Humanizing Homelessness
Meet Jeff. He'll turn 60 in September. Jeff was born in Bakersfield, California and grew up like many young guys do - loving sports and taking part in baseball, softball, basketball, football - it's still what makes him smile and engage.
Jeff lived in California, going to school and doing his sports, bouncing from job to job working 'in the fields' around Bakersfield, and up and down that region of the state. When he saw his 'dream' of playing ball wasn't going to happen, he left and came to Tucson. He finished up his GED at Pima College after arriving here 27 years ago.
Jeff married shortly after arriving in Tucson. He worked for Teen Challenge as a staff member, bounced to Tucson Country Club and worked as a groundskeeper, and did landscape day labor work for various local maintenance companies. And he did his share of drinking and drugs. It was the drinking that finally caused his marriage to fall apart. He divorced just over 5 years ago and has been homeless ever since. Jeff has a son in Tucson who he has not seen since he started living on the street. He avoids 'camps' where there are large numbers of homeless because of fights and stealing from among those living in the camp. He gets his meals at Grace St. Paul every day and beds down either alone or with a partner (I introduced you to her a couple of weeks ago - Leona.) He hasn't seen her for a while and says he misses her being around as a companion. In general, though he says he doesn't mind being alone, but he also says at his age being on the street is 'getting to be too much to handle.' The reality is Jeff is among the new demographic of homeless - seniors'.
Jeff has wrestled with some medical issues which were made worse by living on the street. And due to the pandemic, he has been unable to access medical care. He has some tendon issues which affect his mobility and other circulatory challenges that he takes medication for. But he is sharp, willing to engage in a friendly conversation, and he clearly loved recalling the good times he had playing sports.
While we were talking, I asked if he'd like to act on his desire to get off the street. Jeff accepted and 30 minutes later we had him in a car with our TPD homeless team headed for the Community Bridges program. I wished him well, told him to take care of himself and that maybe soon we'd be playing against each other in a senior’s baseball league.
Refugees
A couple of weeks ago I shared a full update on Judge Ahmad’s family situation. The quick review is that his wife was arrested for suspected visa fraud, held by the Turkish police, released and we continue to work with State and the embassy on getting the family reunited. During the past week+ we’ve had more activity. The frustration level is pretty much off the charts. It is important to say though that we appreciate all of the help and attention the State people have been giving to this. It really would help though if their actions were coordinated, and there was more robust communication between them.
The wife is Nilofar. The 2-year-old toddler little girl is Kawsar. They are now in an apartment somewhere in Istanbul. When they were released by the Turkish police, the authorities kept her passport. It has not been returned to her, yet I received calls from State encouraging me to “trust the process.” I’ve shared that with Ahmad – and we are trusting the process. It’s getting hard to keep that faith.
We received notice from State that the case had finally been adjudicated by Homeland Security. Here’s a portion of that notice:
Subject: [EXTERNAL] RE: Urgent DHS IGA Inquiry - request for expedite Humanitarian Parole - OAW
Thank you for contacting the USCIS Humanitarian Affairs Branch.
Our records show that for the petitioner, Ahmad Wakili, regarding his wife, Nilofar and two-year old child, was adjudicated on May 20, 2022.
Please allow time for the decision letter to be mailed.
Thank you,
USCIS Humanitarian Affairs Branch
Frustration point #1 – that was sent as an email. We were told to ‘allow time for the decision letter to be mailed.’ How about putting the decision in the email? A week went by before we received further word on the case.
During that week we learned that the guy who sold the forged visa to the family had been arrested by the Turkish police. He’s under arrest for ‘smuggling.’ I interpret that to be human smuggling since he was in the ‘business’ of issuing fake travel documents. We also know he and the group he was working with placed families on a boat for transport – and there’s no trace of them now. The fact that Turkey now has him under arrest should make clear to all involved that Nilofar was a victim, not someone attempting to perpetuate fraud on the Turkish government. He has already been sentenced to 25 years in a Turkish jail. We’re still waiting for her passport to be returned but the reality is with an illegal visa stamped inside, it’d still be of questionable value.
