[Ed. Note: Kelsey Merkel is a University of Arizona journalism student. She wrote this story as her end-of-term project for her Reporting Public Affairs class taught by TucsonCitizen.com site administrator Mark B. Evans]

A high-school transition program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities is giving children in Tucson with special needs the opportunity to gain real-world working experiences before making the transition to college or employment.

Project SEARCH, now in its second full year and provided through the Pima County Joint Technical Education District, is a proven success preparing developmentally disabled students for jobs in Tucson.

Shane Dasso, 19, works Monday through Friday as a mailroom clerk at the University of Arizona Medical Center South Campus. His tasks include sorting, delivering, picking up and sending the mail. Shane has Asperger’s syndrome, or high functioning autism, and graduated from Project SEARCH in May after completing the nine-month program.

“It came on when he was just finishing eighth grade,” said Steven Dasso, Shane’s father. “He had trouble walking and started twitching really bad. He was being treated for Tourette syndrome and at first we just thought that the Tourette’s was getting worse.”

After spending weeks with different neurologists and psychiatrists in different hospitals and trying various medications and higher dosages, a psychiatrist in Phoenix finally diagnosed Shane with Asperger’s and prescribed four medications that cured his symptoms.

“It was amazing,” Steven said. “It only took about two days and we saw a remarkable difference.”

Shane never went to a regular high school after his diagnosis. The doctor told the family that he thought it better for Shane to be home-schooled. His parents chose Direct Link, Tucson Unified School District’s homebound program, for Shane’s schooling.

After three years at home, both parents and Shane’s home-school teacher saw improvements with his health and functionality and even considered sending him to a regular high school for his junior or senior year. Then his teacher recommended Project SEARCH.

“My family and I discussed it for like a month until we actually signed the papers,” Shane said. “I am glad that we did, because I don’t know what I would do without that program.”

Project SEARCH is for students with disabilities in their last year of high school and includes a nine-month internship at a health industry or business setting where there is immersion in the workplace, continuous feedback and application of new skills.

What started in 1996 as an innovative business employment-training model for high school students with disabilities at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Ohio has now been replicated in 39 states and four countries with the hopes of continued expansion.

Marcie Mendelsohn, transition coordinator for Project SEARCH in Cincinnati, said the process of bringing a site to a community could start as soon as contact with the national office begins. “If there is someone out there serious about getting a site started, we work with the statewide Developmental Disability Councils to create grants and partners to support a site,” Mendelsohn said.

The Sonoran University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities is the licensee with the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (national Project SEARCH) and coordinator for Project SEARCH at the UA Medical Center South Campus.

“After visiting the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital’s Project SEARCH, we started working with partners here to develop the program in Tucson,” said Laura Schweers, statewide coordinator for Project SEARCH Arizona.

The Sonoran UCEDD recruited the Pima County Joint Technical Education District, which agreed to fund the unique, business-led program by providing certified special education instructors who also were certified in career and technical education.

Greg D’Anna, director of public relations for Pima County JTED, said Project SEARCH Arizona covers most of the program’s operating costs.

Pima County JTED also provides necessary facilities, equipment, supplies, maintenance, property and liability insurance to conduct the JTED Courses. Students must apply for Project SEARCH.

“Our goal is to have a broad representation of students,” Schweers said.

A prospective intern must be able to maintain appropriate behavior, hygiene, and social skills in the workplace without immediate supervision. While instructors and job coaches support interns in their rotations, the expectation is that support fades as interns gain skills and confidence within a rotation. Therefore, a student requiring one-on-one support would not be a candidate for the program.

“Selection criteria can vary,” Schweers said. “We typically have candidates who have autism, but we don’t really look at look at disability types.”

Potential interns must also be from Pima County between 18 and 21 years of age who are nearing high school graduation.

Although there is a little bit of wiggle room in the capacity for the program, Schweers said enrollment is usually limited to 12 a year because there is only one dedicated instructor who is augmented by several job coaches.

