The following is an AZPM original production.

From the radio studios of AZPM, welcome to this latest edition of The Press Room.

I'm Steve Goldstein.

Coming up, the White House and Congress are continuing to explore a federal budget that could lead to dramatic cuts, which would deeply affect non- profits in Southern Arizona.

We'll sit down with leaders of three organizations to find out what they're expecting and how they'll try to respond.

Those conversations are next on The Press Room.

♪ UPBEAT MUSIC ♪ ♪ UPBEAT MUSIC ♪ ♪ UPBEAT MUSIC ♪ ♪ UPBEAT MUSIC ♪ ♪ UPBEAT MUSIC ♪ Welcome back to The Press Room.

I'm Steve Goldstein.

As mentioned, we'll be discussing the very important potential federal budget cuts that are occurring in Washington, DC and how they could affect Southern Arizona non-profits.

We start with Lee Bucyk, Chief Development Officer for the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation.

Lee, thank you for being here.

Thank you for having me.

Let's talk a little bit of background.

How long has the organization been around?

What got it started?

The organization's been around for decades and originally came out of three separate organizations in Tucson that formed.

And shortly after Wingspan was no longer Wingspan, Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation was created.

Okay.

This is an obvious question based on what the organization's name is, but what are the goals?

How many categories does it cover for folks who need your services?

We offer programs and services for those folks with HIV AIDS, the broader LGBTQ plus community, and many other at risk and marginalized individuals.

Can I ask you one question related to Tucson and Southern Arizona itself?

How does it, do you know how it compares to other cities of similar size in terms of the services you offer?

And frankly, how important the budget that you have and the budget that you've planned for is to keep in effect, just generally when it comes to how the cuts might affect you compared to other cities.

Well, our organization provides services outside of Tucson as well.

We do provide services to folks in Maricopa County, folks in Pinal County, so we are one of the largest organizations doing the work in Arizona.

Our budgets are about 90% federally funded.

Okay, that was gonna be my next question.

So 90% federal funding, where does the other 10% come from personally?

Private donations.

Okay.

Foundations, individuals, private donations.

Was there any indication, the administration had talked about making dramatic cuts, we know Elon Musk's involvement with DOGE, for an organization that is 90% federally funded, how can you plan for that, can you?

We do have contingency plan in place, and we are working that plan currently.

We do have private donors, and we do have options.

So we are looking at the landscape, we understand the landscape, we have thought about this for many, many months, and we do have plans in place, I will tell you that.

Was it an open forum in essence to discuss, I hate to phrase it this way, but no idea is a bad idea in the sense that because, when you talk about 90% of your budget, people are gonna need to come up with some big ideas.

Absolutely.

Okay.

Have you heard from folks so far who use your services and need your services about their level of concern, and what do folks who work for the organization say to them?

We absolutely do, we hear from staff, we do hear from our clients, and there is a high level of concern, we do our best to alleviate those fears, but the reality is that we have had to cut back some of our services, we've had a reduction in testing hours, we've had a reduction in staff that has affected the folks that work in our housing area, we have staff that have higher case loads, are doing more with less, so there is a level of concern there.

And so have there been folks that have come in and they're worried about the future of the organization?

Yes, there are clients that have asked the question, and we continue to tell them, look, we're here to support our mission, we're here to help our community.

Everybody that works at Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation has a passion, and they truly do believe in the mission, and that's why they stay.

And some of those clients, they come in, and they tell us, because they are part of an already stigmatized... community of people, that they have a fear of losing their healthcare, and the SAAF clinic is the only healthcare opportunity they've had, they're very happy that we meet them where they are, and they're fearful for losing that healthcare.

That's important for people to hear that and not have it be we're off in our little camps and we're not all together in the same community, right?

Correct, we see a lot of emotion right now, both in our organization and with our clients.

Can I ask you how you got involved with SAAF?

I sat on the board of SAAF for two years.

I know the organization well.

I have a particular why for why I'm involved with the organization.

It's basically because of the LGBTQ youth.

And when the last chief development officer left the organization, I thought to myself, well, I've done this work for several nonprofits in the past, I might serve them better in that capacity.

So I took my board hat off and hit the ground running and went to work, and it's been very rewarding and yet very eye opening.

And daunting in times like this.

It is, but again, like the other staff, I'm bought into that mission.

Nonprofits do in Tucson what other organizations can't do.

We provide services, we provide education, healthcare to people who fall through the cracks every day and we lift them up.

And without this federal funding, I simply don't know what's gonna happen.

I think we're gonna see some community health crises.

And I think the problems are going to grow.

Is this by far the worst you've seen, not just when you've worked for SAAF or not been with SAAF, but just generally in the time you've been on the planet?