When we finally did receive word on the case it was seemingly good news. The case had been transferred to a new State employee who reached out and advised us that “I am writing to you from the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul. We have been asked to assist you both with travel documents for humanitarian parole travel to the U.S.” Red flag #1 – both of them are not trying to travel to the U.S. The judge is already here. But we’ll take it – and in fact the judge has filed the paperwork that was requested later in the letter to get the process moving.
Sidebar here – remember the Pakistani family who has been waiting for their DHS interview for over a year? The husband is a U.S. citizen – the wife is Pakistani. She and their 1-year-old son are stuck in Islamabad waiting for someone at DHS to schedule their interview. Keep that fresh in your mind.
We advised the embassy guy who had previously been working on the case of the decision. His reply was “Great news.” Maybe, but not so fast.
The document also contained instructions on Nilofar needing a medical exam prior to leaving. She is to follow these steps:
Note that she first needs to schedule the “visa interview.” That is what the Pakistani family has been waiting for over a year to achieve. But let’s assume the judge’s case is priority since he was nearly killed 3 times for helping out the U.S. mission. So drop down to the second item in the instructions.
When the new guy from State wrote he said in his letter “Please pardon my ignorance of the steps you will go through in completing the form, but I never see the form from the side of the applicant.” Evidently, he also had not conferred with the other people at the embassy. The medical exam can only be given in Ankara. She is in Istanbul. That’s like going from Tucson to Flagstaff. And she does not have the required passport to either board a plane to make that trip, or to present to the doctor when she arrives.
Over the weekend I sent the new State guy, as well as others who have been involved and who know the facts of the case emails asking for some guidance on how to navigate this newest challenge. Can she get the medical exam in Istanbul? There is a large U.S. hospital there. Can she get it without a passport? Can she board a plane to come here without a passport, but under the authority of the non-immigrant visa we’ve now applied for? Is State still working on getting the passport returned?
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For a well-oiled machine with several moving parts to work, the parts need to be aligned and connected. This case has been a series of hand-offs, not a coordinated effort by parties sharing information and keeping the progress headed in the direction of a solution – reunifying a family. And this is one family. I have been deeply involved since the start and cannot even imagine someone who is unfamiliar with our systems, language and laws having a snowball’s chance of navigating through this on their own. One false hope has been dashed for Ahmad and Nilofar after another. We are not cashing our chips yet – too much invested, and two lives on the line.
I just thought you’d be interested in seeing how unmanageable our refugee resettlement process has become. Nobody in congress has a clue on any of this stuff. Therefore, it’s not being fixed.
And then there’s Nazar. He’s here in Tucson, also a guy who got caught up in the August 2021 evacuation. Nazar was a helicopter pilot, flying missions in battle against Taliban. When the government fell, his unit was actually in the air. They made it to Uzbekistan but were denied permission to land. They had to due to fuel issues. And they were arrested the moment they hit the ground. Nazar is in Tucson – he told me last week his son had been abducted by Taliban. He has no way of knowing his son’s situation, but we know Taliban didn’t stop by his house on a recruiting visit. His wife and parents are stuck in Kabul. On Sunday his nephew stopped by and picked up some of the donations you’ve left. The rest of his family is also stuck in Afghanistan, moving from house to house to avoid Taliban. They want me to help get their remaining family members out. I don’t know where to begin.
VisionQuest
One local group that is engaged in refugee work is VisionQuest. They’ve received a few dozen ‘unaccompanied minors’ from the DHS-run shelter Southwest Key. I had a run-in with the SWK staff during a visit, challenging their notion of ‘unaccompanied’ minors. By legal definition, we separate any minor from travelling companions at the border if they’re not either a dad or a mom. Other relatives don’t count – therefore we deem them unaccompanied and send them to Southwest Key. When I asked the VisionQuest staff about that they assured me all of their refugees were indeed travelling alone.
VQ right now has 37 youth in their care. The ages run from 12 to 17. The kids are scattered among 9 different housing settings – so this is a sort of foster-care situation, but under the control of VisionQuest operations. The youth in the homes have come from Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Haiti, Somalia and the Central American golden triangle countries. VQ has a capacity for 50 youth, and it’s very likely they’ll be at that level before long.
