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WILI was invited by the Pima & Santa Cruz School to Work Partnership to join
forces with Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) and the Red Cross of Southern
Arizona to train students in First Aid and Infant and Child CPR. WILI gave
scholarships to 32 girls from low income families in the TUSD to allow them to
receive the training and qualify for further employment with the Red Cross.
Holly Lachowicz, Coordinator of this effort from the Pima & Santa Cruz School
to Work Partnership, wrote that WILI "was instrumental in the success of this
program.
The Red Cross charged half of the regular fee for the training but
this was still a financial burden on some of the students." According to Holly,
the training will help the girls "with employment in other organizations that
require this knowledge for employment, such as daycares and schools." Finally,
in acknowledging WILI's small role in this project's success, Holly wrote that
WILI's "generosity and ability to understand the value of this experience for
the high school students was greatly appreciated." WILI hopes that this project
was just the first of many with this cohort of girls seeking careers in the
early childhood professions.
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One request for support WILI received this year began: "I am a Junior at Sunnyside
High School, taking a class called Introduction to Health Care Careers with a
future goal of being a physician." The student requested tuition support to
attend the University of Arizona's (U of A) "Med-Start" program, designed to
"improve healthcare in rural and economically disadvantaged areas through the
recruitment and training of individuals from these regions." The program
coordinator, Andrew Huerta, wrote, "All Med-Start students are required to
live in the dorm. It's a part of the university, campus experience... it ends
up to be the best benefit of the program."
WILI hopes that by exposure to the
U of A as a junior in high school, that this young woman will ultimately achieve
her goal of becoming a physician. Her father told WILI president Catherine Marshall,
"I don't want my daughter cleaning toilets for a living like I do. I don't want her
dropping out of high school in the 10th grade like her sister did. She can achieve
more than that." WILI hopes to be able to continue to support this student in her
journey towards becoming a physician, and to continue to work with the program that
referred her to us, the Southern Arizona Border Health Careers Opportunity Program (SAB-HCOP).
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WILI is assisting poor women in the community of
Los Ranchitos near San Carlos, Sonora, México. The women of Los Ranchitos-community
leaders Virginia Moreno Salazar, Elizabeth Baca Baca, and Guadalupe Benavides-requested
assistance in building a community center as part of their community mission church.
WILI wants to support women in poverty such as Virginia, Elizabeth, and Guadalupe,
who are demonstrating informal leadership in their community. We anticipate that
the community center will also serve as a learning resource center for the community
women— a place where they can benefit from workshops to develop both their educational,
as well as their employment potential.
WILI vice-president Suzana Dávila is
coordinating the Los Ranchitos project. In addition to supervising the construction
of the community center/church complex, Suzana is bringing her talents in design to
assisting the women in landscaping the plaza surrounding the community center with
native shade-producing plants such as mesquite trees. Such an attractive, welcoming
plaza will provide the women with a comfortable place to sell their goods and encourage
tourists who generally stay in nearby San Carlos to visit Los Ranchitos and contribute
to the economy there. Long-term plans in Los Ranchitos call for supporting the women
in their development of a health clinic.
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The first (and on-going) project of WILI has been to support the economic development efforts of
indigenous women with disabilities in Oaxaca, Mexico. The women plan to develop a restaurant in
the city of Oaxaca that would employ women with disabilities in all areas of restaurant management,
include administrative activities, food preparation, food serving, and cleanup. The restaurant
is a project of an organization which exists in Oaxaca, The Association of Women with Disabilities
in Oaxaca (AMUDO).
WILI's planned support of the AMUDO restaurant includes funding to purchase
kitchen equipment, and the training of women with disabilities in restaurant management and
appropriate work habits. The training is to be provided through the Café Poca Cosa in Tucson.
Training will continue in Oaxaca on a periodic basis through capacity-building workshops
(group training) after the opening of the restaurant and during its first year of operation.
During the past year, we have struggled along with the women in Oaxaca for them to obtain
visas to visit the United States for their training (see attached commentary); however,
after the advocacy of columnist Ernesto Portillo, the support of Congressman Kolbe of
Tucson, and the determination of the women in Oaxaca to return to the U.S. Embassy in
Mexico City three times, permission was granted for two women to receive training in
Tucson during August and September. A formal evaluation of this training experience is posted below.
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"WILI is collaborating in a small way with the Escuela Primaria
"Vicente Guerrero" y la Telesecundaria (middle school) in San Francisco Yatee,
Villa Alta, Oaxaca. This year, WILI provided some instruments for the band with
the purpose of supporting the female component of the band. Traditionally,
only men played in the band. In Yatee, a girl and boy band is a new initiative.
However, this young band is on the move. Under the tireless direction of the band
director, Prof. Jesus Rey Zavala Perez, it has already won first place in a regional
competition of tele-secundarias."
—Carmen Garcia-Downing, July 2003.
Pictures by Alberto Garcia Fernandez
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Would you like to apply for support from WILI? Please take some time to fill out our questionnaire and someone will contact you.
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