Resources for those in need.

A one stop helps men, women and children.

I was like, Oh my God, finally, it's something that actually sleep on instead of a hard core floor.

Yeah, momentarily during the battle pass out, worrying about less kids keeping the focus on class.

What we try to do, most importantly, is provide them with those items and necessities that they may need to be successful in school, getting back to business along the border.

Nearly two years later, most port restrictions are lifted.

Actually, I love customer symposium being here 19 years.

So we, we we are preparing for that.

Hello and welcome to Arizona 360, I'm Lorraine Rivera.

Thanks so much for joining us.

A longtime Tucson shelter is getting attention for the services it provides to some of the neediest in the region.

The Gospel Rescue Mission recently expanded to what's known as the center of opportunity.

It's quickly becoming a model in the country, with nearly a dozen states visiting to see what makes it work so well on any given day.

Gospel Rescue Mission is housing about 350 men, women and children.

That's about 60% of its total capacity because of the ongoing restrictions due to the pandemic.

And this winter, more than 100 families will get the keys to affordable housing units.

It's all happening inside of a former hotel that's been given a new purpose And the sweet sound of a piano in a grand lobby is typical.

What's different is that the man playing the notes on this Friday morning is a self-taught pianist, a homeless man named Isaac.

For the last five months, the Gospel Rescue Mission in Tucson has been his refuge for 17.

Since the 1958 Gospel Rescue Mission has served Tucson's neediest, in 2019, it expanded to this additional site along Interstate ten.

This campus is known as a center of opportunity, a one stop shop that includes everything from government resources to housing, health care, faith and fellowship, a blessing for Jeremy Raymond and his family.

Jeremy says this fall, their landlord told them the lease would not be renewed.

one eviction already on their record.

The family couldn't afford another, so Jerry put the family's things into storag and they slept in their SUV at a truck stop to be really good at this.

It was really difficult.

We were trying.

This was the last resort and and the last resort work on this particular day.

Mom is at work and it's fall break for the kids.

No money or place to go.

Foosball is their escape.

No.

Ha ha ha ha.

Their faces lit up there.

Like this toys.

There's pool tables.

There's there's stuff.

There's stuff for them to do.

They're not just we're not stuck up in here and that's really nice.

Dad shares this room with the boys on another floor is where mom stays with 13 year old Morgan.

I was like, Oh my God, finally, it's something that actually sleep on instead of a hard core floor.

Yeah, home.

And we lay down in the basement cast out.

That was all of them.

They all the second.

They hit the beds.

It was that first night.

It was horrible, and I think it was all of us.

It's just sleeping in a car is hard.

It's difficult.

No TV or refrigerator in the rooms, the decor limited It's simple and their basic needs are met.

The experience is especially trying on the kids.

It's hard because you have to focus on both school and the stress of actually being somewhere new.

It's just like it combines, and it just like doesn't make sense to my brain.

But the family is together, and most of their worries have diminished.

The food is amazing.

I just probably eat everything plus a little snacks, one that it took about the entire time.

During the pandemic, gospel rescue mission met the increase in needs.

In 2020, the shelter served more than 218,000 meals and recorded about 60,000 bed stays for adults and another 14,000 for children.

Leading the charge is Lisa Chastain.

It's been a labor of love for her family since the beginning in 1953.

Our goal is for those people that really want to end homelessness out of their lives that they can come here and there's no excuses not to.

So we're not a one size fits all place.

You know, we do have requirements for you to get here.

You have to be able to take care of yourself.

You have to be you can't be drunk or under the influence or on any type of drugs.

If you are, though, we'll transport you to detox, hold a bed and have you come back.

So our goal with everybody that walks in the door, even though we're not 100% fit for everybody who comes here, is to not say we can't help you, but to say, OK, this organization can help you and actually get them.

Their support like that makes a world of difference for women like Gisela Apodaca, a mom of four, a caregiver who lost her job during the pandemic.

I was homeless for a month with my kids in the car, and I needed to change and I needed them for, you know, a comfort for them somewhere to sleep.

Wake up.

Yeah, there's two room suite known here is a casita is their temporary home.