During my visit with them I invited Mahmoud Alabagi from Hasanaat to join our meeting. That’s an Arabic word that means ‘good deed.’ Their work is to encourage refugee youth to continue in school and strive to be better than the entry level work we’re generally able to find them. Mahmoud is donating 30 laptops to the VisionQuest youth. It’s an example of how once you get outside the large resettlement agencies, there’s a nimbleness that can quickly touch the lives of those in need. Check out the Hasanaat work at https://hasanaat.org/ And if you can support either Hasanaat, or VisionQuest, I know both are out in the community working to address the trauma, separation and uncertainty these young people are going through. The VQ page can be found at https://www.vq.com/. There’s a link for By State at the top – click on that and you’ll see the Arizona Chapter.
Trauma and Refugees
...Refugees and anyone else who’d like to sit in on the presentations. One of the women I’ve worked with on Ukraine refugees is over at the UA College of Public Health. She was awarded a Fulbright grant related to sharing various therapies that can help with stress reduction. This week there’ll be a couple of opportunities for people to sit in and take part.
The first will be led by Dr. Ann Marie Chiasson. It takes place on Wednesday, June 1st. She works as the Director, Fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the Weil Center at the UA. She’ll be leading a 24-minute meditation aimed at overall relief and rejuvenation. They suggest you be somewhere you can lay down, or at least sit in a comfortable chair when you’re taking part. And make it a quiet environment. This is mediation after all. Here’s the information for advance registration:
https://iie-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwsc-6qrDIrGNVmns_NKhlPa6Uv4A9QmEcl
The second event is an introduction to traditional Chinese medicine. This one happens on Thursday, June 2nd. As is true of the meditation therapy in the June 1st event, this is aimed at stress and anxiety reduction. Dr. Celia Hildebrand is my Ukraine contact, and she’s leading this event. It will focus on self-care, and will have a particular focus on specific acupuncture locations that are said to reduce pain, anxiety, and emotional trauma. Thinking of acupuncture gives me pain, anxiety and emotional trauma. But they say it works, so if it’s your cup of tea, then pre-register at this link:
https://iie-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMlc-ihrTwjG9VQ5EXqLJEQ00pQgVwIBkdr
Both of these meetings begin at 7am our time. You’ll be joining others in Ukraine at 5pm over there.
Community Home Repair Projects of Arizona (CHRPA)
A couple of weeks ago I shared that we at Ward 6 dedicated an extra $10K to the work CHRPA is doing in midtown. With the heat arriving, and other on-going needs, they’ve nearly gone through that donation. So last week I added another $20K to their Ward 6 work.
CHRPA is a local non-profit that’s out in the community assisting low-income folks with needed home repairs. Find them at http://www.chrpaz.org/ Use that link to get in touch with Scott Coverdale and his team. They do great work for some of the most needy in the community.
Wear Orange Day
Peter Rhee is a trauma surgeon at Banner UMC. You might remember his name from some of the press briefings we received during the January 8, 2011, Safeway shooting updates. When asked to compare the effects of being shot by an assault-style rifle (AR-15) vs a 9mm pistol he said, ‘one looks like a grenade went off inside the victim and the other looks like a knife fight.’ The 18-year-old who just killed 21 people in the Uvalde elementary school bought 2 AR’s for himself when he turned 18. They’re designed to kill lots of people quickly. Far too often, they do their job.
This graph shows that mass shootings are a uniquely U.S. problem in the ‘developed’ world. And nobody is a close second.
Those are the numbers. This is the emotional trauma our mass shootings inflict.
The list is so long that it’s unlikely anyone can name all the shootings we’ve mourned through in the past decade. They’ve taken place in shopping centers, movie theaters, schools, deli’s, on a military base, at a concert, railyard, nightclubs, churches, birthday parties – name it, and we’d likely be able to point to a shooting tied to the activity. Our flag at the Ward 6 office is now again at half-staff.
