December 2017

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Arizona Teacher of the Year Awards 2018

CONNECTING SOUTHERN ARIZONA

Happy Holidays from Border Eco

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United Way Kick-Off Recognitions

People that “echo”

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Power of One Conference 2017

Happy Holidays!

CONTENT

Border Eco Magazine Thank you! We are grateful for the continued support. We want to thank our customers and readers for their support. Our mission is to change public perception of our border town.

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Arizona Teacher of the Year Awards

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Meet & Greet Event

“It is never too late to bring in change, that you want to see in the community. Let this year be the forefront for introducing new ideas and new concepts to make our community a better and safer place for all of us.”-Border Eco Staff

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Lowe’s Home Improvement partners with Rebuilding Together Santa Cruz County

11 United Way Kick-Off Recognitions 12

People who “Echo”Yassar Canchola

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SEABHS

14 “Power of One” Conference 2017

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

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

Check www.bordereco.com for updates.

Border Eco Magazine now offers a variety of advertisement packages. Contact us for rates and channels to help promote your business in Santa Cruz County.

Our office is located on : 1071 N. Grand Ave. Ste. #122, Nogales, Arizona 85621 (520) 461-4880 Email: contact@bordereco.com

Border Eco, LLC © 2017 copyright all rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without the permission of Border Eco Magazine is prohibited. Any material produced is the property of Border Eco. Any material published is not necessarily the opinion of Border Eco and will not be held responsible.

Border Eco Magazine accepts material from advertisers, clients, readers and various sources which are not necessarily the opinion of Border Eco Magazine in print or on Border Eco websites and will not be held responsible.

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The Santa Cruz County School Superintendent's Office had the honor of accompanying our 2017 Santa Cruz County Teacher of the Year Mr. Jigar Mehta to the Arizona State Teacher of the Year Awards Luncheon. The event was held on November 07, 2017 at the Arizona Grand Resort in Phoenix, Arizona.

Mr. Mehta, a Math and MetroMatematicas teacher at Nogales High School, has a combined 13 years of teaching experience with a Bachelors Degree in Education and Math and a Master's Degree in Educational Leadership.

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Along with being a member of the International Baccalaureate team at NHS, Mr. Mehta is associated with the Vikram Sarabhai Institute and Educational Initiatives (Mind Spark) in India. He has been awarded certificates for outstanding professionalism for the CREO project in 2016/2017 and recognized for the valuable contributions at NUSD Tech Day 2014, 15, 16 and 17. Mr. Mehta was awarded first prize in a STEM competition in 2016 along with being named Teacher of the Year for Nogales High School in 2017. Honored along with Mr. Mehta, were 15 other teachers, each of them representing their county within the State of Arizona.

They were recognized for the honorable dedication that they have for the students within their communities, and the difference they make in these children's lives.

In attendance were over 500 guests from throughout the state. These guests served as representatives from government agencies and private sector organizations.

Accompanying Mr. Mehta was his wife, Jigna and the Santa Cruz County School Superintendent's Office representative Patricia Barraza-Preciado.

Masonic Model Student

Assistance Program

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Three agencies collaborated for the second time this year to host a Meet and Greet Event on November 1, 2017.

Adolescent Wellness Network, the Coordinated Community Response Team (CCRT) and the Santa Cruz County School Superintendent’s Office joined forces to plan the event.

Attendees included school staff and personnel from all districts in the county, along with twenty five community outreach agencies.

The event included an introduction and video sponsored by the CCRT’s co-chairman, Tom Mcalpin, outlining statistics and prevalence of domestic

Martin Felix, from Wellness Connections, was the guest speaker. He spoke to the group about his struggles with addiction, his recovery process, and his mission to now give back to our community. San Cayetano’s principal, Mrs. Mimi Renteria and her parent liaison, Roxanna Leyva, also addressed the group describing the support and help that they have been able to provide parents at their school using outside resources.

The latter portion of the event gave schools and agencies the opportunity to meet with each other and make those crucial connections that can benefit parents and students.

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Mr. Alfredo I. Velásquez closed up the meeting by thanking all of the participants for their dedication and service to the community.

The event was planned and sponsored by Mr. Tom Mcalpin, Mrs. Sonia Sánchez (CCRT co-chair), Mrs. Chris Bachelier (Adolescent Wellness Network), and Ms. Teresa Sprigg (Healthy Student Grant Coordinator). If you would like more information regarding this event, please contact Teresa Sprigg at (520) 375-7952 or via email: tsprigg@santacruzcountyaz. gov.