Balancing a new job and school is tough for a family in transition.

My day, I wake up at four in the morning.

I give myself just four and then I start getting everybody else just.

And then we're out the door by 5:00.

And then I stop at the gas station to get them some food or, you know, get a snack before they go to daycare and then a daycar and then a clock.

And I work at 16 and then I come back 2:00 p.m.

I do community service.

And then a more like five to three hours and then at 4:00, I go and pick everybody up, and then they they come, they change their clothes, they put their backpac and then they eat their dinner and then they just hang out in this area and they play for a little while.

And then then it's empty.

Every guest here is expected to volunteer and utilize services like workforce development, though permits to leave are granted for work, school or other appointments.

Attorney services.

Maybe they don't have their ID.

Maybe they need medical services, dental services, government benefits, all of those things that are hindrances from them moving forward.

We provided the solution here.

We built this place based on relationships, right?

People are out in their homeless and they become hardened.

Their value system is lying and cheating and and arguing.

And so this is a place where we try to rebuild their value system.

And the only way for us to be able to help them initially is for them to trust us.

This is one of the few shelters that supports men, women and children at one location.

Though some guests are felons, sex offenders are not permitted More than 300 cameras and 70 staff monitor the site.

Safety is our number one priority safety and our guest safety for our staff.

Safety for the volunteers.

After living on the streets, that peace is welcome for 50 year old Johnny Allen.

He's lived in shelters on and off for most of his adult life.

This is like.

To me, it feels like a mansion like, you know, because you have more space.

You have rules to abide by, but you know who does it.

I mean, I have somewhere to sleep.

I can rest my head, I can eat.

I can wash my clothes.

I could, you know, they beat us three times a day.

So I mean, I'm so grateful this place is here because if you're a mechanic who makes money working on cars or pulling weeds, he's hoping something permanent comes through.

We have a computer room to look for work.

I can check my email.

I can talk to my friends.

I have a phone that I got.

It's an Obama phone like I can.

I'm connected on Facebook.

So when people need me to clean the yard or do mechani work, get off Facebook or I check my email here.

So far this year, more than 350 guests have found jobs.

In some cases, employers contact the mission looking for workers knowing people here are in a stable environment and on the path to recovery.

It's made possible by generosity and compassion of more than 300 volunteers who donate nearly 30,000 hours every year.

Yes, we all need real change is wonderful in this space, and the hope it offers is the vision and action of Humberto Lopez, a longtime philanthropist who made his fortune in real estate He bought this former hotel and partnered with Gospel Rescue Mission on a 99 year lease.

The first, the goal was to treat these people with dignity and respect, provided all the service would get to set up an endowment to be able to carry the services center, provide grants to those operating here and to maintain the property.

Born and raised in the border towns of Nogales, his family struggled.

I grew up in welfare and I've been very blessed.

So what I'm doing is sharing my blessings and have said for years, those much have been given.

We have an obligation to give back.

The center is privately funded over the last two years, in-kind donations have averaged between four and $5 million.

I don't see the problem that we see today is going to go away anytime soon.

I think it's going to be with us for a long, long time.

So as long as we have the problems, we hope to be here.

What is your personal hope for the men, the women, the children who come in through these doors?

I, my hope is for them to get well, to go out again as productive citizens of the community and live a normal life as opposed to the life we are living right now.

Why do this?

I mean, you don't have to.

You're a long time philanthropist, successful businessman.

Well, you know, I've got everything I want.

There's nothing else I need and I've got more than I need.

So it it's a it's a good way to use my money to help others with help, and it was right up there to bring it back.

Simple as that.

Well, there's no other motive behind it.

Every time we're given a dollar, I get $2, the more I give.

That's the reason I'm giving more to and keep growing The faces will change.

The desire to help will not.

Nor will the appreciation.

Don't be afraid to ask for help and go to God.

I mean, he'll he'll help you out.

I mean, he provided this place for us and it's working for us.

So, I mean, just have faith.

It's going to get better.

You can only hit rock bottom once.

(VOICEOVER) Miles away from the center of opportunity is the heart program.

It's based out of the Tucson Unified School District.

