooms which is filled with a cacophony of barking. Her white lab coat flourishes in the breeze, enveloping her small physique while airing-out her thin light-colored hair in a flurry behind her.
A wooden partition segments the corridor in half. As she unlatches the lever to let herself pass through, a fluffy ball of fur comes barreling at her ankles, licking them as if they were caked in beef.
In addition to the dogs, she tends to cats, reptiles, goats and chickens – she’s never sure what is going to saunter through the door.
The following week, Edwards preps for surgery. She stands at the ready beside the operating table, gloves pulled up her arm, glasses resting on the bridge of her nose.
killed or go without [care] just because people couldn’t afford it.”
She looks up from her operating table as she hears the sound of the bell attached to the front door signaling another client.
“That’s Bandit – a foster failure, almost 4-months-old,” she says.
An assortment of dogs populates the back half of the clinic, some roam free while others are in cages. In the break room, one of Edwards’ 12 dogs hides under a chair from all of the commotion. She makes an effort to bring them into work when she can.
At the far end of the hall is the source of the ruckus – a line of chain-link kennels housing an orchestra of howling canines. The dogs’ tails race when they see her enter.
“One of these was wandering the streets, a rack of bones just having given birth.”
She stops to talk to the dog before moving on to the next.
“This one came to us from animal control, her owners left her and went out of the country.”
Coming to the last one in line, Edwards’ voice takes on a more somber tone.
“This one is going to have to be put down because she kills everything smaller than her and I can’t find her a home.”
They wail in her direction as she turns to leave the room, their paws rebounding off the cage walls as they jump against it with all their weight.
“Yeah I hear you,” she says to them. “You need a home, I know.”
Edwards first came to Tucson during monsoon season, and immediately fell in love with the town. Since then, the incessant downpour and rippling winds of monsoon season have come to mirror her own hectic work schedule.
She sees appointments every half hour, starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays. Wednesdays she’s in surgery all day. Her work week is usually a good 65 hours.
“Don’t forget,” Edwards warns. “Hold the rabbits high, on the neck behind the ears.”
Edward’s assistant Danielle Johnson murmurs her acknowledgment of the instruction and begins preparing Hershey, the black rabbit on the operating table for a routine neutering procedure. She begins by tying each of the animal’s legs to the edge of the table as the doctor shaves the area about to be serviced.
“I started volunteering when I was 14,” Johnson says as she hands a scalpel blade to the doctor. “But I was here before that. I’ve known Doc for 14 years.”
Amanda Kennedy, another volunteer, chimes in from the doorway. “Do rabbits sometimes have a reaction to premeds, Doc?”
“You don’t fast rabbits, Amanda,” Edwards takes the time to reply despite being otherwise preoccupied. “That’s because they don’t vomit.”
Kennedy has known Edwards for years, since she would happily accompany her father to the clinic whenever he had to stop by for business. Seeing Edwards was the highlight of her day as a child.
“I’ve known her since she was this tall,” Edwards motions to her hip. “Since before she could see over the exam table.”
Edwards says she is perturbed by a trend in the veterinarian world in which her peers view the trade as a means to an end.
“None of them want to work for more than 35 hours a week,” she huffs changing out the bloodied blade and tugging her gloves further up her arm.
“They want to live in this fantasy world where you don’t care about your patients, you worry more about your golf game or what you’re going to do on your yacht.”
The overflowing shelves housing stacks of patient records are enough to make anyone realize why this isn’t the case in this South Tucson clinic.
“My philosophy down here was this: unless I ran myself completely into bankruptcy and became homeless, no animal was going to be
“Over 100 clinics in the area have closed but we’re still here,” says Edwards with a wide smile.
Despite the economic woes of Tucson’s south side, a determined attitude and loyal customer base keep the clinic afloat.
Echoing an Elton John ballad, she proclaims, “we’ll be here for a long, long time.”
Edwards first realized animal care would be the career for her in a treacherous snowstorm decades ago in rural Illinois. Her first dog, a wirehaired Dachshund, became trapped in an illegal fox trap. Eventually finding his way home, the dog suffered from frostbite as well as a severely broken leg. Edward’s mother called the snowplow and took the animal to the doctor. Edwards recalls feeling helpless at the sight of her childhood friend being whisked away under such circumstances.
She rode her horse through the snow to meet her mother as she got off the snowplow with the badly injured dog in her arms.
“He [the dog] needed a lot of help,” she recalled. “That was when I really knew that was what I wanted to do – to work on animals.”
The years passed and her passion grew.
“I had every baby bunny and every baby bird that fell out of the nest in the whole neighborhood – and I fed them all.” She smirked and added, “most of them died though, I didn’t do a very good job.”
That mentality is reflected in the resilience of her practice in South Tucson. Despite the harrowing work hours and economic instability of the region, she has a tradition to uphold. Her legacy will live on in the volunteers she mentors on a daily basis.
A representation of her heroics can also be found on the shelves of children’s bookstores.
A friend wrote a children’s book about becoming a vet, “My Friend Doc is a Veterinarian,” and used all Edwards’ stories.
With a constant flow of patients in a region that desperately needs a helping hand, Edwards shows no signs of slowing down.
“So you can tell someone,” she says gesturing with a scalpel while at the operating table, “If anyone annoys you, you know someone who can alter their day.”
George Gallegos:
“The vibe here is different. It’s genuine. We’re not out here tryin’ to be cool just to hustle you. It’s genuine. Everybody gets treated with the same respect.”
AZTECA INK
TOP LEFT PHOTO: From left to right: Tonatiuh Gallegos, George Gallegos, Mariano “Ghost” Goff, David Bell and Adrian Leyva.
Photos by Baraha Elkhalil
Church Offers Showers Outside Casa Maria
By Alexandra Adamson
It’s 7:30 a.m. on a brisk Wednesday morning. More than 20 men cluster around the wired fence outside Casa Maria Soup Kitchen. A white Ford van drives around the corner pulling a trailer decorated with biblical quotes. A hot, refreshing shower has arrived.
The shuttle belongs to St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, located on North Paseo del Norte. It arrives at Casa Maria Soup Kitchen twice a month on Wednesday mornings at 8 a.m. and stays until 11 a.m. offering free showers and hygiene products.
Two men climb out of the front seats and one places down a large white sign that reads: “Free hot showers.” Thirty minutes later, the boxes, chairs and tables are arranged and volunteers wait for their first taker.
A volunteer peels open an extra-large navy tupperware box filled with disposable razors, toothbrushes, mouthwash and soap. Volunteers sort plastic Ziploc bags stuffed with freshly packaged Fruit of the Loom socks, men’s boxers, ladies’ underwear, and t-shirts.
“We used to hand out our socks and underwear before they would sit down for a shower. Then they started just taking the free items without showering,” says Charlotte Smith, a church member and regular volunteer for the shower shuttle. “We’ve gotten pretty good at knowing who really actually wants the shower and who just wants the free stuff.”
Each individual who takes a shower re-
ceives a plastic bag with one body towel and one washcloth. They have the choice of short or long socks, boxers or briefs, and a t-shirt. Church members and outsourced donations provide the items for the project.
The first man to approach the table selects his clothing and decides on lime green shower flip-flops. George Moreno unloads his large backpack onto the pavement and unties his army boots. His socks are worn and bloodstained from blisters.
“That felt amazing,” says Moreno, a 61-year-old homeless veteran after his shower. “You see, I’m breaking my boots in and need this foot powder to help with my blisters,” leaving a white cloud of powder as he dumps it down onto his left shoe sole.
According to Smith, Moreno is a regular and takes a shower almost every morning the shuttle is outside Casa Maria.
“I’m homeless just trying to survive,” Moreno says after being the first person in line at 8:07 a.m.
The shuttle is equipped with six showers, three for women and three for men. It was purchased by the church and refurbished by volunteers in 2014. The church wanted to offer the shower where food was served because people most likely congregated outside those areas, says Will Deboer, a volunteer who helped renovate the shuttle.
“It’s all about those we help,” Deboer says.
“It’s all worth it when you see how appreciative they all are.”
Propane tanks heat the shower water instantly. Casa Maria allows the shuttle to plug into their electricity.
Water is supplied from the house across the street from Casa Maria.
“That shower was more than what I thought,” says Corinne Rivera, a landscaper who lives in a trailer but did not have hot running water this morning. “I’ve seen the shuttle before but never gave it a shot, I am happy I did today though.”
Often times the church will print out a schedule for people to take so they will know where the shuttle will be every week, Smith says. The shuttle also sets up on Sunday mornings at Z Mansion, on North Church Avenue.
The shuttle costs around $5,000 a year to run, Deboer says. It’s a community project, open to the public and welcomes donations and volunteers.
At 10:30 a.m., the showers have been consistently busy. While one man walks into the shower, another man leaves with a smile on his freshly cleaned face.
“I like how they come by with their head down, and after their shower they come out smiling with their heads up,” Smith says.
“They almost have a hop in their step as they walk away to start their day.”
Photos by Jordan Glenn
Twice a month, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church sets up a shower shuttle across from Casa Maria Soup Kitchen for men and women.
Ducha móvil disponible para quien lo necesite
Escrito por Alexandra Adamson
Traducido por Maritza Flores Campuzano
Son las 7:30 en una fresca mañana de miércoles. Más de 20 hombres se juntan alrededor del cerco de alambre en los afueras del comedor de beneficencia Casa María Soup Kitchen. Una camioneta modelo Ford, llega jalando un camión decorado con citas bíblicas que contiene baños refrescantes y de agua caliente.
El camión pertenece a la Iglesia Presbiteriana St. Andrew, localizada al norte de Paseo del Norte. Viene a Casa María dos miércoles al mes a las 8 de la mañana y se queda ahí hasta las 11 de la mañana ofreciendo baños gratuitos y productos higiénicos.
Dos hombres se bajan de los asientos de enfrente y uno de ellos pone un letrero blanco que dice: “baños con agua caliente gratis”. Media hora después, se acomodan las cajas, sillas y mesas y los voluntarios esperan a su primer cliente del día.
Un voluntario destapa una caja grande llena de afeitadoras, cepillos de dientes, enjuague bocal y jabón. Los voluntarios organizan bolsas Ziploc que contienen productos nuevos de la marca Fruit of the Loom, tales como calcetines, bóxeres, ropa interior femenina y camisetas.
“Antes les entregábamos los calcetines y ropa interior antes de que comenzaran a tomarse un baño. Pero después se empezaron a llevar las cosas sin bañarse”, comenta Charlotte Smith, un miembro de la iglesia y voluntaria en el camión que ofrece las duchas. “Ahora ya es más fácil reconocer quien en verdad viene a ducharse y quien sólo viene para recibir los productos gratis”.
Cada individuo que se da un baño recibe una bolsa de plástico junto con una toalla y un paño para lavarse el cuerpo. Tienen la opción de escoger calcetines cortos o largos, bóxeres o calzoncillos y una camiseta. Tanto los miembros de la iglesia como los donadores externos proveen las cosas necesarias para este proyecto.
El primer hombre en acercarse a la mesa selecciona su ropa y escoge chanclas color verde limón. George Moreno deja su mochila en el pavimento y se desabrocha sus botas. Sus calcetines están desgastados y manchados de sangre por las ampollas que tiene en sus pies.
“Fue increíble”, comenta Moreno, un veterano sin hogar de 61 años, después de darse un baño. “Lo que pasa es que estoy amoldando mis botas y necesito talco para curar mis ampollas”, dice esto mientras deja una nube de polvo blanco al ponerle talco a la plantilla de su zapato izquierdo.
De acuerdo a Smith, Moreno es uno de los individuos que vienen regularmente y que se da un baño casi todas las mañanas cuando el camión está en Casa María.
“Soy una persona sin hogar tratando solamente de sobrevivir”, comenta Moreno al ser la primera persona esperando en la fila a
Foto por Jordan Glenn Participantes del programa gratuito de St. Andrews Presbyterian Church se encargan de sus pies con talco y se cortan las uñas.
las 8:07 de la mañana.
El camión tiene 6 baños: tres para las mujeres y tres para los hombres. La iglesia compró el camión y fueron los propios voluntarios quienes lo remodelaron en el 2014. La iglesia quería poder brindar este tipo de servicio en un lugar donde se sirviera de comer porque es muy probable que las personas se reúnan alrededor de esas áreas dice Will Deboer, una voluntaria que ayudó a remodelar el camión.
“Se trata de ayudar”, dice Deboer. “Todo vale la pena cuando vez cuanto agradecen lo que hace uno por ellos”.
Tanques de propano calientan el agua de los baños en un instante. Casa María le permite al camión usar su servicio de electricidad. La casa enfrente de Casa María suministra el agua.
