Two Tucson organizations recognized for impact and innovation
The NCJFCJ honored two Tucson-based organizations for the Innovator of the Year Award and the Impact of the Year Award, presented at the 10th annual Justice Innovation Awards ceremony on July 23, 2024. The event took place in Phoenix during the NCJFCJ’s 87th Annual Conference. Steven Cota-Robles, founder and executive director of The Tucson Family Food Project (TTFFP), was recognized for his impactful work with children struggling with food insecurity. Judge Wendy Million, presiding judge and city magistrate of the Tucson City Court Domestic Violence Court, was recognized for her innovative work with survivors of domestic violence in this specialty model court.
Cota-Robles founded TTFFP in 2021 with the mission of providing meals and education for children struggling with hunger and food insecurity. TTFFP provides food for school-age children while teaching them critical life skills on how to cook nutritious meals with fresh, seasonal, and local produce. The program focuses on the value of local food systems while putting local produce back into the community while also reducing food waste. TTFFP provides meals and education for more than 200 local students, with the intention to reach every elementary school in Tucson.
Studies have shown that children suffering from food insecurity not only endure health consequences, but the hunger they face also affects their cognitive ability. This can lead to several behavior issues, making kids more likely to be suspended, repeat a grade, have higher absence rates, and suffer poor performance on tests, which may lead to future consequences impacting the greater community. The idea was simple: give children a meal kit every Friday (to include instructions, whole foods, spices, along with appropriate kitchen tools) and provide a video on social media teaching students about meal preparation. The meals provide enough food for a family of four to eat over a weekend.
“Receiving this award, especially from those who have a deep appreciation and understanding of the hardships children are facing, is a monumental honor,” said Cota-Robles. “Childhood food insecurity is an epidemic we can solve, and we’re seeing real results from our program. Not only does this award fuel our passion for our mission, but it amplifies our efforts exponentially, allowing us to reach even more children in need.”
A traditional criminal justice system can create substantial risks for domestic violence victims. The Tucson City Court Domestic Violence Court was established in 2012 to provide greater access to the court process and victim services for cases of domestic violence, provide accused defendants with due process, legal representation through the city public defender’s office, access to quality treatment options, and to hold convicted offenders accountable while working towards lasting change under the court’s supervision.
Judge Million presides over the court and links best practices to implementation in partnership with stakeholders in the domestic violence response system such as the Emerge Center Against Domestic Abuse, the local domestic violence services provider, the city prosecutor’s office, public defender’s office, law enforcement, probation department, and more.
In 2017 and 2023, the court was selected by the Office of Violence Against Women to serve as a Domestic Violence Mentor Court. It is now one of six courts nationwide who are recognized as national models and have been chosen to share their expertise by hosting site visits, linking courts with peers facing similar challenges, and assisting other domestic violence courts to implement best practices to respond effectively to domestic violence cases.
“I am very honored to receive the Innovator of the Year Award from the NCJFCJ,” said Judge Million. “My work truly started with the NCJFCJ’s National Judicial Institute on Domestic Violence. I attended the domestic violence workshops, learned so much from their innovative approach to judicial education, and was inspired to start my work with survivors of domestic violence and improving their access to the court system. Our domestic violence court now focuses on family safety and offender change, with survivor safety, their voices, and procedural justice always at the forefront. It means so much to me to be recognized by the NCJFCJ, an institution that has continued to support and assist me in my work all these years.”
More than 4 million families are impacted by the work of the NCJFCJ every year.