(Kris) When our family is coming there are allotted five items.

Five tops, five bottoms and of course, it goes to need.

(VOICEOVER) Items in this room are dedicated to helping students who are struggling at home.

(Alma) What we try to do, most importantly, is provide them with those items and necessities that they may need to be successful in school.

(VOICEOVER) Alma Iniguez is a former teacher.

Today, she's the director of family and community outreach, overseeing local, state and federal resources that help students.

(Alma) So the McKinney-Vento law makes sure that the students, first and foremost are enrolled in school automatically, that there are no barriers for them, whether they have their birth certificate with them or not.

That's that's a barrier.

So no, we immediately enroll the students and make sure that they have free lunch, free breakfast and transportation to their school of origin, which is very important because if they get displaced and have to move to another shelter or another place with family members, they're able to come back to their school of origin and that is not disrupted.

So we make sure we have that for the students and most importantly, of course, transportation.

The students who are McKinney-Vento they are.

We have support for them throughout the year from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

We also can provide them at the end if they're seniors caps and gowns for them, for their graduation and also help them with any classes they want to take during the summer.

(Lorraine) That's saying that it takes a village to raise a child.

Correct The teachers are trained to sort of identify children who may be struggling.

What sorts of things are they looking for in the classroom?

(Alma) So each teacher needs to take the mandatory McKinney-Ventotraining at the beginning of the school year.

And so there we make sure that in our training, we let the teachers know that if they see students who are maybe struggling academically, if they're tired in class, if they're always hungry, if maybe their clothing, you know, is torn or even, you know, dirty at times that we that we tell the teachers, make sure that you either talk to the parent to help them fill out the form, or they can even call our office and we can fill out the form for them.

(VOICEOVER) TUSD is one of the largest school districts in the state, with 89 schools.

More than 80 are categorized as Title 1, which means more than 40% of the student population are considered low income.

(Alma) The challenging days are those where we hear about situations where a family has just been displaced and they're waiting either, you know, to go into a shelter or a motel hotel.

There's a shortage right now.

We all know.

And so that is it's disheartening.

But when we have those families who maybe the mom is saying, You know what, I'm trying to get on track.

I just got a little apartment and I'm trying to get back to work that just fills our heart.

And we know that that kid's going to have a good year, a good rest of the year.

And so that makes us happy.

And as long as they they feel comfortable knowing that they can come and shop here, and it's going to be OK.

I think that fills our heart.

(Lorraine) You said 500 students but TUSD has north of 40,000 students.

The number of centers are growing.

There's probably a greater need out there.

(Alma) Pre-pandemic, we had over 1000 students and last year and this year we have, you know, we haven't gotten those numbers.

And to be honest with you, it is not just here in TUSD but it's across, I don't know if it's across the nation, but for sure in Arizona.

(Lorraine)You mentioned clothing, shoes, hygiene products.

I mean, beyond that, though, there's a pantry of food and also resources for mom and dad if they need them.

(Alma) Correct, And so in our family resource centers, we have our food pantry.

And the families are more than welcome to visit any of the family resource centers across the U.S. and, you know, take nonperishable items.

Sometimes we do actually get fresh produce and meat.

We also have additional school supplies, if needed, backpacks.

And then we also have hygiene hygiene items at the at the other family centers.

And then if parents want to help with maybe finding a job or creating a resume, we have those offerings as well And then classes and workshops for four parents.

(VOICEOVER) Without community donations, items like this would not be possible.

(Alma) She donates a pillow and a pair of pajamas for the students.

(VOICEOVER) It's the little things that make (VOICEOVER) It's the little things that make Meanwhile, items in this room are harder to come by.

These are like our little hygiene bags right here.

(VOICEOVER) And then there's support from the community food bank.

Helping make sure families are nourished (Alma) And some grape jelly.

(VOICEOVER) Back inside is Kris Neal, (VOICEOVER) Back inside is Kris Neal, (Kris) So I go into our schools and I provide intensive responsive support for our high population areas.

And then basically, I go in and build relationships with the students and see what their needs are.

Build relationship with the families as well and find out what their needs are and try to support them the best that we can.