“Esa ducha se sintió mejor de lo que me imaginé”, comenta Corinne Rivera, una jardinera que vive en una casa móvil pero esta mañana no tenía agua caliente. “He visto el camión aquí antes pero nunca lo había usado, sin embargo estoy contenta de haberlo hecho el día de hoy”.
Smith dice que la iglesia a menudo imprime un horario para que las personas se lo lleven consigo y sepan dónde va a estar el camión cada semana. El camión también se estaciona los domingos por la mañana en Z Mansion, localizada en North Church Avenue.
Deboer dice que el costo para el funcionamiento del camión es alrededor de $5,000 dólares por año. También comenta que es un proyecto comunitario abierto al público para donaciones y para voluntarios.
Son las 10:30 de la mañana y los baños han estado constantemente ocupados. Mientras un hombre entra a tomarse un baño, otro se va con una sonrisa en su cara recién lavada.
“Me gusta cómo llegan aquí con su cabeza inclinada y después de tomar un baño salen sonriendo con sus cabezas en alto”, dice Smith. “Casi parece que van bailando al irse de aquí para comenzar un nuevo día”.
South Tucson Judge Does it his Way
By Daniel Burkart
Judge Albert Lassen looks out the window of his cramped South Tucson office, his arms clasped behind his head while his fingers meander through a tuft of his salt and pepper colored hair. A middle-aged man with an inquisitive smile, he takes a moment to contemplate the work awaiting him today.
A knock on the office door shakes him from his reverie – he’s being summoned to the courtroom. Back to the grindstone.
The presiding judge for South Tucson, Lassen is unique for his progressive approach to the legal entanglements he sees in his courtroom daily. He focuses on rehabilitation and social services as opposed to strict jail time, which is often viewed as the easy answer to povertyrelated crimes. With the cooperation of the South Tucson Police Department, the city prosecutor
and behavioral health networks, he is able to see his vision come to fruition.
In minutes he is sitting in front of a sparsely populated courtroom. As the first case of the day passes through the swinging wooden gate separating the seating area from the defendant’s table, Lassen leans forward to peer over his black-rimmed glasses at the young man standing in front of him.
The defendant begins to plead his case, rambling incoherently in the hopes that one of his lines will strike a chord with the judge. As Lassen creates a steeple with his hands under his chin, he recognizes the man in front of him as a regular to his courtroom.
“Today he was a perfectly reasonable guy,” Lassen says later. “He was calm [and] accepting responsibility, but he’s not always like that. Get him loaded on his recreational drug or beverage of choice and he’s not like that at all.”
Given the high number of homeless people and crime in South Tucson, paired with a lack of rehabilitative resources, the courtroom and the legal system begin to mirror a pinball machine, with criminals bouncing between jail time, rehab, the street and then back to court.
This isn’t this defendant’s first time here. Despite that, he’s in luck. He is having his case heard by a judge who prides himself on having a unique and compassionate approach, unmatched by his peers. This approach he envisions as a more realistic solution to the city’s seemingly never-ending flow of offenders.
“I think most lower-court municipal judges, maybe judges period, are stuck into a traditional mode,” Lassen says.
Judges are often well paid and well respected, but they are rarely interested in reforming the justice system or the rehabilitation of mentally ill criminals.
Photo by Baraha Elkhalil
Judge Albert Lassen tries to keep South Tucson streets safe and to get defendents help instead of a jail cell.
“They just want to do their job in the easiest way possible, and that means incarceration. I’m not like that.”
In addition, the homeless population continues to grow in South Tucson, drawn by an already large population coupled with inability of local resources to provide an adequate level of aid.
The city prosecutor appreciates Lassen’s more open-minded approach.
“What we try to do, and what the judge has been doing very effectively, because he’s gotten the enrollment of some social service agencies, is to try and get these people enrolled in services to help them with the underlying problem,” says Daniel Nicolai, prosecutor for South Tucson.
Lassen’s goal is to create a team effort among the court system, the police and community programs to address crime and homelessness through a more realistic and non-punitive approach.
Lassen looks to various community resources for prevention, including Pasadera Behavioral Health Network. The community outreach program looks to intercept potential offenders or
reoffenders and provide them with mental health and detox services that wouldn’t be available on the streets or in jail.
“Judge Lassen is really open to doing what he can for them,” says Rudy Trinidad, housing navigator and case manager for Pasadera. “He doesn’t want to send them to a jail cell.”
Trinidad looks to use Lassen’s court as a method of redirecting repeat offenders and setting them on the right path.
“The people we deal with in court, most of them go through the court proceedings with no advocacy, nobody there for them,” says Trinidad. “So we try to capture them in little old South Tucson.”
While case managers like Trinidad scour the streets looking to put Lassen’s plan into action, the police department plays a role in maintaining a safe and professional environment for residents and those released back into the community.
“The police officers know who is in the community. They know the struggles they are having,” says Bethann Fleming, an intern with the South Tucson Police Department. “The judge
is trying different things.”
Inevitably, the faces that become so familiar to the police also become commonplace behind the podium facing Judge Lassen. This is what leads Lassen to focus on breaking the cycle.
After hearing the last plea scheduled for the day, he strolls into the hallway, his mind shifting gears as he puts the attempted burglary behind him and notices a platter of doughnuts on a table. He re-enters his office, disrobes and plops down in his office chair. Again, the window draws his gaze – the city he has sworn to enrich and transform looms across the parking lot.
“Whatever the problem is here in South Tucson, on the streets and with the homeless population and the addicted population and the mentally ill population, they’re not going to be problems we are going to solve by arrests and jail and incarceration,” he says.
“So what’s the perfect answer? I don’t know,” the judge says. “But we have to try something different, don’t you think?”
He smiles and begins reviewing the files for tomorrow’s cases.
Unemployed Losing Food Assistance
By Ashley McGowan
More than 40,000 Arizonans are at risk of losing food assistance if they do not find employment.
In April, Pima County reinstated the Able Bodied Adult Without Dependents requirements for individuals in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), previously called food stamps.
SNAP participants without dependents or disabilities, or who are under the age of 50 will be required to work at least 80 hours a month or enroll in an authorized training program in order to maintain their food benefits.
Those who fail to find employment are only eligible for three months of SNAP assistance for every three years.
An estimated $3.6 million will be taken out of Arizona’s economy because of cuts to SNAP benefits, according to the Arizona Association of Food Banks.
During the recession, the federal government granted waivers to states with unemployment rates higher than 10 percent to allow abled bodied adults without dependents to receive food assistance without employment.
The unemployment rates in Arizona and 21 other states have dropped below recession levels, so they are no longer eligible for waivers.
At the height of the recession in 2010, the unemployment rate in South Tucson was 12.2
percent, which was higher than the rate in either Arizona or the United States. Nearly 700 people were unemployed at that time in the 1.2 square miles of South Tucson.
Currently, the unemployment rate in Pima County is at 4.9 percent, less than half of recession high in 2010, but South Tucson generally has a higher unemployment rate than other areas in Pima County.
“If ever, we’ll be the last ones to see the economy get better,” says South Tucsonan Raul Green with Comunidad Primero, a community advocacy program. The most recent statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau show that 45 percent of South Tucson’s population lives below the poverty line.
Also, Latinos are more likely to be unemployed, according to the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. In 2012, the Latino unemployment rate was nearly 35 percent higher than the rate of Arizona.
Economist with the Arizona Department of Economic Security, John Bowen, says that steps are being taken to ensure that SNAP recipients receive employment assistance and counseling to find any eligible exemptions.
Each SNAP recipient will meet with a DES staff member for their six-month review before the three month time restriction begins.
There, the staff will find any available exemptions and help with enrollment in employment and training programs that allow SNAP recipients to continue receiving food assistance for as long as needed.
MORE INFORMATION
• If you have more questions about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program please contact the Gabrielle Giffords Family Assistance Center at the Community Food Bank at (520) 6246349.
• For more information about available employment and training opportunities for SNAP recipients please visit the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Employment and Training website at des.az.gov.
Photo by Barb Elkhalil Quest cards are issued to SNAP recipients in Arizona to purchase groceries with their benefits.
Seeking Safe Haven
Central American children continue to flee gang violence, poverty and political instability in hope of finding refuge in the United States
By Julianne Stanford
About an hour south of Tucson, on the other side of a fence that demarcates the United States from Mexico, a humanitarian crisis unfolds as tens of thousands of child migrants from Central America cross the border.
Over the past five years, more than 140,000 children from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala have made the more than 2,000 mile, two-week minimum journey on foot without a guaranteed source of food, water or shelter all in hope of finding a safe haven in the U.S. Along the way, these children are vulnerable to human trafficking,
by
Jordan Glenn
Photo
border, according to statistics from Customs and Border Protection for fiscal year 2016, which ranges from October 1, 2015 to February 29, 2016.
Reaching the border isn’t the end of the story for these young migrants. Once they set foot in the U.S., a new journey begins as they navigate their way through the federal bureaucracy and immigration court system, all against the backdrop of the emotional trauma of their journey.
With the resurgence of high numbers of unaccompanied minors once again seeking refuge in the U.S., it begs the question – what is causes so many children to leave their homes and make such an arduous, dangerous journey without the help of an adult?
Moreover, what happens to all of these children once they step foot on American soil?
‘A genuine, legitimate hardship’
The Northern Triangle of Central America – El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras – has been characterized by gang violence, drug trafficking, government corruption, poverty and a poor quality of life for decades, all of which can trigger the mass migration of minors.
“I see the underlying driver of conflict and migration in so many cases around the world as being unequal access to insufficient resources,” said Mneesha Gellman, assistant professor of political science at Emerson University and an expert on conflict in Latin America. “So if we address the access question, and if we address the insufficient resources question, then we can start to address why someone would make such a huge sacrifice to undertake such a dangerous journey.”
All three Central American countries are stricken by gross economic disparities, such as high poverty rates exacerbated by extremely low average incomes per capita, as compared to the U.S.
This inequality could be the basis for the classic case of an economic migration as people seek better opportunities in another country.
“Most people are not saying goodbye to their families and communities just on a whim, just for the heck of it... Whether or not a child is leaving their parents behind to come on the trip, or trying to join a parent, something is going on there,” Gellman said. “There really is a genuine, legitimate hardship that would drive someone to do that.”
That hardship has been brought on by economic disparity and political unrest in large part caused by foreign intervention in domestic conflicts that has destabilize the region.
“We see a remarkably similar pattern of U.S. political and economic support for right-wing actors in these three countries and that support has facilitated ongoing economic and political strife,” Gellman said. This instability, she said, has led to intense, sustained violence in all
‘Making a Difference’
“It’s the most exhausting job that I’ve ever had, because it’s [a] 24/7 shelter and between all of the children, and all of the staff, there’s always major issues I’m having to contend with, but it’s the most rewarding job I’ve ever had and I think it’s because I get to see how they come in, and then when I see them leave, I see a totally different child and I see how resilient they are and I think that’s why I keep doing it because I know we’re making a difference.”
Alex Fernandez, Program Director of the Southwest Key’s unaccompanied minors’ shelter in Tucson
three countries.
As the states broke down over the past few decades, an alternative form of organization began to rise.
“Gangs,” Gellman said, “are a form of social organization that people use when they can’t rely on more traditional forms of social organization like the family, like the state, like community institutions, so the rise of gangs really represents a breakdown of other social organization.”
Children are often recruited to join these gangs, and presented with the decision to join or face bodily harm. Some children decide to take a third option, to leave and migrate to the U.S.
Drug trafficking is another source of violence in the region, but it’s not the predominate factor in the surge in child migrants.
“The cartels are a problem, but they are a symptom. They are not the reason,” Gellman said. “The profit margin for transporting drugs are much greater than the profit margin for transporting tomatoes or some other agricultural product.”
Aside from the various political and economic motivations to leave the region, children might have a more personal reason, such as reconnecting with a parent who is already residing in the U.S.
If a parent is residing in the U.S. without proper authorization, they cannot legally foster a family member to come live with them. Faye Hipsman, a policy analyst from the Migration Policy Institute, points out that as a result, many children resort to crossing the border to reunite with their parents.
The network of resources available to unaccompanied minors once they arrive in the U.S. might also incentivize families to send their child on such a dangerous journey.
“When children are apprehended here and reunified with their parents and are allowed to stay with their parents in the United States for a long period of time, it creates the incentive for others to come,” Hipsman said. “When families hear that their neighbor sent their kid to the U.S. and they’re still there a year later, living with their parents, it encourages more migration.”
