Children’s Museum Tucson: Children’s Museum Tucson has received two grants — one from the Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation and another from Angel Charity for Children.
The award from the Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation will support the I am a Scientist! program, which provides bilingual scientific exploration for children in third, fourth and fifth grades from two neighboring Title I schools, Safford K-8 and Carrillo Intermediate Magnet.
The grant is funding another year of the program, which serves 90 students with free after-school science, technology, engineering and math lessons for the school year and a family membership. The program started in 2016 with a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services.
Separately, Angel Charity for Children selected Children’s Museum Tucson as its 2024 Impact grant beneficiary. The museum is slated to receive $1 million for the renovation of a new education center at 130 S. Scott Ave. The new center will include additional program spaces and expand access for children from Title I schools, benefiting an additional 40,000 students in the inaugural year.
In addition to expanding its program space, the museum will also relocate its administrative offices. Space in the existing museum building will also be renovated to add new exhibits, a new entrance, gift shop and café. Current exhibit space will be updated and an outdoor science garden will be added.
American Heritage Railways: True West Magazine presented Allen C. Harper, owner of American Heritage Railways and operator of Old Tucson, with its 2024 True Westerner Award. American Heritage Railways has operated Old Tucson since 2022 and owns the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, Grand Imperial Hotel, Rail Events Inc., and Heritage Rail Management, among other ventures.
City of Tucson’s Housing First: Jeannette Garment, a member of the City of Tucson’s Housing First team who previously experienced an unsheltered life, was honored by Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs for Garment’s work with homeless individuals and her personal resilience.
Jeannette Garment
Hobbs recognized Garment a week after the Arizona Housing Coalition presented Garment with its “Outstanding Achievement in Overcoming Homelessness” award.
The City of Tucson’s Housing First program operates street outreach, housing navigation, emergency shelter, and permanent supportive housing for 1,000 plus Tucsonans each year. All services provided by the Housing First Program are low-barrier and center permanent housing solutions as the primary goal of services.
By the time Aaliyah Ibarra started second grade, her family had moved five times in four years in search of stable housing. As she was about to start a new school, her mother, Bridget Ibarra, saw how much it was affecting her education. At 8 years old, her daughter did not know the alphabet. “She was in second grade and couldn’t tell me any of the letters. I would point them out and she didn’t know," Bridget Ibarra said. "She would sing the song in order, but as soon as I mixed them up, The family's struggles coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic that forced Aaliyah to begin her school experience online. Unfamiliar with a computer, she was regularly kicked out of the virtual classroom for not looking at the screen and taking too many breaks, her mother said. Homeless students often fell through the cracks during the tumult of the pandemic, when many schools struggled to keep track of families with unstable housing. Not being identified as homeless meant students lost out on eligibility for crucial support such as transportation, free uniforms, laundry services and other help.
