Arizona Humanities Council Grant to Aid Low-Income Youth in Tucson

The Arizona Humanities Council awarded a $3,000 grant to six faculty members from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Arizona. The grant is for faculty to work as mentors to the community-based organization Voices, Inc. Voices publishes the magazine "110 Degrees," which publishes stories from Tucson's youth telling Tucson's stories.

The faculty members include Ana Ortiz, assistant professor of anthropology; Sarah Deutsch, professor of history; Gregory Rodriguez, assistant professor in the Mexican American Studies and Research Center; and assistant professors Laura Briggs and Sandra Soto, and Professor Elizabeth Kennedy from women's studies.

They and local youngsters will collaborate to produce "110 Degrees," which is about Tucson's history and the lives of contemporary youth. The magazine is produced by low-income adolescents as part of an after-school project run by Voices, a four-year-old not-for-profit organization. Voices is committed to fostering a love of writing in Tucson youths whom others call "at risk."

The professors will teach perspectives from their fields on oral history, race, gender and communities. They also will help students research, write, edit and refine their stories, and talk to them about their lives and educational plans.

The project will be completed in May 2003. For more information about Voices, Inc., call 520-622-7458.