A New Journey Begins
In some cases, when a child makes it across the border, their first step is to find a Border Patrol agent. While that might seem counter-intuitive, it is often the best move a child can make, according to Hipsman of the Migration Policy Institute.
Factors in Migration
United States
Population (2014): 318,857,056
Income per Capita (2015): $54,629 USD
Poverty Level (2014): 14.8 percent
Corruption (2015): 16/168
Homicide rate per 100,000 (2015): 4.5
Honduras
Population (2014): 7,961,680
Income per Capita (2015): $2,434 USD
Poverty Level (2014): 62.8 percent
Corruption (2015): 112/168
Homicide rate per 100,000 (2015): 57
Mexico
Population (2014): 125,385,833
Income per Capita (2015): $10,325 USD
Poverty Level (2014): 53.2 percent
Corruption (2015): 95/168
Homicide rate per 100,000 (2015): 13
Guatemala
Population (2014): 16,015,494
Income per Capita (2015): $3,673 USD
Poverty Level (2014): 59.3 percent
Corruption (2015): 123/168
Homicide rate per 100,000 (2015): 30
Nicaragua
Population (2014): 6,013,913
Income per Capita (2015): $1,963 USD
Poverty Level (2014): 62.8 percent
Corruption (2015): 130/168
Homicide rate per 100,000 (2015): 8
El Salvador
Population (2014): 6,107,706
Income per Capita (2015): $4,120 USD
Poverty Level (2014): 38.1 percent
Corruption (2015): 72/168
Homicide rate per 100,000 (2015): 103
Map illustration by Marc “M.Á.S” Sanchez
“It offers them a safe way to be reunified with their parents wherever they are in the country,” Hipsman said, rather than having the child continue on by foot.
Once a child is taken into Border Patrol custody, the process to unite the child with a sponsor in the U.S., such as a parent or family member, begins with the assistance of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement.
A child spends their first 72 hours in the custody of Customs and Border Protection at a station near where they were apprehended. During this time, the Office of Refugee Resettlement is notified of a child’s arrival and then arranges to transfer them to a short-term shelter.
As soon as a child is taken into a shelter’s care, which receives children 24 hours a day, seven days a week, they are assigned a case manager who begins the process of identifying a sponsor. The potential sponsor must go through a series of background checks, including fingerprinting and screening for a criminal record to determine their eligibility to take care of the child.
A sponsor’s legal status in the U.S. is not a matter of concern during this process.
“[Parents will] give us their name, and their address, and their information, and a social security number if they have that,” said Alex Fernandez, who runs an unaccompanied minor shelter in Tucson. “We actually get told not to ask [about their status]. We don’t really know exactly if they’re here legally or not, they just give us all of their information and that’s how we follow up.”
Temporary Safe Haven
In the mean-time, the child is safe and cared for at a short-term shelter specifically for unaccompanied minors from foreign countries.
One such facility is at an undisclosed location in the heart of Tucson. The shelter is managed by the Southwest Key, a private, non-profit organization that operates youth shelters across the southern border.
These shelters are funded by the Office of Refugee Resettlement and are highly regulated by federal, state and local government. Employees have to undergo rigorous background and identity checks in addition to participating in more than 80 hours of training before they can begin work at the shelter and interact with children
Once a child arrives, the perils of their journey weigh heavy on their shoulders and are often at the forefront of their mind.
“A lot of them have been through a lot of trauma, either in their country of origin or through their journey,” said Alex Fernandez, the director of the Tucson shelter. “So that’s one of our primary focuses, to make sure that while they’re in our care they’re able to discuss anything that might be bothering them.”
The shelter receives children of all ages, and Fernandez estimates most of the children currently housed there are between the ages of 12 and 15. Occasionally the shelter will receive teenage mothers who have small children of their own.
Up to 283 children can be housed under the shelter’s roof for an average stay of 21 to 22 days, Fernandez said. Two children will share a single bedroom with two beds, complete with a shower, or a teenage mother will be housed in a single room with her child in a crib.
“The majority of our kids are just your average, normal child that’s trying to get a better life so they’re not really gang involved,” Fernandez said. ‘“Our shelter is not really for the highintense kids, like at-risk youth or who have other behavioral health issues.”
The shelter seeks to provide the children with a vast array of resources in addition to health care and reunification services, such as education and socializing with other minors.
“When they first come, it’s very difficult because there’s not a whole lot of eye contact, and they’re kind of afraid because most of their interactions they’ve had has been with Border Patrol and they don’t really know who we are,” Fernandez said. “But usually by day two or three, you’ll start seeing them warm up and smile… It’s nice to see them come into their own little personality that has always been there, but because of the trauma of everything they have gone through, we don’t see that right away.”
A typical day at the shelter begins at dawn, with showers and breakfast, followed by six hours of schooling that follows the standard Arizona state curriculum, so a child at the shelter is getting the same education as a child at any elementary school in the state.
Classes such as science, history, and U.S. culture are all taught in English with the intent of teaching children the language to help them begin the assimilation process Fernandez said. This can be difficult because few speak fluent English, but translators are on hand to help the children understand what is being taught.
Once school is out for the day, the children have recreational time. They play football or attend a sewing class, which are favorite pastimes for the children.
The staff at the Southwest Key shelter also seek to provide guidance on social norms and customs in America to the children in their care to help them adjust to life in a new country.
“We help them make sure that they have a voice,” Fernandez said, “that no one should touch you that you don’t want touching you, kind of that whole stranger danger thing.”
One particular topic the shelter makes sure to address is a cultural difference in what constitutes as an appropriate relationship.
“A lot of times, these kids, girls, they have relationships there that are normal or common with adults [in their country of origin],” Fernandez said. “So like a 40-year-old with a 16-year-old, and it’s hard for staff to wrap their brains around it, but to them, it’s normal, their parents are okay with that, so we let them know that here, in the United States, that’s not allowed and we tell them what it’s called.”
By the end of a child’s stay at the shelter, Fernandez said she notices a remarkable change in them from when they arrived.
Photo by Jordan Glenn
A single boot lies at the base of the U.S.-Mexico border near where a teen was shot perviously by Border Patrol while trying to cross back into Mexico.
Band-Aids for Borders
Asolution to the underlying cause of the flow of migrant children from the Northern Triangle might be found in a neighboring Central American country.
Nicaragua neighbors the Northern Triangle countries to the south and shares a border with Honduras. Like other Central American countries, Nicaragua shares the experience of U.S. intervention in their domestic politics.
During the 1980s, the U.S. government unsuccessfully backed the right-wing rebels in a coup to overthrow the communist government in Nicaragua. A left-of-center government has now ruled the country for the past three decades.
Yet today, Nicaraguan children are not fleeing the country at the same rate as those in neighboring countries.
A solution to the child migration from the Northern Triangle might be gleaned from this paradox, said Mneesha Gellman, a political science professor from Emerson College.
“It’s really beautiful, just to see them kind of grow and talk about their dreams and what they want to do,” Fernandez said. “They basically tell us that there’s so much gang violence where they’re coming from that their parents would rather take their chances with them coming here rather than staying there because they know there’s no actual hope for them to actually become anything, mostly because of the drugs, the gang violence and because they’re starving.”
Often, children are sad to leave the shelter at the end of their stay and say they wish they could stay longer, Fernandez said.
A Day in Court
That sense of security and safety a child might find at the shelter is only temporary. They must appear in immigration court to determine if they are eligible for a visa, residency permit or can be granted asylum.
Immigration court can be a stressful experience for a child from a foreign country who might not speak the language of those passing legal judgment upon them.
“Immigration is a very complicated system,” said Golden McCarthy, Program Director for the Children’s Program at the Florence Project. “It’s not easy for a regular adult to understand exactly what’s happening.”
Navigating the court system can be further complicated for an unaccompanied minor because they are not entitled to a public defender if they cannot hire an attorney. And sometimes, the daunting idea of appearing in court alone can dissuade a child from showing up.
“If a child doesn’t have a legal service provider walking them into court, they may not go for a myriad of reasons, either they’re afraid or their family gets afraid, maybe it’s hard to figure out transportation, or asking a thirteen-year-old to remember to go to court six weeks from now might be a lot to ask,” McCarthy said.
As a result, they are issued removal orders in absentia.
However, the children at the Tucson shelter, and all unaccompanied minors at shelters across the state, are provided legal counsel from the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Program, a pro-bono firm that provides legal counsel and assistance to immigrants detained in Arizona.
The project helps connect a child with a sponsor alongside the shelter’s efforts and assist the child throughout the course of their immigration proceedings, McCarthy said.
Even if a child has representation in court, being granted permission
“For all of its problems...Nicaragua has a functioning social security program,” Gellman said. “There’s much more accessible education and healthcare, and basic social services for people in Nicaragua.”
While a long-term quick fix isn’t on the horizon that will bring about a long-term resolution, Gellman said there are a few things that can be done in the U.S. to make things better in the short term.
“What won’t work is building a wall. What won’t work is the ongoing criminalization of human movement, criminalizing immigration,” Gellman said. “What won’t work is continued persecution of migrants or trying to either physically stop them from entering the country or trying to deport them.”
Actions such as those only serve to further exacerbate the problem, rather than solving it or helping those in desperate need of assistance, Gellman said.
“Those are all Band-Aid solutions,” Gellman said. “Those are all things that make the American public feel like their politicians or their tax dollars are doing something and so maybe they feel a little bit of safety but that is ignoring the root causes of why the migration is happening in the first place.”
to stay in the country is still hard to come by.
“A lot of the children don’t have claims to a visa and so many of them are issued removal orders,” said Hipsman of the Migration Policy Institute.
Few are actually deported, though. Hipsman estimates about onefourth of the children are forcibly removed from the country after they have been told to leave.
Fading into the Distance
Once a suitable sponsor is found for the child, a relative if possible, the shelter staff begins to prepare them for travel to their new home, many of which are out of state.
Travel is not a problem, despite a child’s unauthorized status in the country, Fernandez said. Shelter staff will escort them and provide identification paperwork.
“I think airport security is starting to understand what’s going on,” she said. “We’ve never had any issues of them not allowing them to get on the plane.”
Once a child leaves the care of the Southwest Key, that is the last contact the shelter has with them, Fernandez said.
“I don’t know what happens with them after, and I think that’s the part that I struggle with because I don’t know where they go,” she said.
Shelter policy dictates and the staff is not allowed to have any contact with a child after they leave their care, even if the child reaches out.
“Some of them will get your name and want to reach out to you on your Facebook page,” Fernandez said. “As soon as that happens we have to report it to our supervisor and we actually have to not engage in any kind of conversation or exchange with them either through Facebook or any other social media outlet.”
And so that’s it. The child leaves the care of the shelter, and they go off to live their lives, for better or worse.
Maybe they show up in immigration court and gain a residency visa or are granted asylum status. Or they chose to fly under the radar out of fear of being forced to return to the horrors they fled in their home country.
Perhaps they escape whatever caused them to flee their country of origin only to find more hardship and economic strife in America.
Or, maybe, they will be able to attend school and work towards achieving their dreams.
Nurses Set Up Shop in Local Libraries
By Jordan Glenn
It’s a typical warm Monday morning in Tucson.
As the sun rises, more and more people gather outside the Sam Lena-South Tucson Library. Some are here for the towering shelves of books, some for the computers and a few for the air-conditioning.
Others are here for the nurses.
Inside, Nurse Kristin Robinson-Lund sets up her “office” at a wooden table between two small bookcases. A small blue cooler, packed with flu and tetanus shots, sits next to her as she prepares for the crowd to stroll in.
She greets everyone as they claim their spots around the library and lets them know of the services available. One-by-one, tired and gruff-looking men and women visit her desk. Occasionally they share their stories of life on the street and in extreme poverty. Some have walked miles to receive shots, diabetes tests, referrals to medical specialists or resources on overcoming addiction.
Robinson-Lund is not alone in her efforts. Library nurses have become a permanent establishment in 12 Pima County libraries and are part of a large healthcare initiative put in place by the county.
The Pima County Department of Health identified four health topics that needed more attention: substance abuse, mental health, diabetes, and injuries or accidents.
With most of the Hispanic population between the ages of 18 and 34 uninsured, the county had to find a way to help people receive medical help and make changes to their lifestyle.
Glenn Holub uses the resources offered at the libraries. Navigating Tucson in his electric wheelchair, he travels on public transportation to visit the nurses.
“Every time they’re here I make an effort to see them,” says Holub. “They’re really helpful. I have them check my blood pressure every few weeks.”
He is not alone.
“I see a wide variety of patients from the homeless to regular patrons who are just visiting the library,” says Mary Francis, a nurse at the Joel D. Valdez Main Library.
