At 6:30pm on Tuesday night, April 3rd, The Fountains United Methodist and Valley Interfaith Project (VIP) will co-sponsor a special Civic Academy on the myths and realiti
es of immigration in Arizona. The keynote speaker is Joseph Garcia, Director of the Morrison Institute Latino Public Policy Center at Arizona State University. He also teaches at Arizona State University’s Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Geared primarily as an orientation for a group travelling to the Borderlands of Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora, this Civic Academy is open to all who want to learn more about the present and future demographics of Arizona, immigration policy, and how current trends will impact what will soon be the majority population of Arizona.
Joe Rubio, lead organizer for Valley Interfaith Project, says, “This will be a conversation examining the long-term implications for how we deal with the immigration issue and what kind of community we will become. Arizona has experienced immigration in a way that other states are only now discovering.”
Rev. David Felten, pastor at The Fountains, says, “Immigration is another one of those issues on which everyone has an opinion, but few have the facts. We’re grateful to host the Morrison Institute’s Joe Garcia to help us understand the numbers and the policies that are shaping the future of our state.”
There’s no charge for this event and all in the community are welcome to attend. The Fountains, a United Methodist Church, is located at 15300 N. Fountain Hills Blvd. (at Glenbrook) in Fountain Hills.
More on our speaker: Before joining the Morrison Institute, Garcia was an editor, columnist and news reporter at The Arizona Republic, The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.), Tucson Citizen, USA Today and The Associated Press. In 2016, Garcia was honored nationally with the Anti-Corruption Award, sponsored by the New York City Independence Clubs, in acknowledgement of “the landmark work the Morrison Institute is doing to understand the emerging independent voter constituency.” In addition to his work on independent voters, Garcia helped bring the Citizens’ Initiative Review project to Arizona, where voters study, discuss and explain in everyday language complex ballot propositions.