The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona’s (CFSA) Community Investments team recently visited a few of our CORE grant recipients and nonprofit partners in Ajo, Arizona. Site visits allow our team to more deeply connect with the invaluable work CFSA has the privilege to support through the generosity of donor partners.
Known formerly as the quintessential mining town of the Southwest, Ajo has transformed in recent years thanks to the combined work of community members along with organizations such as the International Sonoran Desert Alliance and the Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Not too far away, the Native American Advancement Foundation (NAAF) continues to develop holistic programming, improving the lives of members of the Tohono O’odham Nation.
These organizations work to keep the culture of the historically tri-national community alive while promoting sustainability and building capacity across multiple sectors.
At the Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture, the team works to provide agricultural education, reducing barriers to healthy and culturally-appropriate foods while preserving and revitalizing agrarian traditions. In multiple locations across the small town, the group maintains and continues to cultivate urban-style community gardens that welcome Ajo families to learn the trade while helping to beautify their neighborhoods and keep healthy food on the table.
Near the famous Ajo plaza, the Ajo CSA owns and operates its first brick and mortar location in the form of the Ajo Farmers Market. A welcoming venue for visitors, the market also incorporates the community by providing fresh produce, baked goods, honey, and arts and crafts created, grown, and sold by local farmers.
Headquartered in the Ajo Plaza, The International Sonoran Desert Alliance (ISDA) works to preserve the unique culture of the Ajo community while finding modern ways to draw visitors, artists, and new residents to town. ISDA aims to establish Ajo as a center for art and culture while promoting economic opportunities for residents. From adult education and job training to its monumental rehabilitation of the formerly abandoned Curley School into low-cost Artisan apartments, ISDA continues to provide dozens of opportunities for community involvement, promote cultural preservation, and introduce sustainable solutions to critical local issues.
The Native American Advancement Foundation (NAAF) mirrors the work to preserve unique cultural history a few dozen miles away from Ajo on the Tohono O’odham Reservation. NAAF is the only nonprofit providing after-school programming to local communities, including health and wellness counseling, mentoring, internships, and lessons on food sustainability and culture for students. NAAF also works with tribal individuals and families to provide materials for adequate shelter and home improvements and facilitates outreach programs helping to expose Tohono O’odham children to their traditional language, STEM-related activities, and literature.
In 2018, NAAF partnered with HPC and members of the GuVo District to open The Store, a local market created to address the issue of food scarcity in the district. The Store goes beyond providing food, drinks, and toiletries to residents by regularly hosting alcohol and substance-free community events, serving as a resource for job training, and redirecting profits back to the after-school programs offered by the Foundation.
The work these organizations do in the GuVo District and Ajo through education, art, and agriculture contribute to the creativity, imagination, and joy of program participants and the quality of life and economic impact of both rural areas.
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