Ballet Folklorico de Colores in Flagstaff will be performing at Día de los Muertos celebration to benefit Puente de Hozho Elementary Magnet from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27 at the dowtown Orpheum Theater.

The event also includes a silent auction, a performance by Chuck Cheesman, traditional desserts, drinks, craft projects and other activities.

Tickets: $5 per person, $20 for a family up to six.

Tickets may be purchased at Puente de Hozho Elementary school on 4th street or at the door.

Click here or here for more information.

In observance of Hispanic Heritage Month, the Coconino Hispanic Advisory Council is hosting its Fourth Annual Hispanic Heritage Month Essay Contest for middle and high school students.

Click here for a PDF of the essay form.

The purpose of this contest is to learn about Hispanic History and to promote Hispanic culture in the school system.  Participating students will be asked to write an essay on the subject:

“The Immigration Experience”

“The Immigration Experience” is a story or interview of a personal account or of a family experiences, fiction or non-fiction, with immigration to the United States. The U.S  is based on immigration to the U.S., the melting pot, what impact and/or contributions has immigration brought to our community, school or family. This could be a story on your heritage and traditions and the impact it has had on your life.

The deadline to submit completed essays is Friday, October 14, 2011. Essays must received by mail or delivered to the Board of Supervisors Offices located at 219 E. Cherry, 2^nd floor, no later than Friday, Oct. 14, 2011. Essays must be attached to an entry form. Essays will be judged on content and grammar with U.S. saving bonds prizes being awarded to the winners at a reception held on Nov. 15, 2011 at 5:30 p.m. and a recognition at 6 p.m. by the Coconino County Board of Supervisors at the Coconino County Administration Building, 219 E. Cherry Ave., Flagstaff. Each essay participant attending will be recognized at the Board Meeting.

The Coconino Hispanic Advisory Council was established is 2001 with the purpose of advising the County Board of Supervisors on issues and concerns that affect the Hispanic community in Coconino County.  In addition to serving as an advisory group to the County supervisors, the council has identified education as one of the four major areas of their focus.

Please assist us by encouraging teachers and students to participate in the essay contest and take advantage of this opportunity. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Theresa Thomas at 928-679-7162.

Sincerely,

Laura Sujo-Montes

Chair Coconino Hispanic Advisory Council

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As part of its Hispanic Heritage Month event, Coconino Community College will present “Café y Pan” from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22 at the Lone Tree Campus Student Center.

Other events include the Film & Discussion: “A Better Life” at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28 at the Lone Tree Campus Board Room, and the Documentary & Panel Discussion: “Children of the Harvest” at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12 in Lone Tree Campus Room 509.

Call Leilani Carreno,  Student Life and Passages coordinator, at 928-226-4323 or send an email to Leilani.Carreno@coconino.edu  for more information.

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Health Policy Coalition in Launched in Flagstaff’s Sunnyside Neighborhood

Flagstaff, AZ… North Country HealthCare, the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association and Flagstaff Medical Center would like to announce the first meeting of the newly formed “Hermosa Vida Policy Coalition,” an initiative of the “A Beautiful Life – Hermosa Vida – Nizhóní Iiná” project. Funded by a three-year $750,000 Kresge Foundation Grant, The Hermosa Vida project promotes healthy lifestyles in recognition that a healthy life is a beautiful life. The policy coalition will hold its first meeting June 1st, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association.

The Policy Coalition is one of several strategies associated with Hermosa Vida, which grew out of the work of a steering committee and an intensive community – engaged research process. Hermosa Vida is designed to address strategies for creating a beautiful life at individual, family, community and policy levels. Other strategies include a Community Health Worker organizing healthy activities for children and families at Killip Elementary school and a Community Organizer who is coordinating broader community-based efforts, such as the Hermosa Vida Policy Coalition.