She also points out that, “In the last couple of years, we’ve had a lot of incidents in the libraries due to patrons with mental health or intoxication issues, and so we implemented nurses to assist the librarians and provide realtime information.”
With nurses visiting libraries twice a month and one stationed permanently at the Joel D. Valdez Main Library in Downtown Tucson, more people are becoming enrolled in affordable healthcare and receiving the treatment they need both physically and emotionally.
“Our goal is to provide a space where we
can support each other, socialize, think about problems and ways to stay involved in the community,” says Salvador Barajas, a diabetes support group leader at the Valencia Library.
“We are always looking to get the word out in order to create a bigger community and improve the lives of people here in Tucson.”
In addition to the support groups, participants in the library health checkups can be referred to various classes on addiction, medical education and physical fitness.
The libraries and Pima Health Department share the cost for the nurses.
The librarians are satisfied with the help it brings to the community.“I think it’s a fantastic program that has helped us de-escalate a lot of situations in the library that were brought on by patrons’ health issues,” says Emily Lane, assistant manager of the Valencia Library, about the nurses. “They don’t just give advice, they give resources that have been helpful in bringing health literacy to the community.”
The role of the library in the community continues to expand as word spreads about the library nurses and the health care they provide.
“Libraries are a place for help, learning and refuge for the community,” says Nurse Robinson-Lund. “So what we do is just another part of that mission.”
Photo by Jordan Glenn
Leticia B., a librarian at the Sam Lena-South Tucson Library, has her blood pressure checked by library nurse Debra Osborne.
Zika: What You Need To Know This Summer
By Alexandra Adamson
It’s a hot summer day. The mourning doves are cooing and the sun beats down on a slight breeze. Water sits still at the bottom of trays under ceramic pots filled with flowers and plants. Pinch, swat, slap.
A small itchy red bump outlined with flushed skin is what the mosquito leaves after its bite.
The Aedes aegypti mosquito lives and harasses Tucsonans during the warm, wet summer months. This mosquito is responsible for carrying and spreading four diseases including the Zika virus, which was reported as a public health emergency by the World Health Organization in February 2016.
Although the Aedes mosquito is found in Arizona, there have been no cases of Zika, as of late March 2016. The Maricopa County Department of Public Health and the Arizona Department of Health Services reported a woman from Maricopa County had acquired the Zika virus from international travel.
Do Tucsonans Need to Fear the Zika?
disease cases and zero locally acquired cases. Of the 312 cases, 27 were pregnant women. Out of the 50 states, 41 states have reported an outbreak of the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The Aedes mosquito is not native to Arizona. But it has found a home in urban and suburban neighborhoods in Southern Arizona in recent decades. It thrives in cluttered places in the backyards of homes, only traveling 500 yards from its hatching site.
“ The possibility is here. But the population is just not large enough in Arizona compared to other southern States.”
- Chris Schmidt
“The possibility is here,” says Chris Schmidt, a University of Arizona graduate research assistant and co-author of a study completed with Ernst. “But the population is just not large enough in Arizona compared to other southern states.”
What Precautions Can Tucsonans Take?
With the coming of summer monsoon season, Tucsonans should take precautions if they want to avoid the risk of tracking the Zika virus.
“Certainly we want people taking general precautions from receiving mosquito bites,” says Kacey Ernst, a University of Arizona epidemiologist who studies mosquito-borne diseases. However, she explained that if there were no mosquito bites by a zika infected mosquito, then there would be no risk of zika being in the area.
The CDC reported the U.S. has 312 travel-associated Zika virus
First, begin by having a well sealed home. Inspect window screens for holes or cracked windows. Small open spaces allow for mosquitos to move inside the home and lay eggs.
Second, empty all plant trays filled with standing water. If a dog bowl is left with water, change the water daily. After dumping out still water, wipe down the tray or bowl with a cloth. This will capture any
Photos Courtesy of Michael Riehle from the University of Arizona Department of Entomology Aedes aegypti mosquito is a non-native mosquito species in Arizona. It’s no larger than 7 millimeters and has small white specks on its legs and back.
Aedes mosquitoes thrive in cluttered areas where they can lay their eggs in a hidden, moist area, such as a backyard or potted plants with water underneath. larva that was left behind.
Third, cover up and protect skin from mosquito bites. Wear clothing that covers open skin, such as long sleeve shirts, pants, a bandana for the neck and long socks for legs. Once outside, use repellent such as DEET, which has been approved safe for even pregnant women and children.
The University of Arizona through a partnership with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Skoll Global Threats Fund is developing an app called Kidenga. The app is a mobile surveillance system that allows users to detect symptoms for Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya. It is scheduled to be released early this summer, Ernst says.
Aedes aegypti Mosquito Diseases
Zika
The Zika virus is spread through a bite from an infected Aedes mosquito. Symptoms include fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis or pink eye. Zika was declared a public health emergency in February 2016 by the World Health Organization. Many people infected with the virus are unaware and theres no vaccine currently available to treat the virus.
Yellow Fever
The yellow fever virus is found in tropical and subtropical areas in South America and Africa. Symptoms can range from a fever to severe liver disease and bleeding. The virus is rare in the United States.
Dengue Fever
Dengue virus is related to yellow fever and the West Nile infection. Around 390 million dengue infections occur worldwide each year in tropical areas of the world. Symptoms include fever, headaches, pain behind the eyes and muscle pain. No vaccine is available.
Chikungunya (chik-en-gun-ye)
Outbreaks of chikungunya virus have been found in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Indian and Pacific Oceans. There is no vaccine.
Proposed Housing Development Threatens a Rare Habitat Killing the San Pedro River
Story and Photos by Jordan Glenn
On a bright spring day, the shimmering water of a river flows steadily through a clearing of cottonwood trees and tall green grasses.
Birds sing sweet melodies to each other in the trees but their songs are overpowered by the laughing and playful sounds of children along the bank of the river.
Teachers Timothy Kearney and Kathryn Herrin’s fifth grade class from Palominas Elementary School in Sierra Vista are holding their annual field trip to the San Pedro River.
Kids spend the day learning about and appreciating nature in this desert oasis. They learn to run various tests on the water quality, examine the unique patterns of the leaves and spend time writing haikus and poetry about the lush environment around them.
It’s a day of fun and appreciation for the last free flowing river in the American Southwest – the San Pedro.
Southern Arizona residents and hydrologists alike, question how long it will remain that way though.
Located 46 miles downstream, a colossal housing development has
been proposed that could cause the river and the groundwater that feeds the area to run dry.
The proposed Villages at Vigneto development is a huge “Tuscanstyle” complex of 28,000 homes spanning 12,324 acres along the San Pedro River. Complete with an 18-hole golf course, recreation center, neighborhood parks, splash pads and nature trails, the development looks to reinvent the desert community of Benson.
El Dorado Holdings Inc., the builder, intends for the Villages at Vigneto to be “inspired and influenced by its surroundings,” and “create a lifestyle made possible only by the unique characteristics of the local natural environment.” They intend to, “demonstrate how a properly designed community and the natural environment can coexist and benefit one another,” according to their submitted development plan.
A number of conservation groups, however, are concerned that this “lifestyle” will need more water than the “unique” natural environment can provide.
As listed in the Phoenix-based company’s final development plan, the group will pump groundwater from the San Pedro Watershed, a large aquifer that supplies water to the nearby towns such as Sierra Vista, Tombstone, Benson, Cascabel, Pomerene and St. David.
The San Pedro river flows through the San Pedro Riparian Conservation area near Sierra Vista, Arizona.
Withdrawing groundwater for a new city of some 70,000 people could have significant long-term consequences.
Learning the Land
The San Pedro River Valley is of great significance to Southern Arizona. Seen as a fertile and green oasis compared to the sea of Sonoran desert that surrounds it, it is home to countless wildlife species. Unique wildlife and greenery is the result of the water that runs through the valley and what is stored in the aquifer beneath it.
The grandiose mountain ranges that flank the valley are crucial for the recharging of the aquifer’s water supply. Mostly coming from water runoff and melting snow in the spring, water can seep through the soil and sediment to replace water drawn out in local towns. The process takes time for water to make its way down to the lower aquifers hundreds of feet below.
“One way to look at an aquifer is as a storage mechanism, like a bank account,” said Jim Leenhouts, a hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. “The recharge to the aquifer, that’s what’s coming in from the rivers and mountains, is like your income. The withdrawals you take out, either from wells you pump or natural ground water flowing out of the basin, are all expenditures of your bank account. You don’t want your bank account going to zero. There tends to be huge consequences.”
A member of the Cascabel Conservation Association explained in a recent letter to the Benson City Council that withdrawing from the nearby aquifer is normal, but it’s the execution that concerns nearby communities.
“The planned pumping will significantly increase the rate of depletion of the deeper aquifer beneath Benson and potentially other locations along the San Pedro River as well,” said Norm Meader, copresident of the Cascabel association. “Withdrawals from the deeper aquifer would more than double the current withdrawal.”
At that rate, the aquifer could see a groundwater decline of 200 feet – or more – within 100 years. Any recharge that could occur would be slow and restore only a fraction of what was lost.
A Development with History
For years, developers have dreamed of building up the small town of Benson, Ariz., located a mere 49 miles south of Tucson.
In early 2004, the Whetstone Ranch development was preparing to break ground.
The 8,200-acre complex consisted of 20,000 houses and was originally proposed for part of the property The Villages at Vigneto are set on now.
The owner, Whetstone Partners LLP, applied for a Section 404 permit that would allow them to alter the landscape near local water sources. The Clean Water Act requires the 404 permit if no other solutions are available for construction. Issued by the Army Corps of Engineers, the land was evaluated back then and Whetstone Ranch was granted permission to change the contours of the land and fill in natural washes with excess dirt from the building.
The area might be more prone to flooding and polluted runoff into nearby water sources including the San Pedro as a result of the grad-
ing and contouring. The land was assessed in detail and done so with sustainability in mind for those 8,200 original acres.
In addition to that, the developer completed an environmental assessment and evaluated any threats that the project may have had on nearby animal species.
Everything was going smoothly until the 2008 economic depression hit.
The Whetstone Ranch project and the land were sold off to El Dorado Holdings.
When the Villages at Vigneto was proposed by the new owner to the city of Benson in early 2015, the developer planned to operate off of the original Whetstone permits and environmental evaluations.
But those permits reflect a landscape much different than what is seen today.
Karen Fogas, director of the Tucson Audubon Society points out that the additional proposed acreage, “…were not evaluated by, nor included in, the 2006 Section 404 permit for Whetstone Ranch.”
The original Whetstone Ranch project covered 8,200 acres, which is 4,124 acres less than what the Villages at Vigneto plans to develop. As reflected in several of her letters to the City of Benson, the permits are more than 10 years old and do not accurately show the conditions of
- Villages at Vigneto Project
The land near the San Pedro river is lush and full of greenery. Perfect for various wildlife species.
the land with the additional acreage.
The additional land, included in the Villages project, not only provides habitats and water resources for bountiful animal species, but it’s also home to the only wild jaguar in the U.S..
So far, El Dorado has shown no interest in taking the time to reevaluate the environmental impact on the land and make sure their building methods are healthy for the area, including the nearby San Pedro River.
Down The River
Flying over the desert landscape, the Yellow Billed Cuckoo, with its bright yellow beak and dark gray feathers looks down on the San Pedro River. Winding north, snake-like through the desert landscape, the river leaves a 140-mile trail of greenery and fertile soil, ideal for the cuckoo and the thousands of other North American birds that stop during their migrations.
Since the cuckoo was placed on the endangered species list, the river and the surrounding mesquite trees have provided a refuge for them.
Conservationists in the surrounding cities of Tucson, Cascabel, Fort Huachuca, and Sierra Vista are advocating for the birds and several other endangered species in the area.
“We’ve got one of the largest North American flyways for neotropical migratory birds,” said Mark Apel, a hydrologist at the University of Arizona. “Nearly two-thirds of all North American bird species have been seen in the San Pedro River corridor. If you don’t have the water to support that riparian habitat, then you don’t have the birds.”
If the Villages are built with the proposed water pumping permissions, residents downstream – that is, north of Benson – believe it could have devastating results.
The Upper San Pedro Basin aquifer contains 19.2 billion gallons. The Villages at Vigneto wants to pump an additional 3.9 billion gallons a year on top of the estimated 7.1 billion gallons that Benson already uses.
That’s the sum of an estimated 11 billion gallons taken annually from the aquifer. But, each year, seasonal rains and mountain runoffs recharge only 5.2 billion gallons.
The annual draw of water from the Benson subarea already exceeds its recharge rate by about 2.2 billion, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The proposed development could more than double that loss.