I've been on the planet a long time.

Yeah.

I've gone from Stonewall through the Civil Rights Movement and I'm right back where I was.

And I guess the one positive thing that I could say about that is I'm battle tested and I'm not going down without a fight.

So what can be done to counter this in any way at the political level?

I mean, I presume you're in contact with lawmakers and other organizations to try to either reverse these or make them less impactful in some way.

Well, we're involved in a lot of advocacy right now.

As much as we can be being a nonprofit, we are reaching out to our legislators.

We are writing postcards.

We are going to press conferences at the Community Foundation of Southern Arizona.

We are alerting the public that all of these nonprofits are facing a similar situation and that the public needs to speak up and have their voices heard as well.

I think that that advocacy piece is key right now.

Yeah.

Lee, as you said, you're battle tested.

Mm-hmm.

Is there any reason for optimism here?

Can you find even a scintilla of it?

Absolutely.

We did come through Stonewall.

We did come through the Civil Rights Movement.

We made a ton of progress.

We saw marriage equality.

Today is marriage equality day, and I'm celebrating that.

We will hit bumps in the road.

There are peaks and valleys in life, but you can't... not act.

Lee Bucyk is Chief Development Officer for the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation.

Thank you very much for being here.

Thank you for having me.

More conversations with nonprofit organizations still to come on The Press Room.

Stay with us.

(gentle music) We are in the very midst of a revolution.

The most complete, unexpected, and remarkable of any in the history of nations.

Objects of the most stupendous magnitude, and measures in which the lives and liberties of millions yet unborn are intimately interested are now before us.

John Adams.

Welcome back to this special episode of The Press Room.

As we're talking with Southern Arizona nonprofit leaders about how their organizations could be impacted by decisions in Washington, my next guest is Adriana Gallego, CEO of the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona.

Welcome to The Press Room.

Thanks for being here.

Thank you so much for having us, Steve.

So tell me about the origins of the organization.

How did it get started?

How long has it been around?

The organization is GenX.

It's been around since 1971.

It's about 54 years old.

I did feel a kinship there.

Yes, absolutely.

So it was created by a group of citizens in Tucson who saw an opportunity to organize an arts and culture collective effort.

And since then it's evolved into the Arts Foundation for Tucson in Southern Arizona.

This is probably the most obvious question I'm gonna ask you, but what are the goals of the organization?

The goals are to support artistic expression, civic engagement, and provide economic viability in an equitable way to those that we support in our region, of course in the creative workforce.

And this covers all bases.

I mean, arts is a very large category.

So give me some subheadings there.

Absolutely.

We support individual artists working in photography, visual arts and dance, music.

We support organizations that produce poetry reading, that teach kids how to produce their own garage band albums, you name it.

I think, and I spent a lot of time in Phoenix, but I think of Tucson as a really strong arts community.

I mean, really exceptional arts community.

Is that the case?

Oh, absolutely.

I mean, we have such a rich and diverse way of expressing ourselves.

There are artists that are out there, just finding ways to collaborate with organizations and community centers to be able to produce work again, in music, theater, dance, performance, photography.

We're especially gifted at producing murals in this beautiful city of ours.

Well, what are some of your favorites?

Oh my goodness.

Every day there's a new favorite.

It's wherever I'm driving.

And did you know that during COVID, that was a lifeline for so many communities of the public art that we have in our community, because we couldn't gather and collect the spaces.

So we saw families playing like lotería card with different murals and public artworks throughout Tucson.

That is a terrific point.

Let me come back to the word diversity.

So diversity applies to the kinds of art, but it also applies to the heritage, the diversity of people who are in Tucson and Southern Arizona.

How does that impact the arts community here, do you think?

It is one of our strongest resources.

There's nothing in our human bodies, in the systems of the human body that is the same.

And in that same way, different systemic organs, different perspectives from a human being's point of view, provide a very beautiful combination that serves to strengthen and complement different elements so that we can continue to discover and evolve.

What made you wanna get involved with your organization?

You've gotta be an artist yourself.

I am a working artist.

I haven't painted in years because I've been really enjoying the stories that have come out in an Excel spreadsheet.

But as a matter of fact, my husband and I came back home after doing some national work since we left Tucson in the late 90s.

And so the Tucson Pima Arts Council at the time was a very important organization in my life, in my formative years as an artist.

They provided me with my first grant, an opportunity to teach in rural communities throughout Southern Arizona, first exhibitions, first professional development workshops.

So it is a real gift and a responsibility I take very seriously to be able to give back to the community that gave so much to me.

Well, so the Arts Foundation could be facing some cuts based on what's going on at the federal level.

Where do you typically get your funding from and how would the federal cuts affect you?