In the run-up to this week’s Wear Orange event, keep this list in mind. And keep in mind that there are garden variety shootings every day that only involve a single victim. Often those are suicides. The gun issue is an example of how divided we have grown.
The number of states that are acting to remove AR-15's from the hands of minors, or place other restrictions on their ownership is pretty tiny. And as you can see, Arizona is not one of them.
Join us on Saturday, June 4th at Southside Presbyterian Church as we honor those we’ve lost to gun violence, and the surviving family members and friends. While there’s another gun show going on out at the fair grounds, we will gather in support of more strict gun laws. In Arizona you can buy semi-automatic weapons from strangers on the street for cash. What could possibly go wrong with that?
Southside is located at 317 W. 23rd. The event will begin at 6pm in their patio. We’ll have music, testimonials and mutual support. This will be an outdoor, COVID-safe event.
Critter Sighting
I run every morning and enjoy seeing the urban wildlife. Coyotes, javelina, bobcats – they're out doing their thing and as long as we respect each other’s turf, it’s a peaceful co-existence. Last week in midtown – and out by the Loop – this guy was sighted wandering around.
I’m not sure he’s one of the critters I’d be interested in co-existing with on my morning run. Whatever he wants to claim as his turf, he can have. KVOA ran a fun story on it – shared in this link. What they call ‘Catalina foothills’ is Craycroft/Glenn - not ‘foothills’ by my definition.
https://www.kvoa.com/news/local/wildlife-officials-warn-of-bear-sighting-in-catalina-foothills-area/article_22c1175a-db8b-11ec-b7f9-1f0c3ebef56e.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_News_4_Tucson_-_KVOA&fbclid=IwAR00mRtuz0oP-l8x39DMkgLZeZheBlaS4AZX2Q29ZMcklTmqGWyechVW5f0
There’s a helpful website called Bearwise – on it you’ll see several useful tips on how to stay bear-safe while out hiking, jogging, biking...some of those include removing bird feeders while active bear sightings are happening, secure garbage and recycling bins, never feed a bear, never leave pet food outdoors, alert neighbors to bear activity, and clean and store your grills. It’s an interesting site. You can find it at https://bearwise.org/
ByFusion Blocks
More progress on the San Gabriel ByBlock and Bottle Rocket bench last week. This is the conceptual design.
The exterior will be clad in stucco. We’ve pulled the concrete base back to where it’ll really only fit under the base of the bench. It’ll be below grade, so the bench is ‘sitting’ on the ground. What you see as light grey rectangles in the picture will be plex-covered openings so people walking by can see the ByBlock on the inside. And the concrete bench will be made using our crushed glass with some of the more colorful ones exposed.
The plan is to meet on site this week, get the slab poured for the foundation – let it cure and then do the actual build near the end of June.
And plans continue for the Peter Howell ramada. We’ll be meeting to talk about that design sometime this week. Staff is putting together some pricing thoughts on a Himmel bench, and the contractor is gearing up for the El Pueblo Community Center trash compactor project. It’s great to see this all getting some legs.
Ready, Set, Rec
Thanks once again to Sierra Boyer from our Ready, Set, Rec programming team. She’s always ahead of the game in providing the upcoming month’s schedule. Here’s what Ward 6 residents have coming in June. If you haven’t had an opportunity to see the van and enjoy the fun, mark one of these dates and treat yourself.
City of Tucson Website
The City is putting together a new website. One of the complaints I share with others is when I.T. people implement ‘upgrades’ to a system I’m using that I didn’t ask for, and don’t like once they’re in place. We’re going to avoid that with the website changes.
We’re asking for volunteers to take part in some 10–15-minute exercises as the system is rolled out. We’ll be asking for your feedback on navigating the new site – before it’s a done deal. This is for both city workers, and for community members who don’t work for us. If you’d like to take part and offer your thoughts on how effective and intuitive the new site is, please use this link. It’ll walk you through the test.