Leenhouts, the hydrologist with the Geological Survey, explains that the aquifer doesn’t have to be empty for the water to be inaccessible. Drops in water quality and availability will be felt long before the aquifer is completely dry.
Worst-case scenario, the aquifer could be depleted five years after the housing is developed.
Additionally, in the last five years, Arizona has seen its drought worsen and finally declared an official shortage of water in early 2016.
In a letter to the U.S. Army Engineer District, Arizona Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva urged the team to reevaluate the project and consider the sensitivity of the area and its water supply.
“The San Pedro River Valley is perhaps one of the most environmentally sensitive landscapes in all of Arizona,” the Congressman’s letter said, “and should be treated as such through a thorough and detailed environmental analysis and inter-agency consultation to disclose, analyze, avoid, minimize and adequately mitigate for Vigneto’s environmental impacts.”
Members of the Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance are afraid that history could repeat itself with the Benson development on the San Pedro.
The Santa Cruz River Basin has been heavily impacted by growth and development around Fort Huachuca. The water table there decreased by 1.4 feet every year between 1968 and 1986 because of severe pumping, which created a large cone of depression in the area, according to the Arizona Department of Water Resources.
“The Lower San Pedro watershed is inextricably linked and affected by upstream activities,” said Anna Lands, director of the Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance. “This important and unique desert river and its supporting watershed have earned international recognition for its significant biodiversity.”
In a letter addressed to the City of Benson, Lands implored that the areas downstream, that is, north of Benson, depend on the aquifer and river.
Planning at the watershed level and focusing on conservation is more important than building up the land, she wrote. In addition, we should all, “recognize that this endangered landscape offers future generations far more than another land and water base for exploitation of resources.”
Conservationists and bird watchers fear that if the development takes place in Benson, this could be the last generation to see the Yellow Billed Cuckoo and the thousands of other birds that fly over what was once a crucial desert water source.
Fighting for the Future
On March 8, 2016, conservationists had grown tired of waiting for El Dorado to address environmental concerns.
Earthjustice, an environmental law group based in San Francisco, along with the Tucson Audubon Society, Maricopa Audubon Society, Sierra Club, Cascabel Conservation Association and the Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance announced that they would sue to delay the plan until the water issue is resolved.
“This is a bigger development than the ones we’ve dealt with in the past, so it has the potential for much greater impacts on stream flows,” said Chris Eaton, an associate attorney for Earthjustice.
“If steps are not taken to protect the river from excessive human water use and ground pumping, we are going to lose a really impressive ecosystem.”
Included in the lawsuit are the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S Department of Fish and Wildlife for failing to consult with each other and for violations of the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act.
With the Army Corps of Engineers being one of only two permitting agencies, and because a Section 404 permit is required for the development to break ground, that permit is essentially the only federal link; meaning that government has jurisdiction and involvement said Matt Clark, a conservation analyst for the Tucson Audubon Society. “Technically, laws should have required them to consult Fish and Wildlife;
they shouldn’t have to be forced to. Those things should have already happened.”
Other Southern Arizona residents and groups are calling for another examination of the land and sub-terrain to be completed.
In a packed auditorium in Benson in September 2015, Hydrologists from the U.S Geological Survey answered the questions from a frustrated crowd.
When the project was first proposed, scientists and hydrologists spent years creating a report that reflected the sub-terrain of the property and another that showed how water flowed in the valley.
When the 2008 economic collapse happened and the Whetstone Ranch project was cancelled, federal budget cuts prevented a third report from being made which would have shown the relationship between the water and the terrain around it.
That relationship between water and terrain would allow developers and conservationists to fully understand how the area will be impacted by such a large project.
After receiving several vague explanations from the hydrologists, a frustrated audience member shouted, “I don’t know why you can’t answer these questions and agree that we are making decisions without knowing all of the information.”
To which lecturer Leenhouts had an honest reply that, “The work [reports] that was done, we did for the purpose of building a tool that would help with making decisions. Until that’s done, all the information I presented has usefulness to it but it’s not as useful as it could be.”
The issue has attracted increasing attention over the past 16 months, and residents along with various Arizona government officials seem to be divided.
In what Earthjustice is calling “one of the biggest and most impactful threats to stream flows,” they’ve seen, it’s unclear who will win in the coming months.
The wet and shady San Pedro River valley that Kearney uses to teach students to appreciate nature could turn into a history lesson on what once was.
In a final statement, Audubon’s Matt Clark echoes the thoughts of the opposition to the Villages at Vigneto project. “If we are going to have development, then it needs to be done very cautiously and carefully, especially in proximity to the San Pedro River since it’s a very sensitive area.
“If we treat the San Pedro River like we treated the Santa Cruz River, then there’s going to be a sad ending to this story.”
Final concept art for the Villages at Vigneto Main Gain.
Courtesy of El Dorado Holdings
BLACK LIVES MATTER TUCSON
An Organization Mobilizes
Some 20 people met in early March to organize Black Lives Matter Tucson.
This is the first attempt to directly affiliate and organize with the official national movement. Previous efforts and demonstrations in Tucson have focused on similar causes, but the movement remained disjointed.
The national movement—catalyzed by the death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin and the subsequent acquittal of the assailant, George Zimmerman in 2012— has taken hold in various U.S. cities with emphasis on grassroots organization, social media and youth leadership.
The Tucson meeting, headed by Katie Litchfield and Lucy LiBosha, was attended by a variety of people: young, religious, veterans, trans, queer, mothers, lawyers and students.
“I need community,” said LiBosha, a math teacher at Sunnyside High School. “I need this space.” Q, a University of Arizona student said that he was at the meeting to “explore more about myself and the black community.”
Though people attended for different reasons and came from different backgrounds, they shared experiences and goals. Common topics of concern emerged revolving around the larger themes of community education and activism and included diversity, restorative justice, unapologetically black, global, collective, intergenerational, transgender and queer affirming.
The group decided to continue moving forward with monthly potluck meetings. For information, visit Facebook page ALLblacklives.
Stories and photo by Sydney Haliburton
Katie Litchfield and Lucy LiBosha.
A Discussion About Black Lives in Tucson
Imet up with two of the women behind Tucson’s new Black Lives Matter chapter on one of those Arizona days where you see blue skies to the south and thunderstorms rolling in from over the Catalina Mountains. Katie Litchfield greets me at Sky Bar on Fourth Avenue, her 2-year-old daughter Sage trotting close behind her.
Litchfiled orders a sandwich from the bar, modified for her vegan tastes (take off the avocado, add artichokes, toasted please) with a glass of riesling. Sage bounces around making friends with the other guests as we find a seat.
As we sit down on the patio we start talking about Litchfield’s time in Tucson. When she’s not working with organizing Black Lives Matter Tucson, she’s a massage therapist, a single mom, and looking to go back to school in the near future.
Lucy LiBosha joins us later, riding up on her bike just before the rain starts again. She takes a seat after ordering a light beer and opens up a leather case laying her tablet and notepad on the table.
Taking notes as we speak, she articulates calmly and thoughtfully. LiBosha is gay and a math teacher at Sunnyside High School. She is originally from Washington, D.C.
During our hour together, we spoke about how the organization started, the local activist climate and what it means to be an activist in Southern Arizona
Q: What is the activist climate like here in Tucson?
Katie: I guess compared to major cities where [there’s] just very prominent activism (she points to her previous home, Chicago, as an example). Here it’s just a very chill vibe, just ‘everyone loves everybody.’ And I don’t know the word for this, but there’s not a sense of urgency for activism here. I came here and I was like, you know, what type of groups are here that I can join into? And there wasn’t any. So we decided to start this up and create a Facebook page.
There was a man named Radeem Robinson, he started the Facebook pages and organized the first march.
I actually contacted him because I wanted to get involved because I’d seen the page and noticed that [they] hadn’t done any meetings since then.
And he was like ‘I’m actually moving so you can just take it over and do whatever you want.’ So that’s basically what we did. I started admin-ing the pages and I created the event page for the first meeting that we had which was a really good meeting.
Lucy: I’ve been in this town for about seven years. As a queer black woman I know how religion is connected to black communities and so that’s a reason why I didn’t reach out to the black community.
Because people are so separated in Tucson, there isn’t a real black population that congregates and that has a lot to do with why there isn’t an activist culture.
To sum it up, religion, lack of black neighborhoods and lack of black professionals in the town.
I think that we are less of a threat as a community in Tucson and I think that’s why we haven’t had the larger issues the bigger cities are having.
Q: Why is it important to have a Black Lives Matter chapter in Tucson?
Katie: It’s important to have a Black Lives Matter chapter everywhere that there’s black people. I feel like there needs to be more of a community and just somewhere where you can look up and say, ‘okay, here’s a safe space. Here’s where black people are doing something, I’m gonna come to this.’
The first thing I did when I came to Tucson was look up online ‘Tucson black’ anything because I wanted to make that connection. The internet for me is kind of how I find people. I want to find meet ups and I want to find where the black people are at. So I feel like Black Lives Matter is like that but with the whole activism aspect. We want to stay up-to-date and to talk and empower each other and also to protest and have marches and [be] more in solidarity with what’s going on with black people as a whole.
Lucy: I’ve noticed that the NAACP and other organizations in town that have a significant number of black people aren’t necessarily in support of Black Lives Matter and that’s important to note.
As black people, we aren’t just one thing. We don’t have and share one voice. The space and life that is BLM is so important because there’s that element of queerness, there’s that element of all these other issues and -isms that BLM represents and wants to voice.
I’m a teacher and a public servant and there’s an issue of me belonging to BLM. But it’s difficult to divorce myself from the fact that I’m black, that I’m a woman, that I’m a lesbian, that I’m all these other things that BLM are important to.
To have Black Lives Matter for me, it’s not about just telling people we want the crime against black people to stop. It’s about how do we as black people talk about our internal issues. Unless you decide to deal with the internal stuff, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter at all.
I think that Black Lives Matter has the opportunity to open this gate of issues within ourselves.
Q: How does leadership work in the group?
Lucy: It was really decided at the first meeting that we’d have this leader structure not be this hierarchal structure. So I think we’re still trying to figure it out.
Katie: We don’t have a hierarchy or a structure but it kind of creates itself when you only have a small group of people that want to further organize.
Anyone who wants to organize further we can add you onto the group IM and you can have your voice heard in an organizational and strategic way.
Q: What do you all have planned for BLM Tucson?
Katie: Right now we’re just trying to get people that want to get involved and want to organize with us. Ever since our first meeting we’ve been consistently doing something. It’s important to get together and talk and educate.
Lucy: In terms of events one of our main focuses is to become nationally recognized. So in addition to continuing conversations and having our monthly meetings, there’s going to be an emphasis to connect with the national component.
Tucson Youth’s ‘Last Chance’
By Baraha Elkhalil
Fifteen students in maroon T-shirts that read, “Accept! Improve! Move On!” sit in front of computers that line three walls of a brightly lit room. They work on online courses as instructor Martina Mejia watches from her desk.
At the corner of the room near the entrance sits Jorge Flores, a 19-year-old with striking light brown eyes, a tan complexion and the phrase, “Be Phenomenal Or Be Forgotten” inked on his forearm.
They are participating in YouthBuild, a program for young adults 16 to 24, generally from low-income households who want to finish high school. The 10-month curriculum allows students to earn a GED while gaining hands-on training and construction skill by building new houses and renovating pre-exist-
ing ones. Flores and his cohort work to complete their diplomas so they can pursue dreams of being teachers, dentists and welders.
YouthBuild is a subdivision of Portable Practical Educational Preparation, PPEP, a nonprofit organization that offers services in behavioral health, employment and education.
For the YouthBuild program, 30 students are chosen from a pool of roughly 80 after an in-person interview and completion of “Mental Toughness” — a two-week orientation that is meant to challenge students and push them out of their comfort zone via high-participation activities. The group of 30 is split in half for the program. Fifteen are in the classroom where they work on online courses and the other fifteen are on the field where they build houses for low-income families. The groups
switch roles each week.
“They train on site,” says Jose Federico, the program coordinator. “It’s from the get go –they have a hammer in their hand. They learn by doing.”
The project sites differ from year to year. During the program’s first year, students worked in Tucson and Three Points, an area about 25 miles west of downtown Tucson. The second year, they stayed within Pima County and this year the current projects are in Rio Rico, Arizona, near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Flores, a Tucson native, began the YouthBuild project January 18 after he was laid off from his job with a pipeline company. He had gone back and forth between Primavera Online High School and Desert Rose Academy Charter School until he decided to drop out to
Photo by Baraha Elkhalil
Jose Federico (left) helps Jorge Flores work on his online classes.
continue work.
