Two local groups hosted holiday parties last weekend, raising awareness of Arizona's high rate of incarceration while also providing attendees a way to give back.
Caitlin Schmidt Dozens of Tucsonans turned out to write holiday cards and send messages of hope to some of the thousands of people incarcerated in Arizona prisons.
People are also reading… The pair of holiday parties helped raise awareness of Arizona's high rate of incarceration and the groups' causes, while providing those who attended a way to give back, either through holiday cards, donations or simply learning more about how to help. Rebecca and her husband Hector were one such pair, writing card after card while also chatting with the woman and child sitting at their table.
"It's especially hard this time of year," Hector said."It's about being human, because in the end, no one's perfect." Claire Tate, vice president of co-hosting nonprofit The S.T.A.R.T. Project, brought her children to the party, with her daughter drawing colorful pictures for card recipients. Just Communities' Isaacs said the groups ordered 2,300 cards, twice as many as previous years, with the addition of partner organizations' inmate lists. While not every card was completed, the groups are working to finish the handful that remains.
The group is drafting a report from the survey results it expects to release in the spring, but select data is already up on Just Communities' website. "We have to start asking different questions of different people instead of doing the asking and answering," she said."When you ask communities 'what does safety look like', you have to get really hyperlocal."
Rainey said poverty is a huge barrier, preventing many defendants from being able to pay bail, hire private attorneys or even purchase phone time or items from the jail commissary. Rainey pointed to a recent article in The Atlantic that said the average family doesn't have $400 to cover an emergency.In 2021, 14.9% of Pima County residents were living in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
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