Exhibit by Tucson’s Refugee and Immigrant Youth in the US Senate

Tucson, AZ - The exhibit “Home: Teen Refugees & Immigrants Explore Their Tucson” will travel to D.C. for exhibition in the Russell Rotunda of the Senate building the week of June 2-6, 2008. The exhibition includes photographs and writing by 46 Catalina Magnet High School refugee and immigrant students from Afghanistan, Ghana, Honduras, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mexico, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Sudan. Through writing and photography, the students documented their experiences in the countries they came from and their current lives in Tucson.

This exhibit is part of the Finding Voice Project, which is an innovative literacy and visual arts project dedicated to helping refugee and immigrant youth in LEARN Center ESL classes at Catalina Magnet High School. The students develop their literacy skills by researching, photographing, writing, and speaking out about critical social issues in their lives and communities. Julie Kasper, Catalina Magnet High School ESL/English teacher, and Josh Schachter, Tucson-based educator and photographer, co-facilitate the project.

Six students from Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Liberia, Afghanistan, and Mexico will make the trip to DC, along with Julie Kasper, Josh Schachter, and Tucson Vice-Mayor Nina Trasoff. The students will participate in a Congressional briefing and meet with the Arizona Congressional Delegation, other DC staffers, and NGOs to discuss their experiences and concerns about immigration and refugee issues. The students will be available to discuss their work and experiences on Tuesday, June 3, 2008, 5-7pm, in the Russell Building Rotunda of the Senate. While in DC, the Finding Voice Project will release a 120-page full-color publication featuring photographs and writing from the exhibit: “Home: Teen Refugees and Immigrants Explore Their Tucson.”

For more information about the Finding Voice Project visit www.findingvoiceproject.org or contact Josh Schachter, joshsch@cox.net, or Julie Kasper, Julie.Kasper@tusd1.org.