“I dropped school because I thought it would be good money,” he says.
But it wasn’t what he had expected. He received 50 to 60 hours a week for the first four months. Then his hours were reduced by almost half. That was when he knew that he wanted to go back to school.
Like Flores, YouthBuild graduate Keyth Theurer had financial trouble before stumbling upon the program.
“I wasn’t happy,” Theurer says. “I was always broke. Was just trying to make ends meet.”
Theurer worked countless minimum wage jobs, but knew he needed something better. He enrolled in YouthBuild during the program’s second year.
Flores and Theurer both came across the program through an ad on Craigslist, an online platform for classified advertisements, when they were searching for jobs.
YouthBuild provides students a monthly stipend of roughly $600. The idea of getting paid to finish school was what caught Theurer’s attention.
“They were offering the experience for work as well as getting paid, like minimum wage, part-time, to get an education,” he says. “And I just thought to myself: this is perfect!”
Thuerer and Flores believe that YouthBuild is the best option for kids facing tough times. They value the attentive staff and the encouraging environment.
“People have been through the same things as you,” Flores says. “So I would say it’s more like a family, I guess.”
He says that the teachers’ attitudes make a big difference in the motivation levels of the students. “They try to help you out,” he says. “They don’t consider you a number.”
Federico has been a part of YouthBuild since its beginning. Known as “JJ” by the kids, he listens to and strives to make a difference with each one. Many of the students look up to him and see him as a mentor.
“The kids are why we’re here,” Federico says. “I love them, I truly do.”
Theurer recalls Federico’s efforts on his behalf both in and out of school.
“He went far more out of his way than he needed to for me and it was awesome,”
Theurer says.
After students receive their diplomas, YouthBuild helps place them in higher education institutions such as community college, if they are still enrolled in the program. They assist them in completing their Free Application for Federal Student Aid, and if money is still owed after disbursement of the financial aid, “PPEP may potentially cover the remainder of the cost,” Federico says.
Flores and Nicole Weston, recent graduates, are almost near the completion of their certificate and plan to enroll in Pima Community College soon. Theurer is currently taking classes there.
Former students Weston and Theurer believe YouthBuild has changed their lives for the better.
“I wouldn’t be where I’m at if it wasn’t for YouthBuild,” Theurer says.
Weston echoes the sentiment. “That program just changed me… and I’m grateful that they picked me.”
What does YouthBuild offer that other schools and programs don’t? Flores doesn’t hesitate. “A last chance.”
Photo Courtesy of YouthBuild
YouthBuild members build a house for low income families.
Is the Largest Proposed Mine in the U.S. an Environmental Bust?
At stake is a popular recreation site, a unique ecosystem and sacred Native American land. Senate and House bills seek to repeal a controversial land swap with an international mining conglomerate.
Story and Photos by Ashley McGowan
Nearly 100 people left Superior High School disappointed and anxious after a long night of grueling questions and harsh realities at a public meeting in April.
Many lived nearby and came to tell the Tonto National Forest Service their concerns over a proposed copper mine a few miles away in Oak Flat.
Some were members of the San Carlos Apache Nation who came to defend their tradition and heritage closely tied with Chich’il Biłdagoteel, the Apache name for Oak Flat.
But everyone was outraged over the federal government’s forced land exchange that would destroy a unique area once used for recre-
For More Info
About the land exchange, the mine proposal and how to get involved, visit: www.ResolutionMineEIS.us or call (602) 225-5222.
To submit comments and questions to the National Forest Service email comments@ResolutionMineEIS.us.
ation, traditional ceremonies and ecological research.
Land Exchange
Congress and President Barack Obama approved the Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon National Defense Authorization Act, which included a land exchange in Arizona with the mining company Resolution Copper,
in December of 2014.
Hundreds of pages of the act address military spending, but Section 3003 directs the Secretary of Agriculture to “authorize, direct, facilitate, and expedite the exchange of land between Resolution Copper and the United States.”
The land exchange will trade 2,400 acres of land in the protected Oak Flat campground in the Tonto National Forest to Resolution Copper Mining in exchange for eight parcels of previously private land in Gila, Yavapai, Maricopa, Coconino, Pinal and Santa Cruz Counties, totaling 5,300 acres (See map).
The parcels offered by Resolution Copper, a conglomerate of Rio Tinto Group, a BritishAustralian multinational mining cooperation,
Campers enjoy the scenery in the Oak Flat campground this spring. This will be inaccessible when the copper mine becomes operational and will eventually collapse on the mine.
include miles along the San Pedro River, archeological sites and rock-climbing areas.
Still, critics of the land exchange feel that the eight parcels of scattered land do not have the same cultural or ecological value as what will be lost when mining causes the area to become a huge hole.
“We shouldn’t be attaching those unrelated measures to a National Defense Act,” said Cyndi Tuell, a leader in the Tucson Supports Oak Flat movement. “It’s sneaking something through they couldn’t pass on its own merit.”
The land exchange was proposed two times previously to the House of Representatives and was denied both times. Putting the land exchange in a National Defense Act, that was described as a “must pass” bill because it addressed military spending, successfully circumvented the House of Representatives’ decision.
The Oak Flat campground was protected from mining by an executive order passed in 1955 by then President Dwight Eisenhower, but the 2014 National Defense Act removed its protection and officially opened the area to copper mining.
Section 3003 also instructs the Tonto National Forest Service to conduct an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) of the Oak Flat campground and the eight parcels of land to “ensure that the non-federal lands are acceptable through an appraisal process,” said Carrie Templin, a Public Affairs Specialist with the Tonto National Forest Service.
However, if the appraisal process finds Oak Flat to be worth more than what Resolution Copper has offered, they can either offer more land or pay the difference in cash to the federal government.
According to federal law, the land must be exchanged with the intention of building a mine.
Unless the mine proposal violates existing environmental standards and regulations, the Tonto National Forest Service will have no choice but to allow Resolution Copper to build its copper mine on the Oak Flat campground and National Forest Service land.
The General Mining Law of 1872 allows corporations access to federal land for mineral extraction and forces the Forest Service to comply.
“Congress has essentially tied the National Forest Service’s hands,” said Tuell.
After the EIS is complete and the public has an opportunity to comment, the exchange will go through.
The public will lose access to a once popular ecotourism spot, the Native American nations in the area will lose access to traditionally important land and a larger than life copper mine will be built.
Proposed Mine Plan
Resolution Copper, if authorized by the National Forest Service, would build the largest copper mine in the country. The area affected by the mine, including treatment facilities, pipelines, and the actual mine site will operate on a combination of private land, acquired through the land exchange, public, and federal land. The mine is estimated to disturb almost 7,000 square acres on the surface.
The proposed copper mine is so large that concerned citizens at the public meeting were directed to look at copper mines in Chile for comparison by Mine Environmental Specialist Mark Nelson. Nothing in the U.S. is comparable.
At the East Plant Site, where the underground mine will be located, Resolution Copper intends to use a mining technique called panel mining, which entails constructing a net-
work of shafts and tunnels below the ore body, and then using explosives to fracture the ore so that it can be transported underground to the West Plant Site, located at the old Magma Mine in Superior, for processing.
After the ore is processed into copper concentrate it will be pumped to a “filter/loadout” facility near Magma. In order to transport the copper concentrate to Magma, Resolution Copper plans to construct an upgraded rail line, new water pipelines, new utility lines, pump stations and 30 new ground wells.
From the filter/loadout facility the copper concentrate will be sent to market.
The production of copper also produces tailings, or “the waste material left-over after processing,” according to the National Forest Service. Tailings do not contain any minerals of economic value but are potentially dangerous for human and environmental health. So they must be stored safely to protect air, water
Map provided by the Tonto National Forest Service
A map of the area that is expected to subside as a result of the panel mining technique that will be employed to mine the copper. The green ring represents the amount of land that is expected to continually subside.
and wildlife quality.
Tailings will be transported from the West Plant Site to a storage facility that will operate on about 4,400 acres of national forest land.
The tailings will be stored in an embankment with precautions in place to minimize seepage and prevent dangerous materials from entering surrounding areas and water systems.
The construction of the mine and its components is estimated to take 10 years after the acquisition of all necessary permits and authorizations, which could also take years.
Once built, Resolution Copper predicts the mine will have an operational life span of 40 years. After the mine is closed, the company expects that “reclamation” of the land will take between five and 10 years.
Environmental Impacts on Land
The most obvious effect from such an enormous copper mine will be a huge hole caused by the panel mining technique. Mining creates a void beneath the surface so large that the earth above gradually collapses, through a process called subsidence.
The National Forest Service predicts the surface area affected by subsidence could fall up to 1,000 ft., and encompass many square miles of the Oak Flat area.
Subsidence is a concern for environmentalists because essentially it will leave an expansive uninhabitable crater in an area with a unique and delicately balanced ecosystem, explains Sandy Bahr, the director of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter.
“There are mature oak trees in Oak Flat which is unusual and not part of the desert.”
The impact of subsidence is the permanent loss of a vast area where tourists, ecologists, and Native American nations frequent and numerous species of plants and animals inhabit.
Water
In order to construct the underground shafts and tunnels necessary for the copper mine, Resolution must “dewater” the Oak Flat area.
Although they intend to use and recycle the water many times in the mining process, “anytime you have even a little bit of water in such an arid place it’s hugely important to plants and animals,” Bahr said.
Once Resolution removes the groundwater in the Oak Flat area, which is mostly stored in wet sand underground, it will not be replenished for many life times, said Kelly Mott Lacroix with the Water Resources Research Center at the University of Arizona.
“Extraction of groundwater could also make springs in the area disappear. Springs are part of a riparian ecosystem, which are the rarest ecosystems that we have in Arizona. About 2 percent of the land area in our state is riparian,” she said.
Riparian ecosystems are made up of the plants and animals located on the edges of springs and are distinctly different than the surrounding areas.
In addition to concerns over dewatering, there is always a possibility that tailings, which contain acidic chemicals and trace metals, can enter surrounding water systems, including drinking water.
Over the 40-year operational period, Resolution predicts that the mine will produce
around 1.5 billion tons of tailings that have to be permanently stored.
The embankment method of storage will create a tailings pond. Tailings ponds have been described as one of the worst environmental disasters of modern history, because their massive size makes them difficult to contain.
Roger Featherstone, the director of the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, is particularly concerned about Resolution’s tailings storage method because “they are not going to line it, putting toxic chemicals on bare ground,” Featherstone said.
While Resolution Copper’s proposal describes the land for the tailings storage facility as, “very small permeability, which would limit tailings water seepage and potential for migration of tailings water.” The same report also recognizes some areas with higher permeability where “potential for tailings water seepage and migration in the subsurface could be larger.”
Resolution intends to use dams to minimize the amount of tailings seepage but there can be no guarantee that all of the hazardous materials will be forever contained.
Air
Mining generates dust and expels pollutants into the air.
The proposal submitted by Resolution recognizes the production of carbon, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxides and 48 other “hazardous air pollutants” that range from arsenic to mercury.
Nitrogen oxide is known to aggravate
asthma conditions, and produces ozone by reacting with oxygen in the atmosphere.
Sulfur dioxides are linked to an array of respiratory health issues. When sulfur dioxide forms small particulates in the air it can cause emphysema, bronchitis and worsen heart disease.
The mining will cause about 59.4 tons of small particulate matter to fly into the air every year. The Air Resources Board show that particulates are so small, “about a seventh of the thickness of a human hair,” that they can be inhaled into the deepest parts of the lungs. It is “among the most harmful of all air pollutants.”
Particulate matter has a greater affect on children, elderly, exercising adults and anyone with existing respiratory conditions.
Resolution’s predictions for air pollutants are within national standards but little can be done to contain those that are emitted.
What is Happening Now
Despite the feeling of defeat after the public meeting in April, legislators are still working to undo the land exchange at the federal level.
Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced bill S. 2242 to the U.S. Senate in November 2015 to repeal Section 3003 of the 2014 National Defense Act that authorized the land exchange.
The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin and Sen. Martin Heinrich from New Mexico.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva also introduced a companion bill in the House of Representatives in June of 2015 that now has more than 36 co-sponsors in favor of repealing the land exchange.
The bills argue that Section 3003 was passed without the support of the House of Representatives or the Senate and precluded the public from the decision.
It went on to state that a mine in the area would destroy land considered sacred by local Native American nations.
Although the Tonto National Forest Service has little choice but to exchange the land at the end of the Environmental Impact Study, Templin encourages concerned citizens to attend public meetings to voice specific concerns, submit question to the National Forest Service and continue to appeal to congressional representatives.
