Border Community Alliance's mission is dedicated to bridging the border and fostering community through education, collaboration and cultural exchange.
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Dear readers,
My name is José Delgado; I am the newly appointed Director of Operations for BCA and I would like to take a moment of your time to share a bit about me and how I ended up being a part of this wonderful organization.
I was born in California; but, at a young age, my family moved to Mexico. I ended growing up in multiple cities all over Central and Southern Mexico. Eventually, my family moved to the borderlands, Tijuana, BC, Nogales, Sonora, and, finally, Nogales, Arizona became home during my high school years. And then, during my college years, I spent my time in Tucson. I'll be honest, border towns or Northern Mexican foods did not feel Mexican enough when I first arrived but, it didn't take long to be convinced otherwise. The unique dynamics and opportunities of a border town and the amazing new food flavors, quickly became a new favorite.
Border life was instrumental for me. The short years I spent living in Nogales shaped my future. I married a
Nogalense
and, professionally, the international business trade that takes place in Nogales was the basis for my 24-year career in international operations, that had assignments in multiple countries in Asia and Europe. After almost 15 years away from Arizona, my wife accepted an opportunity to become faculty at the University of Arizona and our family’s move back to Arizona began.
From the moment we arrived, we started noticing a lot of the magic that one tends to overlook when young or being in a place for many years. The mountains and the sunsets that surrounded us were absolutely magical, and our proximity to Nogales also had us jumping in our car planning trips there to see family and friends and to eat
cocina Sonorense
. It has now been two years since we moved back and exploring off-road trails and the best places for Sonoran food is still one of our favorite pastimes. That said, what has been most exciting is seeing and supporting the resilience, the energy, and the border town pride that the younger generations demonstrate in their work.There’s a young James Beard Nominee Chef working at the Four Seasons restaurant who started in her grandmother’s kitchen in Nogales Sonora; there are Nogales musicians touring in Europe; and, there’s a graduate of The Juilliard School who has made it back to Nogales to showcase this rich and robust community, embodying that energy and pride.
The moment I read about BCA was the moment I realized BCA is the perfect conduit to support and foster the richness of our border community. I joined BCA to support those efforts, and also to find ways to share our border community with those who have not had the opportunity to experience the border culture. The internship program is a mechanism by which to take advantage of this learning opportunity and further offer support to the new generations interested in learning how to promote the borderland region. I invite you to take a look at the article below detailing this opportunity.
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Jose Delgado
Director of Operations
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Virtual Internship Program – NEW!
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How can we expand our work with students during the pandemic? After cancelling the summer intern program, we felt compelled to look for alternatives. Meanwhile, students continued to contact us, wanting to do an internship with us. Finally, we realized the need to develop a
Virtual Internship
. Students will not need to live in Southern Arizona; instead they can complete the internship online from wherever they live. BCA will provide a modest stipend but will not need to secure housing or transportation, major challenges for our in residence internship each summer. Here’s the way Magda Mankel, our Education and Research Specialist, describes this new program:
BCA’s Virtual Internship program provides interns with a hands-on introduction to the programmatic tasks and duties it takes to keep a small non-profit true to its mission, financially secure, and connected to the communities it serves on both sides of the US-Mexico border. Interns will be supervised by BCA staff as they work on projects that will develop their skills in research, fundraising, and engaging BCA’s supporters and partner organizations (e.g. FESAC –
Fundación del Empresariado Sonorense A.C., directed by our colleague, Alma Cota de Yanez
). Overall, this internship will guide interns through a series of supervised projects that will provide them with hands-on experiences that are important for anyone interested in working in the non-profit sector or with transborder communities.
For the coming fall semester, two
Virtual Internship
positions have been created:
- The Development Intern will work with BCA staff to develop fundraising strategies including researching grant possibilities
- Social investment Intern will engage partner organizations associated with FESAC, conduct interviews and develop social investment profiles to highlight FESAC related projects and organizations
These positions are now being advertised online and we anticipate a strong response, as many student internships have been cancelled.
Please share and interested applicants can apply
here
.
We need your help. The total cost of the fall program (August – December) is $4,600. This includes $500 stipend per month per student and staff supervision costs. If successful, we anticipate additional virtual internships in 2021. Please consider making a gift of $50, $100, $500 or $1500 so we do not have to use other funds. To make a donation to support this program, go to our website and select INTERNS under the Campaign option:
https://bordercommunityalliance.org/donate
Alternatively, send a check to our office (BCA, PO Box 1863, Tubac, AZ. 85646) and mark “Interns” in the memo line. Thank you!
Jerry Haas
Senior Advisor
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Since BCA's initial appeal to social investors on July 1, we are pleased to report that we have raised over
$5,000
dollars for the
Banco de Alimentos de Nogales IAP
(Nogales, Sonora Food Bank).
Please indicate 'Nogales Food Bank' on the drop down field or in the donor note area of the donation form.
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BCA in the Digital Age:
August Borderlands Forum Virtual Programming
BCA has four special programs lined up for you in August. We invite you to register, participate and make a
donation
towards the nonprofit to support our cultural programming!
If you need help registering for these events or if you've never done an online class before and want a little coaching, please call Suzy at
520-398-3229
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Recipes & History from Santa Cruz Chili & Spice Company:
A Book Presentation
by Jeanie Neubauer
Join us for this Borderland Forum with Jeanie Neubauer, proprietor of Santa Cruz Chili & Spice Company and author of the recently published Recipes & History from Santa Cruz Chili & Spice Company. Jeanie will introduce her book and its publication celebrating the Tumacacori, Arizona based chili company's 75th anniversary and her family's long history in the binational region. With its unique intersection of cuisine and heritage, we will explore some of its delicious recipes and travel to both sides of the border to learn about her family's roots as well as the story behind the Santa Cruz Chili & Spice Company. This program will be held online via Zoom and will be followed by a Q&A session.
