Jude McGee

By Jude McGee When Jason Catanese started teaching at Pueblo Del Sol Middle School in Phoenix’s Maryvale neighborhood, he noticed something. He’d been placed there as a member of the Teach For America Corps, teaching seventh and eighth-grade math. He observed that his students were brilliant and capable, but were not offered ample educational opportunities due to their zip code and personal circumstances. The middle school has a 99% minority enrollment rate, according to U.S. News.   Its math...

By Jude McGee The American Indian Policy Institute (AIPI), a program of Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, is a non-teaching research institution started in 2006 by Dr. Peterson Zah, a former special advisor to ASU Presidents Lattie F. Coor and Michael Crow. The Institute’s mission is to “support Tribal sovereignty through examination, exploration, and elevation.” Within AIPI is the Indigenous Leadership Academy (ILA), which develops community leaders with a...

By Jude McGee Photo courtesy San Carlos Apache Tribe Nalwodi Denzhone Community (NDC) is a nonprofit located on the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Eastern Arizona, which aims to “sow seeds of hope” and encourage holistic transformation for Tribal Members living on the reservation. They examine the factors of health, particularly through the lens of food, by addressing food insecurity and aiming to create a food systems change.  Body, soul, and spirit: That’s how Eric Shin, executive...