Blog

View Story

Last day of interviewing for spring session!

January 22, 2010

Hello VOICES friends! Katie here. I’m writing to remind everyone that today is the LAST DAY to fill out an application and be interviewed for the spring session. Interviewing begins at 3pm and runs until 5pm, and everything you need for the interview is at the VOICES office: pens, applications, help, you name it. If [...]



View Story

Holidays with the Whole Family

December 15, 2009

Hello blogland! Katie (writing director) here again. A few Fridays ago the VOICES staff, board, volunteers and funders met for our First-Annual Volunteer and Funder Appreciation Holiday Party. Many of you already know that we are in the process of merging with another Tucson storytelling organization, SharMoore Children’s Productions/Stories that Soar (STS). We have been [...]



View Story

A Day in the Field: Jax Kitchen

December 15, 2009

(VOICES Photo/Josh Garcia)
I picked up Hector Mendoza and Lilliana Lopez and we got to Oracle as fast as we could. Hector was running late for his interview, so he got a crash course on photography from Lilliana in the car. We arrived as the sun began to set, and one of the owners of Jax [...]



View Story

Lesson learned

December 9, 2009

Just a quick note to say we at VOICES were reminded of the old adage, “you get what you pay for” this week when we contracted with a less-expensive mail house to send our annual appeal to 3,800 households. Needless to say we have our regrets.
The mailing was botched and on many levels. Letters weren’t [...]



View Story

An interview: Reed Dickson, VOICES mentor

December 7, 2009

What led you to VOICES? Why are you here?
I came to VOICES because … I’ve seen how writing can transform lives.  When I arrived in Tucson, I was looking for a community literacy organization to support but I wasn’t sure how available I would be.  After visiting, it became clear that VOICES would put to [...]



View Story

College Admissions Season

December 3, 2009

Hello VOICES friends! This is Katie (writing director) again. I’m sitting here at my desk in our EXTREMELY COLD office staring at the cork board on my bookshelf. I’ve got my VOICES press pass hanging up, a list of everyone’s phone extensions, a business card for a VOICES alum’s portrait photography business…and a list of [...]



View Story

Youth development v. people development

December 2, 2009

In the nonprofit world we often talk about the “elevator speech.” An elevator speech is a buzzword that means simply how you tell another person about what your agency does in roughly 30 seconds, or the length of time two people might be on a proverbial elevator together, when one person conveniently asks the other, “VOICES, huh [...]



View Story

Attitude of Gratitude: VOICES is thankful for…

November 25, 2009

( VOICES Photo collage by:  Marena Priday, Michelle Rogers, Maria Aguirre, Samuel Crosswell, Anthony Valencia, Victoria Garcia, Fabian De La Pena)
 
We polled the staff, youth staff, Board and volunteers of VOICES to learn what people are thankful for in this season of gratitude. Check it out, we’re a thank-filled crew:

“I’m thankful for chickens, turkeys, beets, [...]



View Story

Blair Witch on the Radio/ Inside the Recording Process

November 23, 2009

Hello blog world! Katie (writing director) here. I’m writing to tell you a little bit about our radio spots on Arizona’s Public Media, 89.1 FM. I really believe that they’re the coolest thing we’re doing right now.
Once a month, audio essays by VOICES youth are featured on Arizona Spotlight, which airs at 8:30am and 6pm [...]



View Story

My first VOICES blog post!

November 16, 2009

Hello VOICES world,
This is Stephanie, the executive director, blogging for the first but not last time. Today is Veteran’s Day and I am alone in the office catching up on quiet desk work. Since this is my first blog post perhaps it is appropriate for me to introduce myself. I have been at VOICES now [...]



View Story

What’s in a name … no really, we’re asking.

November 14, 2009

Stephanie here. Lots of you know that this is a very exciting time for VOICES because we are merging with another youth voice nonprofit called SharMoore Children’s Productions, which takes stories that young people write or illustrate and brings them to a public audience, whether that’s theatre or in book form. 
Together, SMPC and VOICES will [...]



View Story

I (Heart) Downtown Tucson poster project

August 20, 2009

Posters in celebration of downtown Tucson are now hanging in the windows of Hotel Congress. The I (Heart) Downtown Tucson is a VOICES, Inc. production, in which youth artists interview and photograph Tucson residents about their downtown love stories. Guest artists Kimi Eisele and Josh Schacter led the project. Funding provided by Tucson Pima Arts [...]