The Tonto National Forest Service is only the first of seven steps that must be completed before the land is officially exchanged.
The Forest Service is currently holding public meetings to inform residents and gather concerns from locals. It does not appear, however, that there have been new meetings scheduled.
Wildflowers bloom on the Oak Flat Campground. Much of the plant life in this area is unique because of the spring-fed ecosystem.
Nadia Valle Gives Wings to Women in Need
By Alexandra Adamson
Tinted make-up, long-sleeve shirts and ankle-length dresses cover up the scars and bruises. But for only so long. Eventually what’s hidden is revealed. It won’t happen again victims are told. Until it does.
For Nadia Valle, a 31-year-old domestic violence victim, it happened again. And again.
“People would be like, ‘you’re a therapist and you are in a domestic violence relationship?’” Valle says. “And I would say, ‘yes, but you know what? I am human.’”
In 1999, Valle was handed two difficult obstacles to overcome in her life. One was, of course, leaving behind that abusive relationship. The second was tackling breast cancer. She took those obstacles as learning lessons and now she uses the experiences to relate to her clients.
Now 48-years-old, Valle is the founder of Wings For Women, a nonprofit organization focused on improving the lives of women and their children by providing assistance in locating housing, jobs and food.
Wings helps women, Valle says, who are just dollars above the poverty line, because many of them don’t have access to government programs for the deeply impoverished.
Since 2011, the organization has helped 286 women find jobs and housing, provided 918 children with clothing and school supplies and has used about 10,900 pounds of food through a weekly delivered bag service. They have spent $22,500 paying their clients’ rent, $9,100 on
utilities and $2,500 on car repairs, according to Valle.
The costs of all the services provided to the clients are covered through outside donations, grants from community partner sponsors and fundraisers such as a gala and golf tournament held annually.
Currently, Wings resides in a single-story, caramel colored house in the Eastland neighborhood near Swan Road. Large solar panels are bolted to the roof and a cement-brick fence encases the yard. No sign identifies the house as the Wings For Women center.
Two volunteers play backgammon on a white foldable table outside the center as two men construct a computer lab for clients to study for their GED diploma or to look for jobs.
“Nadia is someone who gives and doesn’t look for what’s going to come back,” says Anna Acedo, a Wings volunteer. “She is pure goodness.”
All of Wings’ volunteers are women. Also, Valle asks that every Wings client pay her back by volunteering in return.
“Nadia is aware of hardship,” says Christina Landgraf, a Tucson native and Wings volunteer. “She gives these women the encouragement they need to live.”
Landgraf first met Valle in 2015 at a Wings fundraiser. Landgraf says she watched her instill hope and inspiration in women.
“I’ve seen children say, ‘I wanna be a Nadia when I grow up,’” Landgraf says.
Valle, a Tucson native, credits her parents and grandparents for her philanthropic heart. They would buy clothes, shoes and toys to take to
Photo by Baraha Elkhalil
Nadia Valle stands in front of a hand painted mural of a tree inside the Wings For Women Center. Valle’s foundation helps women in Southern Arizona.
Mexico. “I remember going back with my grandfather to Mexico to give these clothes out,” Valle says.
As a child, she thought kids only appreciated what’s new, so it was shocking for her to see kids get excited over old, used clothing and toys.
Like her family, she grew up believing that people need to help others when they are able. She stayed on the path of giving by studying human services at the University of Phoenix after graduating from Salpointe Catholic High School in 1983.
She has since worked as a therapist, a social worker, a case manager and a behavioral health technician.
In 2010, while working at University Physician Hospital, she read about Susan Burton, a CNN Heroes nominee. Burton had committed to helping women out of prison get back on their feet with her organization, A New Way of Life Reentry Project.
“Susan gave me inspiration,” Valle says. So she wrote an email to Burton saying, “I wish I had the strength and courage to do what you are doing for women in the Tucson community.” They met and Burton, who has since become a close friend, assured her that she had both the strength and courage.
called Wings For Hope.
Wings For Women was created in 2011. Valle worked from her car and traveled to her clients. She would bring them hygiene products, food, clothes and diapers. It was not until 2014 that the organization purchased the house as a base.
Valle still remembers her first client in 2011. She received a phone call: “I’m only calling you because my mom gave me your number,” Michelle Zazueta said to Valle. “I know you are not going to help me, so give me your spiel and lets get this over with.”
Zazueta had just gotten out of the hospital after attempting suicide. She asked Valle what made her agency different.
“I was totally taken back,” Valle said, “Well if you give me a chance I can probably help you.”
“ Nadia is more than an angel. She is my world.”
-Michelle Zazueta
Originally Valle felt overwhelmed by her lack of money, and she thought she didn’t know enough people in Tucson. But within six months she had a working committee for a non-profit organization she
By the following Monday, Valle had contacted a realtor and found Zazueta an apartment, furniture and food. Zazueta still lives there today.
Zazueta says Valle is more than an angel. She is her world.
Valle hopes for more volunteers so the center can be open full-time and assist more women like Zazueta. She also would like to expand Wings to smaller Southern Arizona cities.
“I go to bed every night thinking if I help one person today that is a huge step toward making a change in our community,” Valle says. “I can’t save them all but one person going to bed warm with a full stomach for me is like helping many.”
Photo by Baraha Elkhalil
The Wings for Women center has recently gone through renovations adding a computer station for clients.
Grandparents Face Challenges as they Become Main Caregivers for Grandchildren
By Adriana Espinosa
Andrea Zukowsky, 65, was ready to enjoy life as a retiree with her husband and travel the world. Then everything changed.
Her husband unexpectedly died of a heart attack in 2014. The same year the Department of Child Protective Services called Zukowsky to tell her that she was expected to become the main caregiver for her three grandchildren.
Her grandsons, 11, 8 and 4-years-old had been sexually, physically and emotionally abused by their father while they were living in Zukowsky’s home.
“I knew something was going on, but I could never prove it,” she said.
The day she was able to finally prove it,
the children were taken from their parents, Zukowsky’s daughter and son in-law. The children were left to join Arizona’s “complicated” foster care system or become a kinship family with Zukowsky as the main caregiver.
This is the reality many families in Arizona face. Four percent or approximately 67,000 children in Arizona are being raised under kinship care by a grandparent or another relative, according to Michelle Crow, the Southern Arizona director at the Children’s Action Alliance.
Kinship family care is proven to be better than putting the children into the foster care system, according to Melissa Barnett, associate professor at the John and Doris Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences. Barnett said, in most cases, the child already has an established relationship with their
grandparents and the grandparents already have experience from raising their own children.
“To the extent that you can not disrupt a child’s life the general best practice is to look for the closest relative and someone the child already has an existing relationship with,” Crow said. “You want to try and get the least amount of change and disruption to keep the child as stable as possible.”
Often, families and children have experienced some kind of trauma that has led to the parent leaving the child to be cared for by someone else, Barnett said.
These types of traumas may be physical or sexual abuse to the child, substance abuse by the parents, incarceration, severe illness of the parent, or a situation where the parent is deployed or needs to be living in a different
Photos by Adriana Espinosa
Grandmother, Laura Jasso (middle), helps her twin granddaughters, Eliana Jasso (right), Elysia Jasso (left), with their homework after school.
area for their job, Barnett said.
When grandparents are left with the responsibility of their grandchild they often experience what Barnett described as an “off-time life event,” similar to what Zukowsky experienced.
“At first I thought, I’m the only person in the world who has to do this.” Zukowsky said “Why is it that there is such a need for me to take care of them? Why is it that their parents haven’t grown up?”
It may be difficult for grandparents to adjust to the responsibility of caring for their grandchildren, Barnett said.
“They may be at a stage in their life where they’re not planning on taking care of someone else. They may be retired or on a fixed income, and they also may then be in a different position than their peers, who are in a different life stage where they’re not raising children anymore,” Barnett said. “That can be an isolating challenge for some grandparents.”
Suddenly caring for their grandchildren could be a financial burden. Many grandparents are retired and living on a fixed income, Barnett said. In some cases, becoming the main caregiver doesn’t necessarily mean they become the legal caregiver. Without being the legal caregiver, the grandparents may not be eligible for the financial aid that a foster parent would receive.
Laura Jasso, founding member of the Grandparents Ambassadors Association and sole caregiver of her granddaughters both 13, formally adopted the girls in order to receive an adoption subsidy to help her financially care for them.
Zukowsky’s grandchildren were left so traumatized she had to renovate her entire home. The memories of the abuse haunted the children and left them unable to sleep in their bedrooms where most of the physical and sexual abuse occurred.
“I had to replace all the furniture including their bedrooms, repaint all the rooms, do the flooring. It cost me about $50,000,” Zukowsky said. “They refused to stay in the room. They were scared and they had nightmares.”
Zukowsky had a gate installed around her
home, purchased an in-home security system and got a guard dog in order to make her grandchildren feel safe.
Caring for children at a mature point in their lives can take a toll on the grandparents, said Barnett.
Their psychological and physical well-being can be at risk by taking a responsibility the grandparents did not expect, Barnett said. They may worry about their physical ability to keep up with their grandchildren, especially if the children are younger.
Jasso struggled with mental problems and said the need for resources for grandchildren of kinship families is just as great as the need for resources for grandparents of kinship families.
“I was getting ready to retire and I had plans but when they moved into my home everything changed,” Jasso said. “I lost friends because they just didn’t understand what I was going through. They were at different points in their lives.”
Because children who are being raised by their grandparents have faced a traumatic life experience, they require more care and support than other children. This is another obstacle the grandparents have to face, Barnett said.
As a result of the trauma, Zukowsky’s three grandchildren developed post-traumatic stress disorder and the two youngest were severely underdeveloped, she said.
The 8-year-old grandchild had to attend speech and occupational therapy several times a month, and had not developed the motor skills that a child of his age should have.
Zukowsky was left responsible for not only their normal daily care, but also assisting them in their delayed development and addressing their PTSD.
As for her own well-being, Zukowsky faced depression as a result of the constant toll that caring for her grandchildren took on her.
“I was scared, I didn’t know how I was going to deal with everything that was going on,” Zukowsky said. “I thought, ‘I’m not supposed to be raising these kids.’ My husband and I had plans to travel the world.”
Jasso’s granddaughters struggle to accept the fact that their mother, who suffers from mental illness, will never be a stable parent in their lives.
“It has cost them because she’s so inconsistent in seeing them and it hurts them.” Jasso said. “They always have that dream of going back to their mom but it’ll never happen.”
Helped by recovery coaches and therapists, the girls are making progress and trying to live a normal life with their grandmother.
“I think that’s what all grandparents want.” Jasso said. “To make life as normal as possible and that they’re able to give their kids some quality of life so that when they grow up they’re able to give back to society instead of take away.”
KARE Family Care Center
The KARE Family Care Center in Tucson specializes in connecting kinship families with resources available in the community.
Melissa Leyva, kinship navigator at the KARE, said the center provides information, referral and support to kinship caregivers.
The center tailors to families’ specific needs – whether it is requesting assistance on navigating the child welfare system or emotional support, Leyva said.
The center holds monthly support groups in English and Spanish for families to learn how to access resources such as food stamps, cash assistance and community services.
Kinship families are given their own case manager who trains them on what to expect in different situations, for example, how to deal with Child Protection Services.
For more information, call KARE at 520-323-4476.
Arizona Grandparent Ambassadors
The Arizona Grandparent Ambassadors are an advocacy group that started with a few local grandparents in 2010 and has expanded throughout the state.
Now present in three regions in Arizona, the group advocates for any type of kinship family who is taking care of children who are not born to them, said Laura Jasso, a founding member of the group.
Each region tackles their own issues, she said, but they are currently working on getting more support from the legislature to recognize kinship families and provide more assistance to them.
“We are trying to work with the legislature because they are taking so much away from us, resource wise,” Jasso said.
The ambassadors also lobby the Arizona state egislature to provide additional resources.
MORE ONLINE
Para leer este articulo en español visite la página de Arizona Sonora News Service.
Many grandparents face the challenge of raising their grandchildren. The Jasso family is one local example.
Meet the Hammerheads: Tucson’s Celtic Throwers
Story
and
Photos by Ashley McGowan
“Keep your eyes up! Hammer up!” yells South Tucson City Councilman Ildefonso “Poncho” Green, moments before he swings a 22-pound hammer over his head in circles around his body to fling it far off into the field. The hammer strikes the ground with a forceful thud and Poncho’s teammate rushes over to examine the fresh divot.
Every weekend Poncho and about ten other Tucsonans give up their lazy Sundays to wake up early, and practice throwing heavy pieces of equipment as far and high as possible.
All while wearing kilts.
