Supervised Field Study

Participants in the Border Studies Program have the opportunity to work at a number of different organizations in Tucson, including but not limited to:

La Coalicion De Derechos Humanos

Derechos Humanos is a grassroots organization which promotes respect for human/civil rights and fights the militarization of the Southern Border region, discrimination, and human rights abuses by federal, state, and local law enforcement officials affecting U.S. and non-U.S. citizens alike. Read more at: http://www.derechoshumanosaz.net

Border Action Network

Border Action Network works with immigrant and border communities in southern Arizona to ensure that rights are respected, human dignity upheld and that communities are healthy places to live. Read more at: http://www.borderaction.org/web/index.php

Samaritans

Samaritans is a volunteer organization that does day-long patrols in the desert throughout the year. Samaritans main focus is on medical care for migrants, and they actively seek out migrants who need medical attention. Recently, Samaritans have headed up a project in coordination with Federal Public Defenders in Tucson to attempt to return migrants' belongings back to them after incarceration and deportation to Nogales, Sonora. Read more at: http://www.samaritanpatrol.org/

Southside Day Laborer's Center

Southside Church, under the leadership of Rev. John Fife, was one of the fundamental institutions in the Tucson area during the Sanctuary movement. Southside Church, which is rooted in social activism, offers a shower/food program and provides space for a Day Laborer Center to the local community. Workers run the day laborer pick up center out of the Southside parking lot. It is the only day-laborer center in Tucson that does not require that workers provide citizenship papers. Southside is currently working on developing an English Language Program for the workers, and students at this site will be encouraged to develop this component further. Read more at: http://southsidepresbyterian.org/Day_Labor_Progam.html

Social Justice Education Project (Sjep)

SJEP began as an effort to better engage Latino youth in the educational process through student-led action research projects that would allow the students to address issues that affected their communities and schools. The program has since developed into a two-year student-led social research program involving over 125 students who, according to the SJEP blog, hope to “identify, explore, and research social outlets such as environment, media, class, education and our experiences as youth of color. Read more at: http://www.socialjusticeproject.org/SJEP/ABOUT_SJEP.html

No More Deaths

No More Deaths is an organization whose mission is to end death and suffering on the U.S./Mexico border through civil initiative: the conviction that people of conscience must work openly and in community to uphold fundamental human rights. No More Deaths works on three fronts: by providing humanitarian aid they hope to end suffering and death for migrants crossing the desert; they work with groups in Nogales, Mexico to provide medical care to deported migrants and interview them in order to document abuses by Border Patrol; NMD also works hard to promote humane immigration and border policies. Read more at: http://nomoredeaths.org/

Tierra y Libertad (TYLO)

TYLO is a grassroots organization that promotes the ideals of equality, justice, and self-determination. Members, supporters, and allies of the organization work to build power collectively within the community for the defense of land, people, and culture. TYLO focuses on building multiple examples of positive social change and resistance in the barrios where we live. Work of the organization is carried out through a multi-tier model of grassroots organizing and popular education that consists of four key programs: Barrio Sustainability Project, Freedom Summer, MAIZ, and the Migrant Rights Organizing Campaign. Read more at: http://www.facebook.com/#!/TierraYLibertadOrganization

Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project

The Florence Project is a nonprofit legal service organization providing free legal services to men, women, and unaccompanied children detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Arizona. Although the government assists indigent criminal defendants and civil litigants through public defenders and legal aid attorneys, it does not provide attorneys for people in immigration removal proceedings. As a result, an estimated 90 percent of the detained people go unrepresented due to poverty. The Florence Project strives to address this inequity both locally and nationally through direct service, partnerships with the community, and advocacy and outreach efforts. Students at this site would likely assist in preparing and delivering “know-your-rights” presentations at the Florence detention facility, consulting and preparing cases with individuals who are in detention, and conduct research in preparation for asylum and general court hearings. Read more at: www.firrp.org

Ochoa Elementary School

Ochoa Elementary is located in south Tucson in a predominantly working-class, Latin@ neighborhood that serves students in grades pre-K through five. The school implements a Regio-inspired model for their education that emphasizes art, parental involvement, and student driven objectives. Past students have worked in the “Hopes and Dreams” classroom which emphasizes migration related issues, helps organize families against anti-immigrant legislation, and also grows food in their community garden for student’s families. Read more at: http://www.uanews.org/node/38648

Scholarships A-Z

ScholarshipsA-Z is a grassroots organization which started June 2009 in Tucson in order to provide access to resources and college scholarships for students regardless of immigration status. Through its website, in-person advising, and presentations with students, families and educators, ScholarshipsA-Z aims to make higher education accessible for all, a vision similar to that of the nationally proposed DREAM Act. Students placed at this site would assist with various projects including community outreach, event planning, high-school presentations, research, and website maintenance. Read more at: http://www.scholarshipsaz.org

Congressman Raul Grijalva’s Office

Located at the District Office in Tucson. Internships with Congressman Grijalva provide a tremendous opportunity to learn about the legislative process and to become more familiar with how our government operates. Interns in my office will work closely with our legislative and press staff on a variety of issues. In addition to their work with the staff, interns will be asked to perform various administrative tasks that generally include answering the office phones, opening and distributing mail, and responding to constituent correspondence. Every part of the internship is crucial to the day-to-day functioning of the office. Read more at: http://grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=24&sectiontree=6,24

Asylum Program of Arizona

The Asylum Program of Southern Arizona (APSA) is a nonprofit, legal aid organization founded in 1999 by former refugees, human rights advocates, attorneys and religious workers. Our primary purpose is to provide legal assistance for immigrants fleeing persecution who seek political asylum but are unable to hire attorneys to represent them before the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the Immigration Court.