Give us your input on our new website navigation
Disability Empowerment
You might have seen this guy around town – he's active in a variety of civic activities, one of which is our Commission on Disability Issues (CODI.) Keith Murfee-Doncinini was born prematurely. So was I. Keith though was born into what he describes as a ‘disabled body.’ He has a speech impediment – which has not hindered him from earning an MPA from the UA, and being active in theater arts, public speaking – and now hosting podcasts in which he interviews well known civic leaders as well as disability rights advocates. His site is called Disability Empowerment Now (DEN.)
Some of the guests he has had, and will have on include Arizona House member Jennifer Longdon, Anita Altman (co-founder of re-elabilities) former Arizona Senator Dennis Deconcini, and the VP for Clinical Integration at the Intermountain Center for Human Development Kyle Linger. This isn’t a fluff site but is one in which you can listen and learn from experts in their respective fields.
The DEN podcast can be found wherever you listen to podcasts. You click ‘follow’ or ‘subscribe’ and enter Disability Empowerment Now. Keith also has a website on which you can get involved with his work. Check it out at https://disabilityempowermentnow.com.
Therapeutic Riding of Tucson (TROT)
And there’s another group out in the community supporting special needs people. The TROT folks use horses as the therapeutic modality – my word, not theirs. They include horses in activities involving children, adults and veterans – each of whom bring some unique special need to the relationship.
Their vision is “to use the power of the human/horse connection to heal individuals of all abilities.” Some of the more common diagnoses they have represented in their work include autism, cerebral palsy, Down’s Syndrome, PTSD and depression. And they can adapt their programs so people in wheelchairs are absolutely welcome to take part. They’ve got a mechanical lift to assist in mounting the horse.
The TROT team has both volunteer and giving opportunities. You can find out more by going to http://trotarizona.org/ Or just call Laura Bissing at 749.2360, x612.
COVID
In Arizona last week there were over 11,000 new COVID cases. And 40 more people lost their life due to the virus. The medical talk now is that the new subvariant of Omicron is more transmissible, and it might have some Delta-like characteristics which make it more dangerous. So, mask up – do all the things we’re been hearing for the past 2+ years in an effort to stop this new surge from gaining more ground. I’ve updated the table I shared last week – here's the progression since the end of April. We’ve gone up by more than a factor of 6 just in Pima County.
Here’s the Arizona COVID by-county map for this week:
COVID is back. It never left. If you’d like to order your free in-home tests, use this link: covidtests.gov. The federal government is making 8 per household available.
Validating the news about the severity of the new subvariant, these data are nationwide for the past 14 days. Cases, hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths are all on the increase.
Arizona is tracking ahead of the rest of the country in most categories. Here are those data.
 The 62% of Arizonans fully vaccinated has been static for quite a while. What hasn’t been static is the new infection rate. Some of us would say there’s a correlation.
The Harvard Global Health Care risk level map continues to show the national summer surge gaining ground. I keep sharing this information, and it is clear from all the activities we’re once again engaging in that we’ve evidently turned a corner and are now comfortable risking catching some form of COVID. At the Ward 6 office we continue to ask that if you have any symptoms, or if you’ve been around people who do, please reschedule any meeting you have with us.
The Harvard Global Health Care risk level map is getting redder. From two weeks ago:
Compared to last week. Florida is back to not reporting. I guess they’ve decided to only give occasional updates on their infection numbers. Otherwise, every area of the country appears to be headed to a new summer surge.
Pima County numbers increased again. The 7-day new case count last week was 155, and the daily average p/100,000 people was just under 15. This is what they are now. The trend is for us to be right back in the high-risk category within a couple of weeks.
Flu is still under control in Arizona. That’s not true of some neighboring states, but we’ve had a relatively mild flu season. It seems the flu vaccine is one that hasn’t generated the political push back – and the results bear out the effectiveness of getting the shot
Here are the Pima County health department COVID testing centers for this week. It’s important to note that if you do a self-test and it comes up positive, please report that to Pima County health. When all of this began the county health folks were able to track infections because they were doing all the testing. Now that it’s spread out, the infection rate is more difficult to track and it’s very likely our numbers reflect an undercount.
And here are the Pima County health vaccination centers. No appointment is needed.
Sincerely,
Steve Kozachik
Council Member, Ward 6
ward6@tucsonaz.gov
City of Tucson Resources
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