Posts Tagged ‘Old Arizona’
Old Arizona: “Bridging” Community, Café, and Classroom
by Brittany Gilbertson, Lake Street Council Intern “When we bought our building in the 1980”'s, this was the fourth leading corner for drug traffic and prostitution,” says Elizabeth Trumble, co-founder of 29th and Nicollet”'s Old Arizona, and Executive Director of the Arizona Bridge Project. “Each year, we saw the prostitutes getting younger and younger and our concerns for the girls in this neighborhood and others like it grew stronger.” For the past 16 years, Old Arizona has been doing something about it. They have served over 1,800 inner city girls by providing free, after-school and summer arts programming, with an ever-evolving selection of classes and employment opportunities in a positive, supportive setting. “Our concern for girls also arose from the lack of understanding in the juvenile system, a system that can be of concern in general but especially troublesome for girls. Girls have social needs not met by the justice [...]
