The program uses a creative placemaking process to engage community members, artists, arts and culture organizations, community developers and other stakeholders to increase the vibrancy of our place, improve our economy and build capacity through the arts.

For rural regions such as ours, creative placemaking is especially important because rural places like ours have some of the nation’s most beautiful landscapes and cherished heritage. Like other rural areas that have prospered, we’re leveraging our unique place-based creative sector assets to bring visitors to our place, and catalyze economic and workforce development initiatives. 

Technology will help us export our art to the world, too. MorleyArts.org will vastly expand artists’ and arts organizations’ customer base by sharing our local flavor of fine art, entertainment and inspiration online with people everywhere. 

A federal grant from Santa Cruz County (SCC) American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and an SCC ARPA  forgivable loan for small businesses, artists and nonprofits is making this work possible.

Middle school students in Santa Cruz County look forward to receiving their dictionaries from Nogales U.S. Customs Brokers Association.

This year Mat Bevel Company received a $5,000 grant from Nogales U.S. Customs Brokers Association (NCBA). The grant supported development of The User Guidebook for instructors and The Daily Doodle notebook for students for Module 2: The Art of Kinetics. Module 2 introduces students at schools and after-school programs in Santa Cruz County to the principles of matter, energy, time, space and motion as they use simple tools to construct a complex Time-Space Machine.

Formed in 1996, the core purpose of NCBA is to serve as the catalyst for optimizing legitimate trade along the Nogales, Arizona Ports, District and Southern Border, through constant engagement with U.S. Customs and participating Government agencies, acting as a liaison for customers – the Commercial Importer community. The association has 20 volunteer members who are elected or reassigned to committees every two years. On December 1, 2021 Gloria Spencer, Branch Manager of Livingston International, was selected as the new Board President.

In 2012, NCBA formed Port Devanning Services (PDS) to provide offloading and loading services at the Mariposa Port of Entry to expedite the frequent intensive exams performed by Customs & Border Protection on shipments processed at the port of Entry. Instead of private sector contractors providing these services, NCBA created a vertically integrated service solution to improve the flow of trade in the region. Today PDS employs 40 people. All PDS net proceeds are reinvested back into supporting the local community via sponsorships, grants and donations, which totals approximately $1.7 million since its founding in 2012.

Asociacion de Maquiladoras de Sonora (Manufacturing Plants Association of Sonora) and the Fresh Produce Association receive support from NCBA because of the vital work they do to promote economic growth in the region.

Ms. Spencer said, “PDS provides remarkable benefits to our community including contributing to a more efficient process with time and money savings to the trade as well as the creation of local jobs. In addition, importer fees provide the basis for local grants and sponsorships. This is a very unique scenario for a custom’s broker association to form a separate business that both optimizes the flow of the trade and provides value back to the communities we serve in Santa Cruz County and the Ambos Nogales border region. I’m very proud to be part of the organization.”

Among the organizations that the NCBA proudly supports;the Fresh Produce Association Of The Americas, INDEX (Maquiladora Association of Sonora Mexico), the Arizona Mexico Commission as well as the Greater Nogales Santa Cruz County Port Authority.  Ms. Spencer said, “The work of these organizations is vital to promote the economic growth of the Port of Nogales, therefore we lend our strength to their efforts.”

NCBA also supports local schools with programs like the dictionary give away for middle schools. And, since U.S. Customs Brokers play a key role in international trade, NCBA provides grants to students who pursue global supply-chain related careers in International Trade and Compliance. Jobs in these careers include International Trade Analyst, Global Trade Specialist, International Trade Compliance Manager, Transportation, Logistics & Distribution Specialist, Inventory Manager, Import/Export Specialist, etc.

NCBA donates to many worthy community causes that benefit youth such as Bike For Tykes.

NCBA supported Mat Bevel Company this year for The Universe Within because STEM programs challenge children to develop creative thinking and problem-solving skills. These skills and abilities are critical in international trade, and absolutely necessary to thrive in the increasingly global socio-economic environment that we live in.

Ms. Spencer said, “We believe that creative genius is a talent that must be nurtured for our young to thrive in whatever their calling, and specifically in our ever-evolving world of international trade and global supply chain.”

Understanding that everybody is gifted with abilities, NCBA encourages future generations to build on their strengths, become self-empowered and be of service to others and your community, region, country, continent, the world. Ms. Spencer reminds us, “We all need other people and those ‘others’ may be in a neighbor country, producing goods and services we need in ours.”

THANK YOU, NOGALES U.S. CUSTOMS BROKERS ASSOCIATION!

South32 delivering back to school supplies that they donated to the Jump Back to School event in Nogales, AZ. 

Mat Bevel Company has received a sponsorship from South32 and a grant from the South32 Hermosa Community Fund held at the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona. The sponsorship and grant support further development of The Universe Within science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) world-building curriculum.

South32 is a global mining and metals company with operations across five countries. South32 owns the Hermosa Project in the historic mining district within the Patagonia Mountains. It contains one of the largest undeveloped zinc resources in the world. Zinc is incorporated into electric cars and solar panels, used to galvanize steel that makes infrastructure possible, and serves as a key ingredient in every mobile phone and tablet. The Hermosa Project is South32’s first operation in North America.

South32 contributes significantly to the communities in which they operate. The company’s community investment plans focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aiming to tackle the world’s greatest sustainability challenges, including quality education, decent work and economic growth. During FY19, South32 invested US$17.3 million in community initiatives and activities, and from FY19-FY23 they’re committed to investing up to US$125 million.