(VOICEOVER) A longtime Tucsonan and former college football player.

(Kris) I like to go in.

Any family that I meet, I like to go with an open mind and no judgment.

And I just come to their level and we just try to just open up so we can.

We can build a relationship and they know that they can trust me, and that's probably where it starts.

(Lorraine) There are a lot of people and this is outside of their orbit.

They they can't fathom a parent who can't get their kid to school or a good meal in their bellies or shelter over their heads.

What do you want them to know about the kind of work that you guys are doing to help change that?

(Kris) We want to let them know that, you know, sometimes situations happen, and it's not necessarily the stereotypes that you see that when you see a family homeless or displays, it's not necessarily that they're not doing what they're supposed to do.

Sometimes it's just they got dealt a bad deck of cards and and they all everybody's trying to do trying to do the best they can for themselves.

But there's not a lot of resources out there anymore.

And I just try to have people have an open, open eyes and open heart.

(VOICEOVER)Along the way, they've learned that what kids face today impacts them later.

So helping them now matters.

(Alma) For those students to have the opportunity to go to school every day, just like any other student will be.

To get a better understanding of what the current economic picture entails in southern Arizona, we checked in with Megan Biskupski, the business and economics reporter here at Arizona Public Media.

Megan, good to have you on the program.

Thanks for having me.

If someone needs rental assistance, how easy is it to come by?

So it's not immediate.

Usually takes about 60 days right now, and that actually comparatively around the country is pretty good.

Pima County, though, is getting its money from the federal government, and then it distributes it locally.

Correct.

Right.

And Pima County has actually done really well there So among the cities, counties, states that report those numbers.

Pima County is actually head and shoulders above other place in how quickly they've been able to roll out those funds.

In your reporting, what have you learned about what makes Pima County so different from other places in the state?

It's just an efficient program, and actually it's so efficient that the is asking the state to go to a lot some of the state's funding to them and other counties because they do have these programs, they have the infrastructure set up to get that money to people a little quicker.

You've tabulated about $30 million in assistance coming to this region.

What does that look like?

How does it actually kind of go out in the community So that goes into that goes into Pima County's eviction prevention program, which usually means rental assistance for families who can't quite make make rent that month or utility assistance.

In my reporting this week, we see children who are experiencing displacement.

Are there different conversations about children and their families and how they're being sheltered this time around?

Yeah, absolutely.

So a constable for Pima County told me that that's something that that was not happening before the pandemic, at least not to this extent.

And the shelters here, for the most part, aren't built to house children to this extent.

So they are mostly geared towards people who are single and people who fall into the chronically homeless category.

So that means they're they're trying to put together programs to deal with this problem on the spot, like hotel vouchers are a lot more common right now than than they were before the pandemic.

Let's move to statewide economy.

You hear a lot of analysts saying that Arizona is on the rebound.

They're painting a very rosy picture, but there's likely some areas that continue to lag correct?

Absolutely.

So like a lot of the country, restaurants and hotels are still having a hard time hiring people and getting to full capacity what's called business services.

So attorneys, engineers, that sort of thing.

They're also a little slower to pick up.

Construction has been slow for a while, and I think the pandemic didn't help.

And, you know, even there's a lot of tech jobs out there in Arizona, still, for sure.

So there are some areas that are lagging, but there are others that are doing very well.

So when you look at the overall economy in the state of Arizona, how do you rate it?

Who's really the gatekeeper of deciding whether or not things are doing well?

You know, I think that's an interesting question because I think a lot of I think a lot of economists are still kind of trying to figure out what's happening with the labor market.

There's still a lot of unusual things, and there's still so many different reasons why things aren't, you know, they why we have such great numbers.

But then a lot of businesses are saying that they can't find people to work.

And that could be, you know, people.

A lot of people decided to retire.

For example, over the course of the pandemic or people reevaluated where they were in other ways and maybe decided make a job change.

And even a lot of businesses are just not finding candidates that they feel are exactly the right fit for those jobs .

It depends on which side of the spectrum you fall on.

Absolutely.

OK, Megan, thank you.

