Barbara has Tiane Kennedy from Gap Ministries and Darien Mathews AZYP who are everywhere in this episode. Gap Ministries do an enormous amount for Foster Care and AZYP strengthening families through Arizona.
About Darien Mathews
Darien Mathews is with Arizona Youth Partnership(AZYP). AZYP was founded in 1990 by a group of concerned Pima County citizens who sought to provide rural communities in the county access to the services available in the Tucson metro area. In 2006, AZYP expanded to serve rural communities across Arizona and seeks to employ a root cause approach to fighting poverty builds healthy, self-sufficient youth and families through evidence-based prevention programs and community involvement. He serves as the Coalition Coordinator for the Copper Corridor Substance Abuse Coalition.
This Coalition was founded in 2007 and consists of 9 very small towns along Hwy 77 and 177 known as the Copper Corridor. The mission of the Copper Corridor Coalition is to prevent and reduce drug and alcohol misuse through program development, prevention through education, advocacy and services, providing youth-oriented activities so that healthy attitudes towards substance use are formed.
The vision of the Copper Corridor is: Committed to providing education and developing resources to address alcohol awareness and prevent drug abuse in the Copper Corridor while embracing and nurturing the many cultures of the area. This coalition is funded by the Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Grant to prevent youth substance use.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArizonaYouthPartnership
https://www.facebook.com/coppercorridorcoalition
Arizona Youth Partnership
7575 W Twin Peaks Rd #165
darien@azyp.org
Arizona Youth Partnership builds solid foundations for youth and families by partnering with Arizona communities to prevent and solve local issues such as substance abuse, youth homelessness, lack of educational opportunities, teen pregnancy, and challenging family dynamics.
The Copper Corridor Coalition is a community-based coalition working to prevent substance use and misuse throughout Pinal County’s Copper Corridor. Through the collaboration of volunteers like you we strive to reduce substance use and misuse that negatively impact our communities we live in. We build our mission on three core values: Educate, Collaborate, and Champion Healthy Choices. Having people like you will help drive our pursuit for change in our communities and help positively influence the next generation to make healthier choices.
We now invite you to be part of this change for Copper Corridor’s brighter future.
AZYP provides a combination of relationship education, afterschool programs and youth leadership programs. Our programs equip youth to focus on setting goals and prevent teen pregnancy, alcohol and substance abuse and anti-social behaviors.
Over the past 20 years, AZYP has grown to serve 28 school districts across 11 counties in Arizona with funding from the Arizona Department of Health Services and Federal grants from the Administration of Children and Families. Our youth programs include the following: Wake UP!™ Alcohol & Drug Prevention Education Program, Healthy Relationship Education using Choosing The Best and Teen Outreach Program curricula funded by the Arizona Department of Health Services, Classroom and afterschool programs using Botvin’s Life Skills Training and Positive Action curricula, and a 21 day shelter for homeless youth in Kingman funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children.
In early 2019, Arizona Youth Partnership integrated the programs of Teen Outreach Pregnancy Services, a Tucson based nonprofit and we now provide education and support services for pregnant and parenting teens. This year marks our 30th year building strong foundations for youth. Beginning in just 3 communities, AZYP now serves more than 22 communities across 11 counties.
In 1996, we shared with parents the importance of family time considering how much television youth were watching. Today, we work with parents on the dangers of social media and screen time. We continue to shift to address the current needs of youth. Including how many youths today are buying their drugs through snapchat. So, we continue to educate parents and youth on current trends.
Just in 2020 63 Teens died of a Fentanyl overdose. That doesn’t include November and December. All of our Coalitions goals are to provide, education, resources, champion healthy choices and activities for our youth as well.
About Tiane Kennedy
Tiane Kennedy has worked at GAP Ministries for 10 years next month. When she started at GAP they were primarily known for their SPLASH group homes. They have grown exponentially since then. Besides still having 8 family style group homes, they now also have the GAP Kitchen feeding programs, the Community Warehouse that provides food and basic needs items to struggling families, Second Chance Job Training programs. They have also added more areas impacting the foster care system – foster care licensing and training, Supervised Visitation, and Nurturing Parenting programs to help heal broken families so that they can be reunited if at all possible.
She loves all the wonderful ways GAP is able to impact and change people’s lives. Hope is the main word that comes to mind. In the book of Proverbs, it says, “Without hope the people perish”. Once a person has hope for a better future, they are able to begin to do the hard work to make it happen. When they see that there are others who will come around them, support them, and lift them up when they stumble, they begin to have confidence. That is what we try to do at GAP.
Tiane is married with two amazing grown children, 2 dogs and 2 cats, and has lived in Tucson for 41 years.