"Recipes & History from Santa Cruz Chili & Spice Company"
can be purchased online
here
Virtual Conversation / Q&A session on
(link provided upon registration on our website)
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Covid-19 and Border Health
by Robert Guerrero
Join us for a coffee in a Zoom webinar with Robert Guerrero, Chief of the
Office of Border Health for Arizona's Department of Health Services
. The mission of the Office of Border Health (OBH) is to promote and protect the health of all border area residents through sound, competent public health practices along the Arizona-Sonora border. The Office of Border Health coordinates and integrates public health program efforts to identify, monitor, control and prevent adverse health events in border communities. Robert will cover the COVID-19 public health crisis' implications to our binational region and share his work over the last 15 years with the department to strengthen cross-border public health collaboration with Sonora, Mexico.
Virtual Coffee Hour Q&A session on
(link provided upon registration on our website)
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Nogales Civil Society in times of Covid-19:
A Coffee Hour with FESAC
with Alma Cota de Yanez and Luis Torres
Join us for a morning cafecito via Zoom with our partner and Sonoran counterpart FESAC (
Fundación del Empresariado Sonorense AC
). We will be joined by both Alma Cota de Yanez, director of FESAC and Luis Torres, board president of the Nogales community foundation to learn more about the work of their organization, the partnership with BCA as well as the important concept of social investment. Alma and Luis will also provide an update on the civil society NGOs in the FESAC-BCA network which we work in coordination to support during the pandemic.
Cafesito con FESAC on
(link provided upon registration on our website)
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Historical Archaeology and Immigrant Labor in Ruby, Arizona
by Magda Mankel
BCA's Education & Research Specialist Magda Mankel will speak about an ongoing historical archaeology project at Ruby, Arizona. This is a project spearheaded by
Dr. Haeden Stewart
in collaboration with the
Undocumented Migration Project
. Learn about the basic principles of historical archaeology and the role that archaeologists play as advocates for contemporary social justice issues. The video presentation will feature an interview with Dr. Stewart which focuses on his current work at the historic mining town of Ruby.
Video presentation upload on
Virtual live Q&A session on
(link provided upon registration on our website)
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Let’s Speak Spanish
Returns This Fall!
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BCA is pleased to announce that the popular
Let’s Speak Spanish
program will return this fall in a new online classroom setting. Based on a successful “test run” of the program this July, we are confident that we can provide a productive and fun learning environment using Zoom.
Let’s Speak Spanish
is a learning experience designed for adults who would like to interact more with Spanish speakers and learn more about the unique culture we all share here in the Borderlands. The program is especially targeted toward beginning learners who either have little experience with Spanish or have studied the language many years ago. Through the use of small group breakout sessions, we are able to group learners with similar skill levels together with experienced facilitators who can help everyone gain new speaking and listening skills.
During the month of August, our staff will be finalizing the learning materials for this fall, and we plan to open registration for the program immediately after Labor Day. This fall’s program will run for seven weeks, with a one- to two-hour session scheduled each week. This first session, which will be scheduled the last week of September, will serve as an orientation to the program to help everyone prepare for the following weekly class sessions. The six weekly class sessions will then start the first week of October and end the second week of November.
Depending on the level of registration, we plan to hold up to two virtual classes each week, with approximately 20 students and 4 facilitators per class. When you register, you will be asked to select one of the two class sessions, but based on our previous in-person experience, there should be no problem participating in the alternative session if you miss a class. All necessary materials for the class will be posted online for download prior to the start of the program. The registration fee for the program will be $60, which will help defray the cost of material development as well as a small honorarium for facilitators.
If you would like to start learning a little Spanish or work on your previous skills,
Let’s Speak Spanish
may be the program for you. If you would like to learn more about the program prior to the opening of registration in September, you can take a look at all of the previous class materials posted on this website:
www.tegnos.org
And if you would like to be placed on the program mailing list or if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email the program coordinator, Jim Hoff, at
jhoff@tegnos.org
.
¡Saludos!
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BCA’s Lending Library – NEW!
Over the years, books have been donated to BCA from various individuals and classes and now we’re making them available to you! The Lending Library includes contemporary titles, fiction and nonfiction, as well as collections of art and photography. A complete list of the books currently available can be viewed
here
. Since our office is now closed, the best way to secure a book is by contacting Suzy Webber at
suzyW.BCA@gmail.com
Books may be borrowed for a month but please return when finished. We also have a few books by BCA authors that you might want to consider adding to your library. We ask for a $20 donation for any of these:
- Riding Behind the Cowboy by Richard Collins
- Walking to Magdalena by Seth Schermerhorn
- A Stranger at My Door by Peg Bowden
- The Far Side of the Sea by Ben Clevenger
If you are interested in donating books to BCA’s Lending Library, we are looking for titles related to the US-Mexico Borderlands.
Thank you!
Jerry Haas
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Office Hours:
Office is currently closed until further notice
.
Call for an appointment.
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I-19 2221 E. Frontage Rd.
Bldg F Suite 201-202
P.O. Box 1863
Tubac, AZ 85646
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Membership/Events:
520-398-3229
Office:
520-419-1960
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