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Lowe’s Partners with Rebuilding Together Santa Cruz County Lowe's Home Improvement is partnering with Rebuilding Together Santa Cruz County to renovate the home of Carlos Parra, Jr. Volunteers will provide repairs to his home, focusing on health and safety improvements .

Rebuilding Together affiliates nationwide bring together thousands of community volunteers each year, to provide free home repairs and modifications to low-income Americans – older adults, persons with disabilities, military veterans and families in need.

Since 2007, Lowe's has contributed over $15 million to Rebuilding Together to revitalize communities throughout the country.

Over 3,300 Lowe’s Heroes employee volunteers have contributed nearly 31,000 volunteer hours to help nearly 15,000 people live in safer and healthier homes.Thanks to businesses, organizations, and foundations like Lowe’s Home Improvement, City of Nogales, Galen’s Towing Garcia Builders.

A special thank you to Nogales High Senior Marcia Senday for choosing Rebuilding Together*Santa Cruz County as her Senior Project, and for coordinating the project and recruiting her high school volunteers, and to The United Sates Border Patrol Explorers, The Nogales Suburban Fire District, that have donated their time, hard work, and dedication has set the foundation for us to continue.

It is through volunteers as these that we are able to fulfill our mission of partnering with the community to rehabilitate the houses of low-income homeowners, particularly the elderly and disabled, and young families in need, so that they may continue to live in warmth, safety, and independence.

Once again thank you for all your help. If you should have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at (520)761-3681 or (520)313-3681.

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United Way Kick-Off Recognitions United Way of Santa Cruz County hosted their Campaign Kick-off Recognition Breakfast on Wednesday, October 18, 2017 at the Quality Inn Americana Hotel with more than 100 people in attendance.

The recognition breakfast opened with a welcome and the introduction of board members by Jean Miller. It followed with the National Anthem by Ms. Cameron Jeong. The Rio Rico High School Jazz Band provided the entertainment. The event included a special guest speaker Dina Sanchez, Director of Support Services from Carondelet Holy Cross Hospital. The event was held to award checks to local partnering organizations.

Every year, United Way of Santa Cruz County holds an event organized by their board of directors and with local business leaders proceeds from the event are donated to the United Way of Santa Cruz County.

The United Way of Santa Cruz County is more than a group of diverse yet interrelated local organizations; it is a movement of people who share a vision for building a stronger healthier, more compassionate America community by community. Two ministries, a priest and a rabbi formed the first United Way because it provided a fundraising effort and performed community planning and coordination of functions.

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By 1917 almost twenty United Way organizations were in operation. Today well over 1,600 independent United Way’s work across the country to build stronger, healthier communities, and are run by local volunteers representing broad community interests.

The United Way symbol is internationally recognized as a universal message for giving to one’s community. It appears in a variety of settings where people are helping one another, and on all United Way posters and publications.

For more information please contact Marcela Chavez, Executive DirectorUnited Way of Santa Cruz County 855 W. Bell Road Suite 140 Nogales, AZ 85621 (520)761-1840 Office.

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People that "echo" Yassar Canchola His career in the field started with a four year “tour of duty” where he had an opportunity to work for at risk youth group home in San Diego, California. After gaining experience working with at risk youth, he later went to work for Job Corps as a resident advisor.

These experiences made it possible for him to become familiar with some of the struggles young people face.

This was a stepping stone for him into the field of behavioral health.In May of 1998, he landed a job as an adult case manager for SEABHS. He worked there for 12 years as a case manager, employment coordinator and a crisis evaluator. Later returning to work for SEABHS again in 2017. He has over 19 years of experience working in the field of behavioral health.

For our December issue our people that “echo” editorial chose Yassar Canchola as an individual who echoes in Santa Cruz County. Mr. Canchola is a Nogales native. Mr. Canchola is not new to the field of social work. He began his career in the field in 1994. He is currently a substance abuse counselor and site supervisor for South Eastern Arizona Behavioral Health Services (SEABHS) in Nogales. He has Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

“My parents inspired me to pay it forward. I’ve seen the compassion they have in wanting to make this community better. It has allowed me to strive to help those need. This inspired me to work in the field of social work,” said Yassar Canchola.