“We wouldn’t really want a larger number in a particular business because you wouldn’t want to over saturate,” Schweers said. “And of course we hope that the business is going to hire 30 percent of the student interns. If you have a higher number then you are over saturating the applicant pool.”

Two graduates from last year’s pilot program have been hired part-time at the UA Medical Center South Campus.

There are 11 Project SEARCH students this school year who get to the UAMC South Campus every morning before 8 a.m. and stay until 3 p.m. In that time they have classroom instruction, morning rotation in a chosen hospital department, lunch, afternoon rotation and then reflection and journaling with the classroom instructor at the end of the day.

“It is not a typical thing where a student would report to a rotation and be asked to go make a copy and get coffee or something,” Dan Habinek, Project SEARCH instructor said. “They are a part of the system at the hospital and they do dynamite work on a daily basis. We couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Frank Granillo, a paramedic and Project SEARCH supervisor in the emergency department, said he has seen a lot of social growth with the students after working with them the past 16 weeks.

“They have to get involved in introducing themselves to their co-workers to knowing who they are. You’ll see them develop and come out of their shell and have better social interaction,” Granillo said.

Christopher Crawford, 19, finished his first rotation of the year a few weeks ago in the emergency department with Granillo. Crawford said he helped restock the department storage room and get the patients what they needed while keeping them comfortable and warm. He said that he enjoys every part of his day at the hospital.

“Project SEARCH has been a blast. It’s been really fun. You’re always seeing a lot of new faces, entertaining people… and lunch—the food is very delicious,” Crawford said.

The students don’t need much outside motivation to come to the hospital every day and work hard. Habinek said they are all dedicated and committed to their work in a professional environment and that many kids will only miss a day or two throughout the year.

“One fascinating thing that we’ve seen with these students is that they want to be here,” Habinek said. “They love the program and they buy into it.”

Now working in the mailroom and attending a writing class at Pima Community College, Shane has come a long way from where he was with his Asperger’s.

“I can’t believe what a blessing and what a great program it is,” Steven Dasso said. It was the best thing so far that has happened for Shane.”

Shane agrees. “I’ve learned a lot of great job skills, met a lot of really nice people, and I got hired — that’s the main thing,” he said.

He has transformed and grown tremendously and not only do his family members notice it, but also doctors and nurses in the hospital.

“In the first two weeks of school, you could hear a pin drop. And then all of a sudden they start growing,” Habinek said. “We will be in the hospital and doctors and nurses will say that they saw these students the first week of school and they were so timid and so shy but that they have grown so much since then socially, and that’s the biggest part of the program — they become advocates for themselves.”

Not only has the program been successful for the students and their families, but it has been beneficial to the hospital as well. From a financial aspect, Habinek said the hospital saves about $200,000 a year having interns help with their tasks and rotations.

Other businesses will have the opportunity to save money if the program follows through with plans to expand to new JTED-funded Project SEARCH sites.

The Sonoran UCEDD is recruiting another business partner in hopes of having a second Project SEARCH site.

Schweers said discussions have been underway with UA student affairs to develop a program for the 2012 – 2013 school year that would include internships in the bookstore, campus recreation and dining at the student union.

“We are in the process of establishing a memorandum of understanding of what they will offer.” Brent Neilson, director of central campuses for Pima County JTED said. “This involves a classroom space and access to different clinical rotations similar to that of at the hospital.”

Although the partnership has not yet been finalized, Habinek said it is looking like a slam-dunk.

“One of the big things we were looking forward to in our expansion with the University of Arizona is to give students a little more taste of the business world.” Habinek said.

Pima County JTED hopes to continue to expand Project SEARCH sites throughout Tucson in the near future, and many businesses and organizations such as Raytheon have expressed an interest.

“There is a huge need for this program,” Habinek said.  “So that is kind of the goal, awareness and to expand.”