Thank you This week, most restrictions at land ports of entry ended along the US-Mexico border.

The Department of Homeland Security opened border crossing to vaccinated Mexican nationals entering the U.S. for what's known as non-essential reasons, things like visiting and shopping following 18 months.

The announcement was welcome news for families and businesses along the border.

Tony Bonagura has a story.

(Tony Paniagua) Nogales, Arizona, is busier than it's been in almost two years now that Mexican shoppers and visitors are able to reenter United States and the city is exhilarated to have them.

This sign, says bienvenidos amigos de vuelta, welcome back friends.

(Michelle) For us, it's very, very good.

We are very excited.

(Tony) Michelle Ortiz works at the Boot Barn at the Mariposa Shopping Center, a few miles north of the border.

Here a steady stream of Sonoran license plates is visible once more.

It's a very big deal for many merchants and Nogales residents, such as Ortiz, who has worked here for nearly 20 years.

Mexican citizens who live south of the border are by far the biggest customer base.

(Michelle) 90, 95% they are from Mexico.

They come in from Hermosillo, Sinaloa.

(Tony) José David Rosas lives in Hermosillo, the capital of Arizona's neighboring state of Sonora.

On a whim, Rosas and two friends decided to drive north for several hours.

(José) [speaking Spanish] (translated) After almost two years of the border being blocked for us, many of us want to enter Arizona to visit family members and make some purchases, especially in Nogales, since it is the closest destination for us.

We were excited because this is something historic.

I had not decided to drive here until Sunday when we heard the border would open after midnight.

(Tony) The reopening is even more significant along Morley Avenue, where the pedestrian border entry had completely shut down.

Unlike the other ports that still handle traffic.

Michael Humphries is the Nogales port director for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

(Michael) Most families have family on both sides of the border, so those people who had tourist visas, you know, weren't able to see their families for 19 months over a year and a half.

I don't think that's ever happened before.

So a lot of anticipation moving up to this and people are very happy on both sides.

(Tony) On Morley Avenue, many of these businesses were already struggling prior to COVID, so shoppers are welcome and needed.

Mariá del Carmen Moreno lives in Nogales, Sonora.

She enjoys walking into Arizona with her daughters.

(Mariá) [speaking Spanish] (translated) Thank God we can once again cross into Arizona, where we have close friends and family members.

I like to walk in and look around.

I know there's many people in Mexico who feel the same way.

This is good timing, too, with Christmas and other holidays just around the corner.

We'll be able to do some shopping here.

(Tony) The mayor of Nogales says 2020 and 2021 have been some of the most difficult in the town's history, with COVID contributing to about three dozen business closures.

More than 60% of the sales tax revenue in Arizona's Nogales comes from Mexican shoppers, so reopening the border, especially during the holidays, is beneficial.

However, there is still uncertainty.

(Arturo) My vice mayor, she goes into Nogales, Sonora a lot and she told me you know Mayor, one thing that you don't know is that people are getting so used to shopping over there and going groceries, restaurants, she insisted.

She told me there's a bunch of restaurants, a bunch of new stores in Sonora.

So let's see if it comes back, the momentum comes back.

But I think it will.

I think it will just take a little take a little while.

(Tony) For now, there's a sigh of relief about the economy.

(Arturo) And not only that, but I'm glad that a lot of families are going to be able to get together for the holidays.

And matter of fact, that's our theme for the light parade that together this Christmas that we're all going to be together this Christmas.

So let's hope that it remains this way and we can start the year of good.

Back at the Boot Barn, employees like Michelle Ortiz are excited about the next few weeks.

Last year's pandemic related border closures during the holidays were catastrophic for commerce.

(Michelle) Actually, I love customers, that's why I [laughs] been here 19 years, so we, we we are prepared for that.

Next week, we'll see how Customs and Border Protection is handling the increase in traffic at Arizona's ports of en including verifying vaccine documents.

And that's our program.

Remember, you can always get in touch on social media or send an email to Arizona 360 at A-Z JPMorgan.

Also visit our website A-Z p.m. dot org for more coverage on things happening throughout the state.

Thanks for joining us.

We'll see you next week.