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DESERT TIMES The Voice of Southwest Tucson
MARCH 1, 2023
INSIDE
VOLUME 36 • NUMBER 3
Tucson’s only wildlife rehab center hosts 11th fundraiser BY HOPE PETERS Tucson Local Media Staff
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time with the doc
s Tucson Wildlife Center’s development coordinator, Hubert Parker says he feels blessed. He is grateful for the community, which covers Tucson Wildlife Center’s $900,000 annual operating costs through grants, donations and fundraisers. “We are blessed with good support around us,” Parker said. “It says a lot about the heart of this town.” The nonprofit will once again rely on the community to help as it hosts its 11th annual fundraiser Sunday, March 12, at the Westin LA Paloma. It begins with cocktails and a silent auction at 4:30 p.m., dinner at 6:30 p.m., followed by a live auction. The live auction includes trips to the Chicago Cubs Wrigley Field Rooftop Experience; a day with a K-9 unit; a private dinner for 12 prepared by Tucson’s renowned chef Janos
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Local youth leader seeks to change state sex education policy
Nothing to do? Plan your weekend here
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Health Make the most of
BY KATYA MENDOZA Tucson Local Media Staff
Sports Meet Colby Price, Athlete of the Week
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M
aritza Roberts-Padilla says quality sexual health education is lacking, so the 18-year-old created Increasing Sexual Literacy Matters (ISL Matters) to bridge the sexual health gap among teenagers. A junior at BASIS Tucson North, Padilla is one of 33 national Civic Spring Fellowship recipients. The New Jersey-based Institute for Citizens and Scholars seeks to engage in the develop-
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A newborn javelina was triaged Jan. 20. (Hope Peters/Staff) Wilder; two tickets and accommodations for the Country Music Awards and a personal tour of the Country Music Hall of Fame; and
ment of civic learning. Audra Watson, senior program director, said that the institute’s mission is to develop young people who are knowledgeable, engaged and hopeful about democracy. “Civic learning encompasses a number of things,” Watson said. “It includes developing civic knowledge, skills and dispositions, understanding what the systems of our government are and how to engage with one another on an individual level.” Watson said in 2020, the institute sought to begin work with young people and called upon youth-led organizations to propose
the naming opportunity for the center’s orsee
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projects and activities that were important to their communities. Most of the topics were a direct result of COVID-19, she said. The organization awarded grants to six groups to support youth’s work. The fellowship was developed by 40 subject-matter experts with recommendations from young people and an independent evaluation was conducted by Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). The findings conveyed that the fellowship helped see
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