Week 121

PCAO supporting the community

I’m going to brag on the People who work inside The People’s Office when I tell you that our agency had the single largest gain in donations to ECAP in all of Pima County when we compare year to year. ECAP partners with United Way in order to help local organizations provide food, training, and other resources for those in our community who truly need it.

None of this would be possible without the tireless efforts of Rosa Ramos and Melisa Lopez Gonzalez, our ECAP department coordinators. Rosa and Melisa led the boots on the ground information sharing across numerous departments. PCAO increased our annual giving by more than $9k in this year’s campaign! It was the largest department increase from last year, and we are now in the silver tier of giving among all departments. Kudos to our staff for increasing our community impact!

There was a lot happening this week. On Wednesday, we set-up a table at Pima Community College’s Downtown Campus for “Take Back the Night,”. The event brings neighbors out to stand united against crime and in support of victims. I had some good conversations with some of our neighbors along with our team. Some of them even walked away with a few of our free gun locks and that’s a win.

Finally, we held our annual Victim Services event on Thursday to honor those who advocate and support victims as they go through the court and healing process. Honorees include:

Maria Magana with the Pima Crime Victim Compensation Board

Tucson Police Department’s Adult Sexual Assault Unit Nicole Houpt, Victim Liaison for The Department of Child Safety

AND Erica Lynch, Deputy Prosecutor for PCAO YAYY!!

Congratulations to all of the recipients and thank you for everything you do!

And last on another high note, and as pictured, we joined Goodwill and again, United Way, this morning at a fantastic opening of an Opportunity Youth Center at 22^nd and Kolb. So many good, good people came together to bring a clubhouse and a lot of hope and resources to an area of town where kids don’t have access to such. Just at the right time as high school lets out for the summer, this Center will be a place to apply for summer jobs, put together a resume, get an outfit and practice for that job interview, and get wraparound services that seem necessary. The work is heavy, but the hope is great.