Project Overview
The 110º Project seeks to strengthen the cognitive, artistic, emotional, civic, and professional skills of local low-income youth. The best national research tells us that young people who are consistently nurtured in these key youth development areas are much more likely to become healthy, emotionally resilient adults who are economically independent and active in the community. The goal of nurturing our teenagers to become caring and contributing adults is a goal we can all agree on.
WHAT do the youth do in the 110º Project for 8 months?
Throughout the eight months of the program, youth work intensively with their mentors on researching and shaping their stories for June 2008 publication in a magazine—110 Degrees: Tucson’s Youth Tell Tucson’s Stories—published in The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson’s largest daily newspaper.
The youth each get their own computer and are paid a stipend based on the percentage of weekly goals they meet.
The program is set up to be a safe and nurturing environment. Adult staff provide cognitive, artistic, and professional mentoring but also serve as caring adults who are “there” for the youth emotionally. We have an informal referral partnership with Our Family when serious emotional and social issues come up with the youth.
Overall, the program is roughly segmented into the following macro-activities:
1) Training in research, interviewing, digital and SLR photography, and digital storytelling;
2) Pitching and outlining stories;
3) Researching stories in the field (library research, interviews, fieldwork, photo shoots, etc.);
4) Writing first drafts and critiquing initial photo shoots;
5) Rewriting and re-shooting photos;
6) More editorial feedback from mentors and Arizona Daily Star staff;
7) Final revisions;
8 ) Publication in The Arizona Daily Star;
9) Celebration at a magazine release party where youth read from their published work and exhibit their photos in large-scale digital presentation.
WHEN does the project take place?
From October through May, the VOICES 110 Degrees After School Magazine Project mentors low-income teenagers (ages 14-21) to tell their personal and community stories using writing, digital photography, and digital media storytelling.
HOW many youth are served?
Twenty. Over the past two fiscal years (since we were released from restrictive County recruiting rules), more than 120 youth have applied for the program.
WHO are the key staff?
Rachel Villarreal, Project Director; Katie Johnson, Writing Director; and Krista Niles, Photography Director. Prior to joining VOICES, Villarreal taught at the University of Arizona and volunteered as a writing mentor with the 110 Degrees program. She is a Ph.D. candidate in Latin American History at the University of Arizona. Johnson has a master’s degree in Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English from the University of Arizona and is a Ph.D. candidate in the same program. Krista Niles, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, comes to VOICES after 14 years in daily photojournalism. She studied photojournalism at San Francisco State University and attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she studied Art History.