[Ed. Note: Johanna Willett is a University of Arizona journalism student. She wrote this story as her end-of-term project for her Reporting Public Affairs class taught by TucsonCitizen.com site administrator Mark B. Evans]

Flying dirt and emerging orange cones in March will signal the official start of construction on the modern streetcar route and a continuing balancing act between revitalizing the city and encouraging tradition.

The streetcar will connect the Arizona Health Sciences Center with Fourth Avenue, downtown Tucson and the development area west of Interstate 10. The University of Arizona is expected to supply a steady flow of riders between campus and the downtown area, providing an economic boost to downtown. The streetcar should open for public use in 2013.

Official construction on the route was bumped back from the start of the New Year to March so that potential contractors could prepare their bids. Overall, the delays should not impact the project significantly.

Because the streetcar uses major streets such as Congress Street, its operation has forced several Tucson events to accommodate it.

Large parades such as the 21-year-old All Souls Procession will have to modify routes away from the streetcar. The procession draws about 20,000 people each year and participants make their way through downtown, honoring and celebrating deceased loved ones.

The streetcar also will require Tucson Weekly’s Club Crawl music festival to make some changes, eliminating closing off Congress Street the day of the event. Instead of filling the street with stages for the dozens of local and national musicians and bands that serenade bar hoppers, the streetcar route will force the event to slip stages in club-side nooks and crannies so the streetcar can run on a continuous schedule.

“I’m actually excited about Club Crawl becoming more of a true pub crawl than just a festival,” said Todd Hanley, the general manager at Hotel Congress. “It will create pockets for people to go to instead of a big, outdoor area.”

Jim Glock, Tucson’s former transportation director, said he believes that establishing public credibility in a reliable transit system that arrives every 10 minutes will make these changes worth it.

“The goal is to keep the streetcar operating during events and get people to them,” Glock said. “I am cautiously optimistic that we can accommodate events and use the streetcar to get patrons down there.”

The city also hopes to work with the Old Pueblo Trolley, which stopped running at the end of October to prepare for construction of the new streetcar tracks. The streetcar will span the trolley’s traditional route, and the two transit systems may share a track when the streetcar opens in 2013.

Tom Gorman, the vice president of the Old Pueblo Trolley’s street operations division, said he hopes that the trolley can meet the new safety regulations after construction in order to resume the trek it has made up and down University Boulevard and Fourth Avenue since 1993, according to the trolley’s web site.

Although he supports the streetcar, Gorman also said he values the historic tradition behind the Old Pueblo Trolley.

“Some people don’t give a damn about history, but for some it’s a little sense of where things were and where they came from,” Gorman said. “We’re not trying to throw everyone back. We’re trying to remind people that we’ve come a long way.”

Shellie Ginn, the city’s project manager for the streetcar, said she understands the importance of history and tradition but admits the trolley may have a difficult time meeting the safety requirements necessary to operate.

With $63 million of funding for the $196.8 million project coming from stimulus money through Federal Transit Administration TIGER grants, all elements of the system must meet safety requirements proposed by the city and federally approved. This includes Old Pueblo Trolley.

“We want to help Old Pueblo Trolley to see if they can run again,” Ginn said. “They might run weekend and special event services. The streetcar focuses on transportation, but the Old Pueblo Trolley is more for tourists.”

Ginn says the city has also begun working with other Tucson traditions, advising alternative parade routes that move away from the tracks and the overhead, electric wires.

“We can’t just close down a street where the streetcar line is,” Ginn said. “We’re trying to be really sensitive to the needs of Tucson and the tradition of the city.”

The biannual Fourth Avenue Street Fair is the only event not moving for the streetcar, instead the streetcar is accommodating the fair.

The fair attracts anywhere from 200,000 to 350,000 visitors, according to the Fourth Avenue Merchants Association website. Over 400 vendors peddle their artistic handiwork, and dozens of food options satisfy the palate. Instead of running through Fourth Avenue during fair days, the streetcar will stop at both ends of the street—a deal worked out between the Fourth Avenue Merchants Association and the city.

