The Daily Agenda: And now for something completely different

A local nonprofit is taking a new approach to domestic abuse ... Men's helpline will assist callers at risk for violence ... City moves forward with tiny homes.

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Local social service agencies have for years been growing their services for survivors of physical violence, but one group is changing up its approach.

The new target audience? Men at risk of becoming violent towards their partner or loved ones.

Emerge Center Against Domestic Abuse will launch the county’s first helpline for male-identified callers this fall, with trained volunteers who will support callers in making safer choices, with real-time violence intervention and safety planning support.

Call takers will also make referrals to community resources and connect anyone harmed by the caller to Emerge’s survivor support services.

Emerge announced the creation of the helpline in April during a video screening and community conversation at The Loft with participants of its men’s education program.

The program, which started in 2013, prepares men to take responsibility for their choices and behavior, stop the abuse and start conversations about domestic abuse with other men in the community.

The idea from the helpline came from the men’s education program, but in a roundabout way, Anna Harper-Guerrero, executive vice president and chief strategy officer, told the Tucson Agenda.

“We have a cell phone in our program that’s our contact phone, and men in the program started to call that phone when they were in moments where they were escalated and trying to figure out how to make a safe choice,” Harper-Guerrero said. “They knew they shouldn’t react with a violent choice, but they were having trouble in the moment.”

Calls to the cell phone have increased steadily over the years, which led Harper-Guerrero and others at Emerge to realize the need for a dedicated helpline.

“It’s one thing to logically understand something and it’s one thing to know that you shouldn’t do that, but when a person is in a moment and activated, it’s a process to re-learn how to act in a safe, accountable way,” Harper-Guerrero said.

The process of changing one’s behavior is not as simple as participating in a group for six months and coming out a completely different person, Harper-Guerrero said. There needs to be access to help and support outside of the group.

The helpline is focused on abusers or potential abusers, but it’s also another way to provide a service to survivors and prioritize their safety.

Emerge started recruiting volunteers at the April event, during which participants of the program spoke about their experience and the impact their participation had on their lives.

One participant, Xavi Ramirez, now works as the men’s education program facilitator and talked about witnessing his mother’s abuse at the hands of her boyfriend when he was 11 years old.

“My own dad wasn’t abusive and he always taught me to treat women with respect, but still, I got to see firsthand the devastation men’s choices had on our lives,” Ramirez said in his video. “It’s like I was given the instruction manual for how not to treat women.”

Ramirez talked about his behavior as a young adult, saying he lied, cheated and blamed women for not being able to fix his pain. At the same time, he led conversations with other men, calling them out for sexist behavior. Eventually, he realized his behavior wasn’t working and decided to address his issues head-on.

His participation in the men’s education program showed Ramirez that his lifestyle was hurting women and not helping to address the real problems in his life. He said it taught him a new way of thinking.

“I know it’s my responsibility to make choices to not escape, to commit to my family, to be healthy and whole, because other people are watching,” he said. “To be a full, present man for my daughter.”

Like the group, the helpline will give callers tools to make changes in behavior during moments of crisis.

In developing the helpline, Harper-Guerrero and others worked with agencies that had existing helplines, including A Call for Change in Massachusetts and some organizations in the United Kingdom and Colombia.

A Call for Change was launched in April 2021 and received more than 200 calls in its first year. The volume increased in its second year, with more than 400 calls during the first nine months of 2022.

About 70% of callers are seeking help for themselves, with the other 30% coming from family members, friends or professionals inquiring about help for a person in their life.

Emerge has also been hosting focus groups for survivors, hoping to ensure that they receive feedback on what’s helpful and what’s not in terms of support and services for themselves and their partners.

“There’s a national and international trend in talking about and developing these services” aimed at men, Harper-Guerrero said. “It’s been a process of really learning about how to do that work and really what it means to support men in change.”

If a tree falls on Mt. Lemmon: The U.S. Forest Service will cut down and pile small trees on 775 acres on Mt. Lemmon to reduce the threat of wildfires, the Tucson Sentinel’s Paul Ingram reports. Crews will start work on Sept. 1 on sites including Willow Canyon, Upper and Lower Soldier camp, Mint Springs Trailhead, Ski Valley and the Mt. Lemmon Observatory.

Housing options: The Tucson City Council voted last week to direct city staff to incorporate tiny homes into its plan to develop diverse housing options, the Arizona Republic’s Sarah Lapidus reports. The vote also included direction to staff to start a micro-shelter pilot program that would transform a decommissioned fire station in the Amphi neighborhood into a housing resource center and non-congregate shelters, which offer occupants private living spaces. The project has not yet gone through the public outreach or rezoning processes.

First in their class: The University of Arizona’s first College of Veterinary Medicine class graduates Thursday, with 106 new veterinarians soon to join the workforce, Niranjana Rajalakshmi writes for UA News. The program is the state’s first and only public veterinary medicine program and was launched in 2020. Graduates will specialize in disciplines including emergency and critical care, small-animal general practice, equine medicine and mixed animal practice.

Taking their show on the road: The UA has been awarded a $96,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to educate Arizonans about groundwater, Arizona Public Media’s Katya Mendoza reports. The project, called “Improving Groundwater Quality Through Community Education,” will feature an interactive exhibit that travels to underserved communities to teach about their groundwater systems and to provide professional development opportunities to educators.

Assistance for pet owners: The Arizona Pet Project has expanded services to Tucson to help people who are struggling to keep their pets due to housing issues, illness or financial hardship, according to a news release. The expansion is funded by an American Rescue Plan Act grant from Gov. Katie Hobbs’ office. AZPP has hired a crisis and shelter intervention counselor to work in Tucson and partner with animal welfare, behavioral health, housing and government entities in the region.

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7,189: The number of calls made to Emerge's 24-hour multilingual hotline in 2022. Emerge also provided services to 5,111 individuals and 15,194 emergency shelter bed nights to families in 2022