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“I would like to thank first and foremost my team.

They are the ones that work on the front line helping our members of the community,” said Canchola.

SEABHS team members are Jackie Serrano, Maria Rivas, Alfonso Rojo, Carmen Quintana, Maria Merino, Talina Pimienta, Alejandra Figueroa and Gina Fiscus our SEABHS Clinical Director in Nogales.

Yassar is married to Rosana mother of his three children Madison, Caleb and Joshua.

Their daughter Madison is currently attending San Diego State University pursuing a degree in physical therapy. Caleb graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in engineering currently employed at TEP. Their youngest son Joshua will soon be graduating high school.

SEABHS South Eastern Arizona Behavioral Health Services also known as SEABHS provides mental health and substance abuse services to Santa Cruz County. It is an organization that has been in Santa Cruz County for over 42 years. It recently reopened it doors again in Nogales in July of 2017.

SEABHS was originally founded in 1976 to serve as the administrative entity overseeing behavioral health services in GSA 3, consisting of Santa Cruz, Cochise, Graham and Greenlee counties. It was founded and originally headquartered in Santa Cruz County.

SEABHS developed a network of provider agencies across the four counties. The first agency to join was the Santa Cruz Family Guidance Center in Nogales.

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It serves members of the community ages birth to five, children 6-17 and adults 18 and older. SEABHS provides counseling, case management and skills training for issues of trauma, anxiety, relationship problems, skills in obtaining employment, depression and substance abuse/addiction.

SEABHS provides psychiatric services for people with severe mental illnesses including schizophrenia, severe

depression/anxiety and bipolar disorder.

SEABHS mission is to improve the quality of life of its members.

They do not only focus on the mental health aspect but also on the physical aspect. Their integrative health approach is based out of the 8 dimensions of wellness. SEABHS goal is to meet the overall needs of their members so they are able to lead healthy and productive lives. w w w.bordereco.com

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SEABHS is focused on providing outcome based services. What that means is they identify the issues, target specific goals and objectives to provide the member with the necessary skills to be effective in managing those objectives.

This in turn enables their members to live and feel selfsufficient and empowered.

The Nogales SEABHS office is staffed with 10 personnel, which are comprised of clinicians, behavioral health techs and administrative staff. “We are committed to holding ourselves and others in taking personal accountability for our actions and attitudes. Without personal accountability we cannot grow nor, can we ever improve ourselves in achieving planned outcomes,� said Yassar Canchola Site Supervisor for SEABHS.

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POWER OF ONE CONFERENCE The month of October is usually a busy month for the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office as they host a variety of events in an effort to promote domestic violence awareness.

Their goal is to reduce the number of domestic violence cases in Santa Cruz County through prevention and education. Several community organizations within the county work in collaboration to develop strategies to help increase awareness and help educate the public on available services for victims of domestic violence in Santa Cruz County.

As a result of this collaborative effort, the Crisis Response Team and the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office hosted their 5th Annual Domestic Violence Conference on Thursday,October 26, 2017. The conference took place at the Santa Cruz County Complex.

The conference was coordinated by Nidia Solorzano a Victim Services Advocate from the Office of the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office.

“It is important to keep in mind that survivors of domestic violence face ongoing and challenging effects after enduring mental, emotional and physical abuse. It takes time for a survivor to be able to adjust to living in a safe environment, especially if a perpetrator was severely violent or committed the actions over an extended period of time,” said Nidia Solorzano.

The conference this year included topics on advanced safety planning, conducting a community and risk assessment for working professionals within the social services sector. Doreen Nicholas from the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual & Domestic Violence was one of the presenters who helped attendees understand the importance of advanced safety planning.

The topic of community and risk assessment was presented by Chief Deputy Charlene Laplante, Detective Heriberto Zuñiga, and Victim Advocate Brenda Ramos all representing the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office. The conference concluded with a special recognition ceremony with a closing statement by the Santa Cruz County Attorney George E. Silva. Attendees not only benefited from the information, and networking opportunities but also had an opportunity to participate in several raffles.

“We work with several different organizations within the county to help promote domestic violence awareness during the month of October.

Every year we host this conference to help educate the community on the long-term effects of domestic violence has in our community,” said Nidia Solorzano.

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POWER OF ONE CONFERENCE

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