“It’s a 42-year-old event,” said John Sedwick, the executive director of the Fourth Avenue Merchants Association. “The street fair is a community event. We went through many meetings in order to compromise with the city.”

The streetcar will not end Tucson traditions; it will work with them, revitalizing downtown by framing the city’s heritage in a context of progress, Ginn said.

“For decades, downtown has been languishing for want of success and contribution to the city,” said former Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup. “This is a single project that gives hope to the future.”

As early as the 1980s, Tucson has explored light rail and streetcar systems, Glock said. When the FTA approved the project in 2009 and awarded the city a grant in 2010, a rail system became a reality for Tucson.

“There’s always that perception that the project is never going to happen,” said Carlos de Leon, the Regional Transportation Authority’s director of transit services. “A lot of people say, ‘Show me. I don’t believe it.’ They don’t believe it until they see streets torn up.” The RTA co-manages the streetcar project with the city..

An intergovernmental agreement between RTA and the city promises to provide any additional funding needed beyond the estimated amount in order to make the streetcar a reality. The city also took responsibility for securing funds for “project costs in excess of RTA funds contributed to the project,” according to the funding agreement, signed in May 2010.

Although the city continues to apply for grants to fulfill its end of the deal, the project can continue full-steam ahead.

For businesses along the streetcar route, imminent construction will bring a headache that can threaten to overshadow the excitement of increased traffic.

In order to help businesses cope with limited access and fewer visitors, RTA offers free consultation through MainStreet Business Assistance.

“The biggest challenge is not the project, but the public perception of the project,” said Britton Dornquast, the program manager for MainStreet Business Assistance. “A lot of people avoid an area when they see cones.”

On Fourth Avenue, the Fourth Avenue Merchants Association plans to turn construction into a positive experience. The delayed start to construction will not impact the street fair, Sedwick said.

“We’re going to try and make construction fun rather than an obstacle,” Sedwick said. “We’re going to draw people down here with contests and takes pictures of the construction as it happens.”

Surviving construction requires “turning off victim mode,” Dornquast said.

“Focus on what you can control, because you have zero power over the fact that it rained and construction is a mud hole,” Dornquast said. “Crap happens during construction. Screaming at the construction workers gets you nowhere.”

While construction will affect some access to business on the streetcar route, many of the businesses downtown and along Fourth Avenue and University Boulevard already rely heavily on pedestrian traffic. As sidewalks will remain primarily open, people can continue to park and walk, Dornquast said.

When the streetcar opens, those along the route will see the payoff for enduring construction.

“[Tucson residents] can park in a garage at one end and take the streetcar to any destination along that route,” said Donovan Durband the former director of Downtown Tucson Alliance and current staff for Councilman Steve Kozachik. “The streetcar would become part of a multi-modal trip, with driving and walking as well as streetcar-riding.”

For much of Tucson, the streetcar won’t be part of daily life.

“People have questioned why we put the route where we did,” Walkup said. “They’re upset that it’s not in their own backyards.”

To start, students and professionals will be the primary users of the streetcar, until the rest of the city becomes accustomed to the value of parking in one garage for multiple destinations, de Leon said.

“The streetcar is a connector to make people feel like they can get places both physically and mentally,” Ginn said. “There are psychological barriers like the railroad by Fourth Avenue, the Interstate-10, and Santa Cruz River. These make people feel like parts of the city are inaccessible.”

Simply connecting the University of Arizona to the downtown area opens up a significant portion of the city to otherwise trapped students.

“The two busiest places in the whole city are campus and downtown,” said David Heineking, the UA director of parking and transportation. “The university needs to do our part to make Tucson a great place to live, and we can do that by making downtown accessible. Faculty and students will be able to swing down for some lunch or drinks.”