They practice the archaic sport of “heavy athletics.” They are the Tucson Celtic Hammerheads.
The Hammerheads welcome men, women and children of all backgrounds to discover the thrill of ancient Scottish Highland Game competitions like the hammer throw, caber toss, weight throw, weight over the bar and sheaf toss. All the activities require competitors to heave weighted objects through the air. In one, the weight over bar, a smooth heavy weight just barely misses the throwers’ heads after clearing a high bar.
Claire Morrison, a five-year Hammerhead member, remembers her first practice with a laugh. “I didn’t consider myself very strong,” Claire says. Originally she showed up with her husband Jim just to observe the group fling their lead-filled gear, or so she thought.
“But the hammer looked interesting to me,” Clair recalls. She wanted to throw it.
“She had this huge grin on her face, and I knew she was hooked,” Jim Morrison says. He had already donned the occasional kilt and came to the Hammerheads looking for a connection to his heritage. He was told, “you can’t show up to practice in a kilt and not throw.”
Now the couple have both competed in Highland Games in the United States and Scotland and are certified judges for the Scottish American Athletic Association. Also, the Morrison’s two daughters Alexandra, 10, and Georgia, 12, are now avid Hammerheads.
“It started with three weights and two hammers,” says Dale Pederson, a founding member.
In 2006 Doug Mostyn, a director and embalmer at Abbey Funeral Chapel, needed a hobby and friends. With sincere interest but little knowledge about Scottish heavy athletics, Doug teamed up with Dale to buy a few pieces of equipment and started recruiting a practice squad.
Before creating the team’s Facebook page, Dale and Doug hunted for potential teammates in local restaurants. “If we thought they looked like throwers we went up to them,” Doug says.
The Hammerhead team is now up to 27 members strong depending
on the competition.
The events at Highland Games, like the Tucson Celtic Festival, are individual competitions. The Hammerheads choose to practice together as a team.
“This is the only sport I play where your competitors are your best friends,” Dale says laughing, “and they try to kill you with a hammer.”
Dave DesRosier competed as an Olympic powerlifter until injuring his neck. He now competes with the Hammerheads and relishes in the competitive difference.
“Professional lifters all mess with each others’ heads, it’s horrible!” Dave says. “Never before have I had the guy I’m going up against giving me advice to help me do better.”
At competitions where participants have to enter all nine events, including throwing hammers, weights, telephone poles and bags full of twine, team support is important.
“At the end of the day it’s exhausting, but it’s also exhilarating because you finished! You got it. You did it!” Claire says. “I tell myself that at the end of every game, ‘I did it.”’
For games that predate human record, the addition of women on the playing field is relatively new. Novice Hammerhead, Heather Potter grew up in a traditional Celtic community in New Jersey where women could become step dancers or join the band, but were not allowed to compete in the athletics with men.
When Heather found the Hammerheads she called her brother to tell
Left, Heather Potter participates in the weight-over-bar throw, lifting up the weight and throwing it as high above her head as she can. Below, new members of the Hammerheads look on as member Doug Mostyn demonstrates throwing the hammer.
him “I saw women throwing stuff, and it was pretty amazing.”
Heather, in a borrowed blue and green kilt, says her first Highland Games, “felt like I was just exhaling for the first time since I moved to Tucson.”
Despite its ancient roots, heavy athletics is still a growing and developing sport. Last year was the first year that children competed at the Tucson Celtic Festival. Georgia Morrison tied for first place in her age group in the caber toss, where she carried and flipped over a nine-foot wooden pole.
In addition to the games and practice, the group tries to host events together, Doug says.
To enhance the family atmosphere on the team, members as old as 71 and as young as 10 often have breakfast together, host parties and even indulge in haggis tacos.
“People from all walks of life end up here,” Doug says. “We have fire department members, lawyers, policemen, councilmen and morticians.”
At practice the kids chase bugs around the field while those over 60 joke about how many different wraps and bands they have to wear around their joints while throwing the various hammers, poles and bags.
“At the end of the day everyone reaches for the same thing,” Dale says. “The Bengay.”
“And a 12-year-old scotch,” Poncho adds.
SUMMER Summer Fun for Kids
By Daniel Burkart, Sara Cline, and Alexis Wright
Yoga for All Body Types
What: The beginner’s yoga program encourages all body types to live well, be healthy and learn the benefits of yoga in everyday life.
When: July 14, July 21, July 28, 12:15 to 1 p.m.
Cost: Free
Location: Santa Rosa Library, 1075 S. 10th Ave. (520) 594-5260
Children’s Museum Tucson:
STEAM Sundays
What: Science, technology, engineering, art and math come alive with special guests and topics to peak children’s interest in the sciences and have fun at the same time.
When: May 25 to September 5
Cost: $3 per person
Location: 200 S. Sixth Ave.
For More Info: (520) 792-9985
Flandrau Science Center
What: Come by after dark and witness the great unknown through a 16-inch telescope. Answer all your young-ones’ questions via the expert telescope operator that is always nearby. For those willing to pay a little extra, Flandrau offers science exhibits and regular laser light shows.
When: Open 7 days a week, check hours online
Cost: $14 adults, $10 children 4 to 17, free for children 3 and under.
Location: 1601 E. University Blvd.
For More Info: (520) 621-4515
Laser Light and Rocket Demo
What: Mad Science presents fun activities to get and keep kids interested in the way the world works from lights and colors to rockets. When: June 29, 1 to 2 p.m. and July 18, 1 to 2 p.m.
Cost: Free
Location: Santa Rosa Library, 1075 S. 10th Ave.
For More Info: (520) 594-5260
Jump Start
What: Incoming kindergarteners get pre-K exposure and preparation for school. When: Two-week course beginning in June.
Cost: Free
Location: Ocotillo Learning Center, 5702 S. Campbell Ave.
For More Info: (520) 545-3670
Explore Your Passion
What: Children explore their interests and passions with volunteers from the local area through fun games and activities. Priority is given to children who attend school in South Tucson.
When: June 6 to July 20, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Cost: Free
Location: YWCA’s House of Neighborly Service, 243 W. 33rd St.
For More Info: Email Kate Meyer at: Kmeyer@ywcatucson.org, or call (520) 8847810
Mad Science, Science Spectacular: Fire and Ice and Up, Up, and Away
What: Mad Science uses fun activities to get kids interested in the ways of science and the world. When: June 13, 1 to 2 p.m. and June 20, 1 to 2 p.m.
Cost: Free
Location: Santa Rosa Library, 1075 S. 10th Ave. For More Info: (520) 594-5260
Portable Planetarium, Video Game Astronomy
What: Using pop culture, participants learn about the connections to the stars and constellations and even crawl inside an inflatable planetarium.
When: June 23, 1 to 2 p.m. and July 22, 1 to 2 p.m.
Cost: Free
Location: Santa Rosa Library, 1075 S. 10th Ave.
For More Info: (520) 594-5260
Summer Safari Friday Nights
What: The Reid Park Zoo opens their doors late to help attendees escape the blazing sun and invite them to bring a blanket, relax, enjoy a picnic concert and see some animals, presented by the Tucson Medical Center.
When: Every Friday from May 20 to July 8, 6 to 8 p.m.
Cost: $9 for adults, $7 for seniors, $5 for kids ages 2 to 14.
Location: Reid Park Zoo, 3400 Zoo Court For More Info: (520) 881-4753
Vacation Bible School
What: A day camp for children to study the bible with fun activities.
Photograph by Julianne Stanford
A child plays with a volunteer on the playground outside of the Tucson Children’s Museum.
When: June 27 through July 1, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
EVENTS
Cost: Registration Cost, call for details.
Location: Southside Presbyterian Church, 317 W. 23rd St.
For More Info: (520) 623-6857
Musical Magic for Kids
What: Interactive performances for kids that promote arts and education. The concerts are different each month and feature the talents of orchestras, storytellers, and dancers.
When: First Saturday of each month beginning at 10 a.m.
Cost: Free
Location: Oro Valley Council Chambers, 11000 N. La Cañada
For More Info: Visit saaca.org/Musical_ Magic_for_Kids.html
Summer Arts Program 2016
What: Children, ages 5 to 13, can use the Tucson Museum of Art as inspiration for creating original works of art with examples from the museum’s permanent collection and special exhibitions.
When: New weekly sessions through the summer: June 10 to August 5, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Cost: $110 members half-day per weekly session/ $165 non-members half-day per weekly session/ $220 members full-day per weekly session/ $330 full-day non-members per weekly session
Location: Tucson Museum of Art, 140 N. Main Ave.
For More Info: (520) 624-2333
Día de San Juan Fiesta
What: Celebrate the impending monsoon season and honor the patron saint of water, St. John the Baptist. Participate in the ceremonial procession, attend a charreada, listen to mariachi bands, partake in kid-friendly activities or chow down on food.
When: June 24, 5 to 10 p.m.
Cost: Free
Location: Mercado San Agustin, 100 S. Avenida Del Convento.
For More Info: Visit El Dia de San Juan Fiesta- Tucson, AZ on Facebook
El Presidio Park & Museum
What: It’s free to get out in the fresh air and walk around a park, it just so happens this particular park has some historical significance for the city of Tucson. Check out the museum and get a feel for what Tucson is all about.
When: Thursday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cost: General Public - $3, Children under 14 - free
Location: 196 N. Court Ave.
For More Info: (520) 837-8119
Jazz Concert Series
What: Listen to live jazz as the sun sets in the heart of Main Gate Square. Different performances include Railbirds, Joe Bourne and Haboob.
When: Friday nights at 7 p.m. beginning June 3 and 17, July 1, 15 and 29 and August 12 and 26
Cost: Free
Location: University of Arizona Main Gate Square, 814 E. University Blvd.
For More Info: Visit MainGateSquare.com
Locomotive Saturdays
What: Explore regional history and learn about the history of the locomotive’s impact on Tucson. Bring family and friends to watch trains pass by, ring the bell like a conductor and even take photos with “Doc” Holiday and Wyatt Earp.
Where: Southern Arizona Transportation Museum, 414 N. Toole Ave.
When: Every Saturday, year round from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Cost: Free
For More Info: (520) 623-2223
Loft Kids Film Fest
What: The Loft Cinema hosts its 10th annual Kids Fest. A nine-day event where kids get to enjoy their own film festival filled with familyfriendly movies, lots of buttery popcorn and activities. The night begins with entertainment, food, activities and the feature film Nightmare Before Christmas - the theme being Halloween in July.
When: The Kickoff is at the Trail Dust Town, July 22, at 5:30 p.m. The rest of the festival runs from Saturday July 23 to Sunday July 31. Each morning doors open at 9:15 a.m. for activities and the movie begins at 10 a.m.
Cost: Free
Location: The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd.
For More Info: Visit loftcinema.com
Movies in the Park
What: Sit back in your lawn chair, grab a handful of popcorn and watch a movie on the outdoor screen. Cox Communications hosts Movies in the Park with family-friendly movies, games, music, food and activities. When: Activities begin 5:30 p.m. and the movie starts around 7 p.m. with movies running from June to August.
Cost: Free
Location: Reid Park Demeester Outdoor Performance Center, 900 S. Randolph Way
For More Info: Visit saaca.org/Cox_Movies_ in_the_Park.html
Night Wings
What: Engage in aviation activities, grab a bite and explore the Pima Air & Space Museum during the evening. In the past activities have included paper airplane making, space food sampling, seltzer rocket launches and more. When: The fourth Saturday of June, July and August from 5 to 9 p.m.
Cost: Kids 12 and under are free, adults are $10
Location: 6000 E. Valencia Rd.
For More Info: Visit PimaAir.org
E N E SPA ño L
Bilingual Story Time
What: Story time with the little one has short stories and fun activities to get them interested in books and learning.
When: Depends on the individual library schedule
Cost: Free
Location: Columbus Library, El Rio Library, Flowing Wells Library, Southwest Library, Valencia Library and Wilmot Library
More Info: Visit http://www.library.pima.gov
Citizenship Classes in Spanish
What: Taught in Spanish, classes offer the chance to learn about the U.S. history and government, while preparing for the Citizenship Exam, presented by the Pima Community College Adult Education.
When: Every Thursday, starting the beginning of June, 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Cost: Free
Location: Sam Lena-South Library, 1607 S. Sixth Ave.
For More Info: (520) 594-5265
MORE SAVINGS
For further savings grab a Tucson Attractions Savings Passport. $20 book has potential to save $400 through deals, coupons and special offers. Includes attractions at Kitt Peak, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson Museum of Art and more.
Availanble at the Tucson Visitor Center, purchased online at VisitTucson.org or the app “Book of Fun” for smartphones.
Valid until September 15, 2016.
