Grantee/Evaluator: Department of Language, Reading and Culture
College of Education
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85719
Project Period:
Principal Investigator: Dr. Octaviana V. Trujillo
Phone Number:
Federal Project Officer: James V. Dolson
Internet:jdolson@acf.dhhs.gov
Summary:This project is transferring an innovative, cooperative community/university model for empowering economically disadvantaged minority communities to respond to the unique needs of their children who are at risk of early school leaving. The model focuses on dropout prevention for preteen Bedouin Arab students in a tribal community in the Negev Desert of Southern Israel. This demonstration model is being transferred to the Pascua Yaquis in a tribal community in the Sonoran Desert of Southern Arizona. The model design includes: linguistically and culturally appropriate instruction in the schools, community-based after-school programming, and family education and training.
The social service model refined and disseminated by this project addresses the dire need of at-risk youth through a community based approach. The University of Arizona and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have committed their resources for technical assistance to the two communities in order to firmly establish such a capability in both. In keeping with the tenets of a true community-based approach, the transfer of the model from Israel to the USA is spearheaded by the two indigenous communities themselves, through the Rahat Council and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, with the universities playing only a support role. The project is family-centered, focusing on locally-developed educational and support strategies which emanate from the participants, and stressing their rights and responsibilities in assuming leadership roles in decision-making, with training to empower them to do so effectively.
The final project report will communicate the experiences of this effort in order to impact policy and program decisions affecting socially and economically disadvantaged youth at-risk populations.
Report availability: Contact the federal project officer to request a copy of the final report.