The Hermosa Vida Policy Coalition will meet regularly to focus and mobilize Flagstaff on relevant policy related to the health and wellbeing of the community. Through local organizing efforts, the coalition will promote changes to reduce barriers and increase access to healthy living. The coalition invites local “experts” on the community, such as school nurses, parents, youth, health care providers, and educators, and anyone interested in working for positive change in Sunnyside to participate in the coalition.

Attendees of the June 1st Hermosa Vida Policy Coalition meeting will discuss the term “policy” and address how policy relates to peoples’ capacity to lead healthy lives. Future meetings will focus on identifying specific policies that could be developed, changed or implemented in order to support healthy lifestyles. The coalition will then work to impact local, state and national change. Most importantly, the coalition’s work will reflect the words and experiences of Sunnyside residents that the Hermosa Vida team identifies through ongoing community-engaged research.

The project partners appreciate the public’s interest and participation in the project. For more information about “A Beautiful Life” or the program launch, contact Julio Quezada by email, jquezada@northcountryhealtchare.org ; by mail, 2304 N. Third Street, Flagstaff AZ 86004; by fax, 928-213-5460; or by phone, 928-525-6060.

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Members of Flagstaff Nuestras Raíces and their family gather for a group photo prior to the start of the annual Armed Forces Day Parade held May 21, 2011 in downtown Flagstaff. Flagstaff Nuestras Raíces, which celebrates Hispanic culture in Northern Arizona, was joined by Ballet Folklorico de Colores in Flagstaff, Hispanic Veterans and other community supporters during the parade. Photo by Frank X. Moraga/Shooting Star Communications LLC ©2011.

Click here to see more photos from this event.

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CHAC board member Julio Cesar Quezada entertained the crowd and also served as MC when the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association presented its Fiesta de Mayo Celebration 2011 on May 14-15 in Flagstaff. Photo by Frank X. Moraga/Shooting Star Communications.

Click here to see more photos from this event.

Miguel Vásquez, former chair of the Coconino Hispanic Advisory Council, and a member of the Department of Anthropology at Northern Arizona University, welcomes students, educators and family members to the 18th annual Hispanic Convocation & Awards Ceremony held May 12, 2011 at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff. Photo by Frank X. Moraga/Shooting Star Communications.

Click here to see more photos from this event.

Students, educators and family members gathered to celebrate the 18th annual Hispanic Convocation & Awards Ceremony held May 12, 2011 at Northern Arizona University.

Miguel Vásquez, former chair of the Coconino Hispanic Advisory Council, and a member of the Department of Anthropology at NAU, served as master of ceremonies for the event, which featured the opening prayer by Deacon Ron Johnson of San Francisco de Asis Parish in Flagstaff; a welcoming address  by David E. Camacho, Ph.D., of the Office of the President at NAU; and the keynote address by Yvonne Luna, Ph.D., of the Department of Sociology and Social Work at NAU.

The event also featured by presentation of the High School Senior Outstanding Leaderships Awards for Coconino, Flagstaff and Northland Preparatory Academy; the presentation of the Cesar Chavez Student Leadership Award; the Gabriela Mistral Academic Achievement Award, the Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz Leadership Award and the Outstanding Graduate Student Award.

Graduating high school students, and NAU students receiving bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees were then recognized.

Click here for more information on the Hispanic Convocation.

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Miguel Vásquez, former chair of the Coconino Hispanic Advisory Council, speaks about the steps in creating a healthier community during the Hermosa Vida program held May 12, 2010 in Flagstaff. Photos by Frank X. Moraga/Shooting Star Communications ©2011.

Members of the Coconino Hispanic Advisory Council took part in the first “A Beautiful Life — Hermosa Vida — Hózhóogo ‘liná” Sunnnyside neighborhood community meeting held May 12, 2010 at Killip Elementary School in Flagstaff. “A Beautiful Life” is designed to engage and involve the community in a planning process to identify and address issues regarding promoting healthy lifestyles in the community. The program included an introduction and project outline by Julio Cesar Quezada and a presentation by Miguel Vásquez, CHAC chairperson and Northern Arizona University anthropologist, on the community input planning process — RARE (Rapid Assessment Response Evaluation). Anthropologists from NAU will be leading community members in the interviews of community members. Click here for story in Arizona Daily Sun. Click here for a guest column on the program by Julio Cesar Quezada. For more information please contact Quezada at (928) 525-6969.