The streetcar will run through the UA campus, through the Warren Avenue underpass and down Second Street. This connection allows a physically landlocked university to expand to other areas of Tucson, incorporating its academic programs, student housing, and general presence into the community.

“My belief is that this is a real, economic stimulus,” said Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild. “People want to live and work close to the route, and this was the shot in the arm to get student housing happening downtown.”

Although the final plans for this phase of the streetcar project were just completed, future plans reach as far as 2040, including extensions to other areas of Tucson such as the Tucson Mall and Tucson International Airport, said de Leon.

Some Tucsonans still haven’t bought into the belief of this initial route as the city’s lifesaver.

“There is a lot of skepticism outside of the downtown/UA area that this may be an expensive boondoggle that no one will ride,” Durband said.

Shaun McClusky, an early Republican contender in the recent mayoral race and a Tucson realtor, believes the streetcar is an “exorbitant cost” destined to be a “colossal failure.”

“Right now, I don’t think the city is doing anything to encourage proactive growth around the route,” McClusky said. “They’ll claim it’s the hardship of the economic times, but if not now, when? What will drive people to use the trolley if there’s nothing down there?”

McClusky only sees the benefit for drunken college students and the businesses they patronize.

“Some entrepreneurs are fighting the good fight down there, and they’re winning,” McClusky said. “It’s voter-mandated and voter-approved. Once you get that federal money, you can’t unwind. This is an avalanche that is already moving forward, so you have to create the hype.”

De Leon sees it instead as depicting a realistic and hopeful future.

“Projects are painful; there’s no way around it,” de Leon said. “After it opens, though, people see the value and forget the construction. They start thinking about extensions.”

By Pearl Chang Esau,
President/CEO, Expect More Arizona

Arizonans cannot afford to wait for better education. Although Arizona is one of the fastest improving states in education, at the current rate, it would take decades for our students to catch up with those in the number one state in the country, Massachusetts.

Arizona students continue to lag their national and international peers in academic performance, high school graduation rates and degree attainment. With 74 percent of Arizona fourth graders below proficient in reading and 69 percent of our eighth graders below proficient in math, the gap is only widening between the preparedness of our graduates and the skills and knowledge Arizona employers require.

Fortunately, Tucson has many examples of bright spots that show all of us the potential for Arizona education.  Tucson Unified School District’s University High School was recently named a 2011 Higher Performing School by the National Center for Education Achievement; Vail Unified School District is nationally recognized for its use of technology to engage students and raise student achievement; BASIS Charter School, which started in Tucson and has grown to other parts of the state, was named a top high school by Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report; and the University of Arizona is ranked among the top public research universities in the nation.  All of them embrace a culture of high expectations and are working to ensure all students graduate ready to compete and succeed in the 21^st century global economy.

Arizona needs more of these bright spots, and the public has an important role in making that happen. In addition to its efforts to mobilize students, business leaders and voters, Expect More Arizona, a statewide movement dedicated to making Arizona education the best in the nation, recently launched a parental engagement initiative.  Its goal is to challenge more Arizona parents to create a high expectations culture in their home, ultimately increasing the academic success of our students.

Creating a high expectations culture in the home is one of the most important commitments parents and families can make to their student’s future and it starts with making education a family priority—ahead of sports, entertainment and work. Second, parents need to set completing college or other postsecondary program as the ultimate academic goal for their student. And third, parents must commit to being actively engaged to ensure their child is on the path to succeed in college and career.

As part of its new initiative, Expect More Arizona is providing valuable information, tools and resources to help parents stay engaged in their child’s academic success every step of the way including at-home activities by age and benchmarks by grade at www.ExpectMoreArizona.org.

From a variety of studies and conversations with students we know students with actively engaged parents are more likely to do well academically and go on to college or other postsecondary program. Education starts at home and with your help we can create transformational change that ensures every Arizona student receives the highest quality education – from birth through career.