The Daily Agenda: When in doubt, bring in a celebrity

Pima Animal Care Center wanted to increase its outreach to the Hispanic community ... It enlisted a familiar face to help … Abortion measure makes the ballot.

Celebrity branding is a popular way to sell food, clothing and just about every other type of product or idea, including, believe it or not, pet safety.

County officials are applauding Pima Animal Care Center’s recent “PACC en Español” campaign, which included partnering with local celebrity Daniel ‘El Güero Canelo’ Contreras to encourage members of the Hispanic community to microchip their dogs.

Contreras was honored by supervisors last week for his collaboration and advocacy with PACC’s Spanish-language outreach campaign, which included giving El Güero Canelo customers who purchased select menu items (Sonoran hot dogs and Chucho dogs, of course) a coupon for a free microchip.

County officials say Contreras was quick to sign on to support PACC’s efforts to engage the Hispanic community, posting brightly colored posters and flyers for the “Dogos X Dogos” campaign in all four El Güero Canelo locations.

“Our reputation is grandiose in Tucson and at a national level,” Contreras told the Tucson Agenda. “The correct information is power and we don’t inform ourselves. In our Hispanic culture, we don’t investigate. (Through this collaboration) there were so many things given away and so many people were informed.”

El Güero Canelo has been a longtime staple eatery for the Hispanic community in Tucson. Susan remembers enjoying their Sonoran hot dogs with its signature grilled juicy yellow pepper at their northside location many times growing up. 

The partnership was a big part of PACC’s year-long Spanish outreach campaign, which aimed to address the disproportionate number of dogs coming into the shelter from Hispanic neighborhoods.

“Having them as a partner, especially when they are so trusted and beloved here in Tucson, has been really important for us,” said Kayleigh Murdock from PACC.

The campaign kicked off in January, after data showed that there were two main zip codes from which dogs were coming into the shelter at a higher rate and being adopted out at a lower rate. Both zip codes, 85706 and 85713, are located in areas where residents identified Spanish as the primary language spoken at home.

After talking with the community, PACC staffers realized the reason for those numbers was due to both their distance from the shelter and a lack of knowledge of the variety of services they provide. 

“We needed to spend more time getting into the community and really working directly with folks across the community so that they have a better understanding of what we do and how we can help them,” Murdock said. 

Gregorio Contreras, Daniel Contreras’ son who handled much of the behind-the-scenes, knew how valuable this collaboration would be. He mentioned that he didn’t really know they existed or how they operated before that. 

“I liked all the other resources that they decided to give the people when they did those events,” Gregorio Contreras said. “I was just like, ‘This is cool, this is something that people should know about.’” 

PACC partnered with other local businesses, schools, community centers, churches and groups to distribute flyers advertising their services in Spanish. They also posted the materials in county-owned facilities, like parks, libraries and at the Kino Sports Complex.

Another key element of the campaign included getting out into the community and hosting microchip events and resource fairs to bring services and supplies to the public. Microchips are key in identifying lost animals and helping to reunite pets with their families, even after they’re turned into PACC. 

So far, they’ve served 900 people, microchipped 441 pets, distributed 1,226 collars and tags and 41,000 pounds of food and other supplies as part of the campaign.

“We've been really excited to see that people are really showing up to our events, people and businesses because they want to talk to us about their pets,” Murdock said. “They want those resources, they want to learn more (about) how to help their pets, and how we can help them too.”

Before this campaign, PACC would directly translate English press releases and fliers, but as we wrote in our article about Spanish language media, simply translating material won’t do the trick. 

“One of the strengths of this campaign is that instead of just translating things that were created in English, our team is having our native Spanish speakers create that content,” Murdock said. “A lot of times, sometimes when you translate from English to another language, or any language to another language, sometimes things don't translate quite right.”

The campaign takes special consideration of Hispanic community members’ cultural approach through strategic partnerships (like the one with El Güero Canelo,) community outreach to build trusting relationships, and by creating original Spanish language content that incorporates elements of Hispanic culture. 

And thanks to additional funding by the nonprofit Friends of PACC, the campaign will continue through next year.

With PACC’s capacity meter consistently at the critical level, county officials hope the campaign will help to reduce the number of intakes and increase adoptions within the Hispanic community.

They’re also sharing what they’ve learned with other shelters across the country, presenting about the campaign at a recent national conference.

So, the next time you’re enjoying a Sonoran dog from El Güero Canelo, remember that you’re also helping to support the four-legged dogs in our community.

---

Susan's work with the Tucson Agenda is supported by the Local News Initiative of Southern Arizona, a fund of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona.

Final hurdle cleared: Arizona voters will get a chance to decide whether abortion is a right when they cast their ballots in November, Capitol Media Services’ Howard Fischer reports. The Arizona Supreme Court rejected an argument on Tuesday that the description of the ballot measure was flawed and misleading. The measure will be on the ballot as Proposition 139. 

Much-needed beds: After the Pima County Board of Supervisors approved a rezoning on Monday, Sonora Behavioral Health Hospital is going to add 48 beds, the Arizona Luminaria’s Carolina Cuellar reports. The hospital is the largest provider for involuntary mental healthcare for adults in the state and has 140 beds right now, but that’s not enough to meet the need. They had to turn away more than 2,000 people so far this year.  

Convoluted mistake: An error by the state Legislature two years ago was more or less resolved, at least as far as Pima County is concerned, on Monday when the county supervisors decided to send $3 million to a state fund that supports education, KVOA’s Chorus Nylander reports. The Legislature changed how school districts were funded in 2022 and some property owners, particularly in Green Valley, ended up paying more than they actually owed.

Caring hands: Tumacacori residents are remembering Lucila Gomez Bejarano, a 105-year-old who died just a few months after a bridge over Sonoita Creek was named in her honor, the Arizona Daily Star’s Henry Brean reports. She fostered more than 20 children in her home and was known for welcoming even casual visitors with homemade tamales.  

Van on the run: The van the Loft Cinema uses as a mobile movie theater was stolen on Sunday, KVOA’s Sarika Sood reports. The solar-powered vehicle has a 20-foot inflatable movie screen the Loft uses for outdoor events. They’re asking for the public’s help in tracking it down. 

Iconic images: Nobody likes looking at vacant storefronts, so the Downtown Tucson Partnership and Rio Nuevo are using business tax revenue to launch a new program to spruce them up, KGUN’sEddie Celaya reports. They’re installing vinyl portraits of people like Linda Ronstadt and Paul Newman on storefronts to entice visitors and business owners alike.

505: The number of dogs at Pima Animal Care Center Wednesday. That’s 55 more dogs than what shelter officials consider "critical capacity," where they have more dogs than room.