Community forum generates ideas to improve communications

By Frank X. Moraga

Also published June 2010 in Qué Pasa

Get parents involved, rewrite official documents in plain language and reach out to the immigrant community — those were some of the points made by representatives from the Coconino County Juvenile Court at a May 3 community forum at Killip Elementary School in Flagstaff.

The meeting was organized by the Coconino Hispanic Advisory Council (CHAC) to get concerned parents and county officials to work together to solve juvenile crime, truancy and youth drug and alcohol abuse issues. About a dozen people attended the meeting.

Bryon Matsuda, director of Juvenile Court Services, sought ways to better interact with parents, many of whom only speak Spanish.

“We are here to talk with you, especially to parents with kids in the juvenile court system,” he said. “How do we learn how to work with families coming from a Spanish-language culture? That is our purpose tonight.”

With tight government budgets limiting the hiring of bilingual probation officers and other support staff, Matsuda and other court representatives sought creative ways to improve their first contact with parents when their children have their first brush with the law.

Many parents fear juvenile court officials, believing they are merely an extension of law enforcement officials, Matsuda said.

In reality, most of the local juvenile court members come from educational, family counseling and other social service backgrounds, and their goal is to meet with parents and at-risk youth, assess the situation and find creative ways to hold youth accountable without turning first to the jail system, said Deborah Fleishman, probation supervisor.

Coconino County Attorney David Rozema said, “We are proud to be a partner with the juvenile court.”

The process starts with that initial visit, after a student has been involved in a fight or used drugs, has run away from home, disobeyed a parent or committed some other minor offense, Fleishman said.

Juvenile court officials would rather work with the parents as a team to keep the young person out of the juvenile detention center, and instead assign appropriate punishment at home — additional chores, counseling and other methods to prevent further problems.

“Most of the time we do not need detention,” she said. “We don’t want a child to be locked up.”

Those efforts appear to be working as more than 80 percent of youths who have been referred to the juvenile court system have stayed out of future trouble.

Language and cultural barriers are a major challenge, one that juvenile court officials hope to overcome with the help of the community. Ideas included having parents and others volunteer to serve as interpreters for probation officers and mentors for youth.

Documents written in excessive legal terms also need to be translated into basic English and Spanish.

Matsuda said juvenile court officials have to do their job, but asked, “How do we do it respectfully?”

Miguel Vásquez, chair of the Hispanic Advisory Council, urged juvenile court members to have empathy for those in the community who have a healthy fear of law enforcement in light of recent state restrictions on undocumented immigrants.

Probation supervisor Fleishman told the group that while juvenile court officials need to ask for a Social Security number so they can get federal funding, a Social Security card is not required to receive services from the court system. In those cases, she said, funding can be found through other sources.

Pamela Martinez, a parent of three school-age children, said she plans to take the information back to a class she attends where immigrant parents needing help for their troubled youth are afraid of reaching out to local government officials.

“The parents would love to hear this information,” she said.

District Two County Supervisor Liz Archuleta and Flagstaff City Councilmember Coral Evans attended the forum.

Because the issue is so important, Evans and others in the audience, including Dennis Chavez, president of the Coordinating Council on Mexican American Affairs, supported the idea of holding a future forum for representatives of the county’s Inter-Tribal and African American advisory councils, and members from those communities.

Community members interested in working with the Coconino Juvenile Court can contact Matsuda at 928-226-5414 or Deborah Fleishman at 928-226-5444.

For information on the Coconino Hispanic Advisory Council, call (928) 679-7162.

— Frank X. Moraga is a member of the Coconino Hispanic Advisory Council.