Fortin de las Flores

Fortin de las Flores is a grassroots membership based organization dedicated to promoting civil, economic and human rights of women throughout Southern Arizona. As an action center we work to create alternatives to confront the poverty and violence that plagues our families as well as maintaining a commitment to celebrating the positive and healthy accomplishments found within our community. Fortin de las Flores is built upon an understanding that through empowerment, education and organizing women are a powerful force for social justice change. Using a model based upon self-sufficiency and activism we change our lives and create strong and dynamic leaders. Community partners are a vital part of our collective success. Read more at: http://fortindelasflores.org/home

Corazon de Tucson Childcare Collective

The Tucson Childcare Collective seeks to work with base communities to provide childcare to grassroots and migrant-rights movements in Tucson. Childcare is provided by movement allies while the children's parents attend organizing meetings with the Corazon de Tucson and Yo Soy Testigo throughout the week. Training and workshops on child development are provided on a regular basis. The Tucson Childcare Collective is organized non-hierarchically, with input from children's parents, educators, and local activists, and continually meet to educate themselves about working with, and learning from, the youth and their community. Finally, interns may assist in researching games and political education activities to incorporate into childcare sessions.

The Owl and Panther Project

The Owl and Panther Project seeks to help youth affected by trauma, especially when associated with torture, dislocation, or refugee status, through creative writing and expression and counseling. In 1995, refugee parents asked the organization to provide special support for their children. At first, activities focused on tutoring and summer school. Participants also met to celebrate different cultures and to learn skills to ease their transition into life in the United States. In 1999, Owl and Panther became a creative writing group as well. Children, young adults and parents from Central America were those first served. Today, many of families involved come from Iraq, Nepal, Somalia and Chad, and they are encouraged to express their feelings through poetry, art, drama and music. The group also develops leadership skills as participants engage in service projects, such as creating art to soothe others and raising money for earthquake victims and other populations affected by war and trauma.

Sierra Club

The Arizona Chapter of the Sierra Club spearheaded a campaign to fight border wall construction after the Department of Homeland Security began constructing hundreds of more miles over the past few years. These walls split ecosystems, disrupt natural wildlife migration, and alter natural water flows. The construction of border walls is in direct conflict with environmental laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the Clean Water Act, among others, due to Section 102 of the REAL ID Act. Read more at: http://www.arizona.sierraclub.org/border/

Wingspan

Wingspan is Southern Arizona’s largest LGBT support and community center whose overarching mission is to promote the freedom, equality, safety, and well-being of LGBT people. To that end, Wingspan hosts a number of programs for members of the broader community, including an anti-violence program and hotline; a youth program for LGBT and allied folks ages 13-23; information and referrals; a seniors program from LGBT elders; a transgender support and advocacy group; a health and wellness program; public policy; and “Puertas Abiertas,” the Latin@ support group. Read more at: http://www.wingspan.org/

Pan Left Productions

For 16 years, Pan Left Productions has provided media resources that educate and agitate to bring about radical social change. We put the tools of media production into the hands of progressive activists and artists, provide education on those tools and help people get their messages out to community gatherings, theaters, televisions and the web. Pan Left manages to keep cutting edge equipment in the hands of those who need it most but have it least. We have produced over 60 works that have shown all over the world, including productions dealing with environmental degradation, water issues, workers rights, transgender identity, and immigration/border issues. For example, we just recently mentored immigrant women to tell their stories of survival of domestic abuse. But we are more than just equipment and finished videos. We are a vital part of Arizona’s activist and artistic communities—we are the only group providing media support and education to activists in Arizona and the only progressive media collective in the border region. Recently we have been increasingly called upon to support activist organizations and document events. Whether for newscasts or video activism, we provide free footage to show what is really happening in the streets. Last spring we were invited to be on a panel on immigration and the media at the U.S. Social Forum, where we shared the stage with Democracy Now! and Deep Dish T.V. Read more at: http://www.panleft.net/

Bicas

Located in the heart of downtown Tucson, BICAS (Bicycle Inter-Community Action & Salvage) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit collectively-run community education and recycling center for bicycles that welcomes people of all ages and walks of life. Through advocacy and recycling of the bicycle, the BICAS mission is to promote education, art, and a healthy environment while providing service and opportunity for those in need. We're an education center, not a traditional bike shop. Read more at: http://bicas.org/

Alliance for Global Justice

It is the mission of the Alliance for Global Justice to achieve social change and economic justice by helping to build a stronger more unified grassroots movement. We recognize that the concentration of wealth and power is the root cause of oppression requiring us to work together across ideologies, issues and communities. The Alliance nurtures organizations seeking fundamental change in international and national conditions that disempower people, create disparities in access to wealth and power, poison the earth, and plunder its resources. We support locally-based grassroots organizing by sharing political analysis, mobilizing for direct action, monitoring the centers of corporate and government power, expanding channels of communication, and sharing skills and infrastructure. Our commitment to solidarity and to non-hierarchical democratic process enables us to respectfully listen and respond to each other within the movement. In Tucson the Alliance organizes around anti-militarization and the respecting democracy campaign. Read more at: http://afgj.org/