“We supported Mat Bevel Company this year because The Universe Within is so important for preparing students for the jobs of the future,” said Pat Risner, South32 Hermosa Project President. “This program uses whole-brain learning that inspires kids to look at the world in new ways. Innovation skills like this are critical to the world and critical at South32 in helping us keep our commitment to improving people’s lives, so it’s great to see Mat Bevel Company fostering them from an early age.”

South32’s support helps Mat Bevel Company transition The Universe Within into both blended and remote learning editions, during and after COVID-19. These new curriculum formats will allow more students to benefit from this innovative STEM program and increase academic success using modern technologies that students are more comfortable with.

During the COVID-19 crisis, South32 has taken seriously its role in slowing the spread. It temporarily closed its Tucson and Patagonia offices in mid-March to minimize exposure and allow most employees to work remotely, limiting access and operations on its site, introducing daily health monitoring for its workers with critical roles requiring their presence at the site, and even temporarily suspending its drilling program. Since March, South32 has contributed $264,450 to help non-profits support basic needs of protective gear, healthcare, education and small business recovery:

• donated two air-purifying respirators to Holy Cross Hospital
• donated toilet paper, masks, and hygiene supplies to the Town of Patagonia, City of Nogales, and Nogales Suburban Fire District
• donated $50,000 to the COVID-10 Community Response Fund of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, and earmarked the full donation for mission-critical non-profits based in Santa Cruz County
• committed more than $25,000 to Santa Cruz County schools to support distance learning, including the purchase of Chromebooks
• contributed $60,000 to Santa Cruz County for the purchase of personal protective equipment and medical tents for emergency response and testing
• established an internal campaign so that its local workforce could commit donations that South32 matched dollar-for-dollar for community COVID relief
• sponsored $75,000 COVID-relief grant program through Local First Arizona to help small businesses in the area to cover costs like payroll and rent. Forty businesses took advantage of the program

All of this comes about a year into the life of the company’s Hermosa Community Fund, a fund advised by a panel of locals and two South32 representatives. They award grants to local non-profits doing work in education, environment, health and welfare, recreation, civic enhancement, and arts, culture and history in the county. Twenty organizations have received a South32 Hermosa Community Fund grant so far, for purposes ranging from college scholarships for students to fall-protection equipment for seniors. And when COVID hit Arizona, South32 quickly moved to allow these grantees to reallocate their unspent grant dollars toward operational expenses.

“Some of the businesses and organizations that look after the people, places and causes that make this county a community have been really struggling,” Risner said. “A generational project like Hermosa isn’t just about the mine life. With a project like this, we have an opportunity and a responsibility to create lasting, meaningful value in those terms, for generations beyond our own, as we develop the resource in their parents’ and grandparents’ backyard.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
For further information contact: Paula Schaper, Vice President
Mat Bevel Company
520-604-6273
pschaper@matbevelcompany.org

[Patagonia, AZ, July 30, 2020]—Mat Bevel Company has been awarded a $24,745 grant by the Fund for the Common Good, a component fund of the Arizona Community Foundation. The purpose of the grant is to address a significant education challenge in rural Arizona. Participation in the grant process was initiated through Arizona Community Foundation of Cochise, located in Southeast Arizona’s Cochise County.

“Our nonprofit, in partnership with Patagonia Public Schools and University of Arizona School of Mathematical Sciences, has developed The Universe Within, a science, technology, engineering and math curriculum during the last 3 years,” Vice President Paula Schaper said. “The generous grant from the Arizona Community Foundation will give us additional resources to transition this traditional classroom world-building curriculum into a self-guided blended learning edition with a physical classroom setting and digital materials.”

Key areas that this grant will fund are production of sequential multimedia elements to motivate and prepare students to participate in hands-on activities including opening cinematic videos, a Teacher Curriculum Guide and The Daily Doodle Student Activity Book. Test pilots will serve students in Cochise County and eastern Santa Cruz County.

The curriculum uses Mat Bevel Company President Ned Schaper’s magical world of Beveldom as the framework for students to create their own magical worlds. They develop positive alter-ego characters and make functional headdresses, tools, gadgets and machines from recycled materials to help them solve real-world problems. Lessons align with Science, Math, Engineering, Visual Arts, Theater Arts and English Language Arts Arizona State Standards.

The Patagonia Regional Community Fund, an affiliate of the Arizona Community Foundation, also awarded Mat Bevel Company a $2,970 grant this year for The Universe Within. Board member Nancy McCoy, who came to one of the classes at Patagonia Elementary School, was impressed with the creative thinking that the kids had to do. She said, “The Universe Within activities stimulated students’ imaginations yet were still very organized and focused. Students were being creative within a structure.  I liked how the kids were all interested in each other’s creative work. They participated and contributed to each other’s ideas.”

As a former teacher, Nancy knows how much children enjoy really creative activities where they get to stretch their imaginations. She earned a Bachelors in Elementary Education and a Masters in Gifted Education.

Mat Bevel Company was founded in 1993 and has served thousands of children and adults from Pima and Santa Cruz counties in Southern Arizona, as well as visitors from around the country through Museum Of Kinetic Art tours, Surrealistic Pop Science Theater live productions and the School of Intuition workshops. The School of Intuition, a charitable Single Member LLC of Mat Bevel Company, manages the collaborative activities of Mat Bevel Company, Patagonia Public Schools and University of Arizona School for Mathematical Sciences. For more information on Mat Bevel Company visit: https://www.matbevelcompany.org/. To learn more about The Universe Within visit: https://the-universe-within.org/

Established in 1978, the Arizona Community Foundation is a statewide family of charitable funds supported by thousands of Arizonans. More information is available at https://www.azfoundation.org/.