Website: www.gapmin.com
Direct links to the different areas mentioned:
GapWishList.com – Miracle Center, Foster Care, GAP Kitchen, SPLASH group homes
YouHaveWhatTheyNeed.com – information on foster care
GapTaxCredit.com – tax credit information for both GAP and Miracle Center
GAPCampusofHope.com – capital campaign for our NEW campus!!!
TucsonCommunityWarehouse.com – shopping hours and requirements
Gapmin.com/job-training – culinary or auto tech
Jobs.gapmin.com – find out all about the different positions
Volunteer.gapmin.com – individual or group volunteer opportunities
About the Host
Barbara McClure, Executive Director
IMPACT of Southern Arizona
3535 E Hawser Street
Tucson, AZ 85739
Phone: 520-825-0009
barbara@impactsoaz.org
www.impactsoaz.org
SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter |
Barbara McClure wakes up each morning passionate about going to work at a place that improves lives and inspires futures every day! She has been the Executive Director of a Tucson social service nonprofit called IMPACT of Southern Arizona, for ten years. What is it that keeps you passionate about your role Barbara?
Barbara has been a visionary and planner with decades of experience as a small business owner and in nonprofit leadership; her innovative ideas and strategic thinking, along with a talent for bringing the community together, has helped grow IMPACT five-fold in a very short time. Her talents and interests are diverse but all center around helping people, improving the community, bolstering education, building capacity and sustainability, being vocal about the rights and conditions of others, experiencing art, nurturing all inhabitants of your garden, and enjoying life to the fullest.
And now Barbara is about to experience another exciting chapter in her life with hosting a brand-new Radio Show Podcast here on the Tucson Business RadioX Network starting in November.
IMPACT of Southern Arizona is a 20 – year old social service nonprofit stabilizing families and seniors, and moving people out of poverty. IMPACT’s programs are designed to stretch household budgets so earned income can be spent on necessities such as improved housing conditions, fuel to get to work, utilizes, and needed medical attention and prescriptions. Its clients are your neighbors! People come to IMPACT because it is a welcoming place where they are always treated with dignity and respect, and where they find resources, referrals, coaching, and help to attain the skills that can move them forward into self-sufficiency.
Barbara grew up in Pasadena CA, moved to Long Beach for college, got married and started our family then moved to Seattle area ten years later. Took our youngest son on an 11-month motorhome trip to get to Tucson – Homeschooled for 10th grade.
We vacationed at a rustic cabin when I was growing up, where we had no phone or television; and spent all our time outside fishing, hiking, horseback riding, listening to old radio shows, playing pool, reading comic books from the local small grocer, and using our imaginations all day long. I always admired the superheroes who defended people and cities like Gotham and Metropolis, so when our three boys were born, we named them after familiar character: Colin (Bryce for an overlay of Bruce Wayne, Kent, and Parker. Our first grandchild was born last year, and as in the family tradition, named Logan, after the Wolverine. I used to always tell them they were my superheroes – and they still are today!
Barbara loves working with numbers and has always loved math and the organization of things, so accounting seemed perfect, but I soon realized that I if I became a CPA I would have to spend many months inside doing tax returns, and that did not appeal to me as a long–term career! I have a great imagination and enjoy creating things, so thought I should find a better path that might nurture that side of my personality. I was working in the shipping industry in SoCal at the time and fell in love with import and export, so shifted my majors to Marketing and International Business. Those were wonderful fits, and I imagined graduating and moving to the largest port on the planet, in Germany; then, I met my future husband and things took a different turn.
A little bit about how Barbara got into Nonprofit work:
All along with my husband and I were always involved in nonprofits and community volunteer opportunities, and often said it was too bad we could not make a living doing those things we loved so much. Leadership roles in PTO, Boy Scouts, Historical Societies, Junior League, Elks, Rotary and more. Then when we moved to Tucson I looked for a local opportunity to impact my community. A Board position was about to open at IMPACT, and my local bank branch manager, Peggy Smoot, suggested I would be very passionate about getting involved in the mission work there. I worked in the Food Bank.
There are thousands of nonprofits in Tucson. What makes IMPACT Unique is that they bring the community together to stabilize families and move people out of poverty. Our true success lies in partnering with a large number of businesses, agencies, social clubs and other nonprofits. We invest $2.5 million in the community each year, and we do it all with a lean staff of amazing professionals supported by more than 170 volunteer shifts each week! We have put great systems in place to run efficiently, effectively and with a commitment to sustainability and integrity, protecting the community’s investment in our work, striving for perfect audits, being innovative, building capacity and most importantly – treating everyone with dignity and respect. We are an award-winning nonprofit with numerous nods to incredible customer service. Our clients are your neighbors… We improve lives and inspire futures of people living in Southern AZ.
So, IMPACT is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and you have been at the helm half that time. Share with me the things IMPACT has accomplished over the years, and the things you have planned for this celebratory year.