So the majority of our funding comes from a diverse portfolio of public resources, mostly from we're very lucky to live in a community where the local city government and county government believe in supporting arts and culture.

So 75% of our funding does come from the City of Tucson, about 15 from Pima County.

And in the last four years, I'd say about 8% from the federal government.

As we navigate the futures that are still at play, we have been quite conservative about the way that we spend our money.

And so we've been able to weather some of this for this year.

So the impact that federal funds will have on the Arts Foundation are actually gonna be minimal for the Arts Foundation itself.

And partly we have been seeking out other partnerships with foundations and other departments within other governments, locally, regionally, and statewide so that we can weather this particular moment.

Where I'm happy to say we just got about a quarter million dollar grant from the Mellon Foundation for this year.

Great, I was gonna ask you whether those collaborations have been fruitful and whether you're optimistic about that.

Absolutely, I think we need to build on the strengths that an arts and culture brings to the table in every single sector.

So I'm very optimistic that if we can help translate the sense that an artist can help us think differently in all different sectors, I think we will come out better for it.

If we're being asked to face these unknowns without a lot of information, who better to bring to the table than somebody that can make something out of nothing.

Right, have you heard from artists though who are concerned and they might be thinking, wait, the foundation has been so good to me over the years or I have another project I wanna do.

Are they concerned just because of the general atmosphere, even what you said that the organization doesn't rely that much on federal funding?

Well, it's always a concern and this is where I do take a leap and not distinguish an artist and their career versus an artist as a human being.

So what we're looking at with artists and creative workforce from the organizations that provide support to the artists and the artists themselves is that we are all experiencing the combination of economic uncertainty that everybody's facing.

So I'm hearing questions about housing, about safety.

If you look a certain way about the ability to be able to speak freely, those are all the rights and benefits that we have, that we count on and we deserve are the same kinds of concerns that artists have and economically as well.

But I am optimistic as I said, we have the ability to rebound and come back because artists are very nimble and very agile.

Well, and finally, the arts are so important to all communities.

I think sometimes that gets lost in the shuffle because people are so focused on what produces money as opposed to what really helps our souls.

Exactly.

And in this particular case, I had got good news that the arts make economic sense and they also make common sense.

The arts and culture industry and the core creative economy in Tucson generates over $8.4 billion a year in economic activity for Tucson.

So it's a really incredible return on investment.

Yeah.

Adriana Gallego is CEO of the Arts Foundation for Tucson in Southern Arizona.

Thank you very much for being here.

Thank you, Steve.

It's a pleasure.

The Press Room continues with on with a leader of a nonprofit here in Southern Arizona.

Stay with us.

♪ UPBEAT MUSIC ♪ Welcome back to the special episode of The Press Room.

I'm Steve Goldstein.

We wrap it up with Chris Firmage, Public Relations Manager with the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.

Chris, welcome to The Press Room.

Thanks for being here.

Thanks for having me.

Really appreciate you sharing our story.

Know you haven't been at the organization that long, but just can you give me a little bit of background how long it's been around, what some of the origins were?

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean Food assistance has been a part of this country since at least the Great Depression Depression, probably before that.

But food banking's a relatively new industry.

The very first food bank, interestingly enough, in the country was here in Arizona up in Phoenix, St. Mary's.

And we came around not too much longer.

We will be celebrating our 50th year in operation next year.

So 50 years, almost 50 years.

So again, the most obvious question I can ask you, what are the goals of the food bank?

Do you know how many people you serve, that sort of thing?

Sure, I mean the number changes.

Obviously thousands of people.

We represent five different counties down here in Southern Arizona.

So the majority of Southern Arizona.

Our mission's simple.

It's to feed the hungry today and to provide a healthy, hunger-free tomorrow.

I think a lot of people are familiar with the concept of food distribution, right?

With food banks handing out food.

And that at least kind of gets us to the first objective.

But I don't think they're familiar with the second part, which for us, we're very concerned with attacking the root causes of hunger, right?

And that's through different programs like community advocacy, supporting local farmers, supporting local growers, lots of different things.

To try to meet that, to actually striking at what is causing these inequities and what is causing hunger in the first place.

Well that's interesting.

There's a collaboration in the community generally that's really important to them.

Absolutely, yes.

It's very crucial to us.

And I think it's one of the things we've done very well in our history is collaborating with many different nonprofits and partner agencies throughout, again, five counties.

There are a lot of people who, when they think about community food banks generally, want to give of themselves and say, "Wow, maybe one of my neighbors or someone lost a job unexpectedly."

Or the pandemic really messed a lot of things up when it comes to this as well.

What percentage, if you have a number, of your funding comes from individual donors or private donors or grants, or the federal government for that matter?

