Hello, solutions readers!

Welcome to the first edition of the Southern Arizona Solutions newsletter. We launched the Star's solutions journalism beat six months ago and it's been exciting to see the beat grow and evolve in that short time.

The launch of our newsletter aligns with my yearlong Solutions Journalism Network fellowship, during which I hope to grow our solutions audience while also expanding solutions reporting in our newsroom. In this newsletter, you won't just be receiving my stories, but also solutions stories written by other Star reporters and apprentices.

You can read more about our recently launched solutions survey below and catch up on some of our most recent stories.

Happy Reading!

Caitlin Schmidt, Arizona Daily Star solutions reporter

The past several months have been the most difficult of her career for Sjana Summons, an American Sign Language teacher at Amphitheater High School, and she is not alone in that feeling.

“I don’t think any of us are prepared for the amount of needs that (our students) are bringing to us — not just educational needs, but literal needs, like we’re in the bottom tier of the triangle of Maslow,” she said, referring to basic survival needs such as food, shelter and clothing.

The Pima County Attorney's Office is stepping up its efforts to support LGBTQ+ survivors of sexual assault, with a newly designated, queer-identifying victim advocate and a partnership with a local anti-violence program.

Together with the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation's Anti-Violence Project, the county attorney's office is hoping to get the word out to the LGBTQ+ community that there's a safe space in the local criminal justice system for survivors to talk about what they have experienced and to seek support services.

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