Yeah, I mean it's definitely a combination of each of those.

I would say that the majority of our funding does come from just an amazing donor base that we've procured over the years.

And definitely we do have grants.

A lot of our federal funding is for food procurement.

So we do receive, it's a combination of all things, but we definitely do receive some federal funding as well.

So when people donate, one of the things that I always find interesting about, St. Mary's Food Bank was an example you mentioned as well, just how much, how far the money can go in essence.

It's if someone donates $10, this number of meals happens.

I find that incredible.

So this is an organization I'm sure makes those donations go really far, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

I think the number we have right now is a dollar that will get you three meals essentially.

And that's based on the leverage that we have with our various partnerships.

We're part of the Feeding America Network.

So there's a greater national network that we're a part of.

So absolutely.

And I think it's one really good reason to donate to the food bank, because yeah, your dollar does go further.

How much of an eye does the organization have to keep though on what's going on at the federal level?

Because it may affect individual donors, it may affect organizations.

Tell me that, give me an idea of how much focus you have to put on that.

Nowadays, quite a bit actually.

I mean, a lot of these proposed cuts to food assistance programs are things that will directly affect us because they're directly affecting the people we serve.

And we don't have a ton of absolute numbers at this point as to what some of these food assistance cuts could provide.

But I could give you an example.

There were cuts to the Community Supplement Food Program, which is a program specifically designed to help seniors ages 60 or over.

Cuts to that program have forced us to cut service to over 350 seniors in the area.

So that's an actual immediate repercussion from one of these federal cuts.

But yeah, we're definitely concerned about potential cuts, especially to SNAP currently, which would greatly affect our community.

Well, so has the organization heard from just people in the community who are concerned about what happens next, people who've relied on your services?

Yeah, we definitely speak to people on a daily basis that they come into our facilities in need of help.

And I think, yes, many of them are concerned.

I would say our greater concern is I think a lot of people that we do serve, a lot of our neighbors, are not familiar with the potential impact of some of these cuts and how that might affect them...personally And I think that's why it's important to speak on programs like this to actually get the word out that these cuts will pretty much affect everyone.

I could go into the impact of what SNAP cuts would do to local businesses.

There's quite a bit.

It's not just, well, this is one segment of the community that I don't have to worry about, because I'm not in it.

I think these could affect everyone.

Well, what other aspects of outreach can you do?

Obviously, you mentioned this program, but can you reach the folks who rely on the services and may not know?

Because again, things in Washington are changing so fast.

Right, yeah.

Well, I mean, we definitely try to advocate for these food assistance programs that are so important to the people we serve.

Yeah, I mean, it's always a challenge, right?

Reaching people, especially in these days when everyone's getting their information from different sourc It's tough to do, but we're definitely very, very involved in reaching our community in different ways, whether it's through our partner agencies, whether it's through just being out and about at events, having our own events to increase awareness, a lot of different things.

You mentioned the group is affiliated, to some extent, at least with Feeding America.

I imagine Feeding America must have lobbyists at the national level trying to figure this out.

Any insights on that in terms of, is Feeding America give you an update and say, "Hey, this is what we're trying Absolutely, yeah.

We definitely and then, of course, we've got our own advocacy team that is trying to work on more of a local level with our local representatives, and then they're constantly doing outreach to our local representatives to speak for their constituencies, and many of them could be affected by some of these cuts.

Now, you mentioned to me, off the air that you had done radio, the voice, obviously, we can tell you did radio, so what got you involved with this organization?

Why are you passionate about it?

Yeah, great question.

I think... working for nonprofits was important to me, doing something good for the soul, I think.

I volunteered, actually, during COVID at the Marana branch of the Community Food Bank, and I really enjoyed it.

I think that the organization was so well-run that I just had a very positive opinion of the food bank, and when the opportunity worked out for me to start here, I jumped to the chance.

It's a fantastic organization with very simple goals of feeding people and striking food insecurity, and I think it's something everyone can relate to.

Very briefly, do you have any level of optimism going forward on this?

It's a good question.

I think I'm kind of an optimist.

I think a lot of people that work in nonprofits and a lot of people that work for the food bank would probably put themselves in that category as well.

So yeah, I am optimistic.

I'm optimistic that the private sector could step up if there are cuts to some of these food assistance programs.

I'm optimistic that... these cuts may not even happen.

We still got a lot to look for there.

That's a lot of hope there too.

Chris Firmage, Public Relations Manager with the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.

Thanks for being here.

Yeah, thank you, my pleasure.

Thanks for having me.

And that's all for this edition of The Press Room from the radio studios of AZPM.

We'll be back next week with a new episode.

I'm Steve Goldstein.