Agency Report : Arizona Lost Boys Center

A.        Title of agency or organization? Arizona Lost Boys Center

B.        Where is home base (city/state/country)? Phoenix, AZ, but there are other centers around the country

C.        Date founded? The center opened its doors April, 2003

D.        Names of key spokespersons/officers There are many employees and volunteers that work for the Arizona Lost Boys Center. Among them were Camelia Assem-Executive Director, Brian Hawkins-Program Coordinator, Marsha Henzler-Office Manager, and Cal Mbano-President of AZ Africa Society.

E.        What/who is key constituency or audience? male Sudanese youth refugees

F.        What are the agency’s main activities? The agency helps the young men to assimilate to American culture, to get an education, and to find employment.

G.        Mission statement? (you may quote mission statement if available; use quotation marks) The agency’s goals are to “help these young men to achieve their dreams of education, a better life, and helping those left behind”. The agency wants to give these young men a chance to succeed not only personally and professionally ,but to also put their new knowledge to work by helping all of the people left behind in Sudan who did not have the chance to come to the United States.

H.        What are the key im/migration issues of concern to this agency? The main concern of this agency is to provide opportunities for these boys who would not have had chances to be educated, employed, or even have a chance to live in their own native country. While doing this they try to make the transition from refugee camp to the American way of life as easy as possible by teaching them American culture.

I.        What appears to be the most common informational basis for statements issued, press releases, reports, etc.? Government news releases for upcoming group activities, newspaper articles, local online news articles, local fundraisers

J.        Any publications? (what types, sample titles; if online, give links) Although it is not specific to Arizona, there is a documentary called Lost Boys of Sudan, by Megan Mylan and Jon Shenk, 2003 www.lostboysfilm.com .

K.        Give at least one citation of this agency in a newspaper article (preferably an Arizona newspaper). Use a citation index to research this e.g., Lexis Nexis, available from the Migration Course Web Page made by the Fletcher Library: http://library.west.asu.edu/subjects/SOC/soc331.html Provide a quote from the article that gives a good idea of this agency’s perspective on im/migration. Note: not a quote from agency’s own web site.
“ The difference between success and failure for these "Lost Boys" lies with individuals like Wheat, the founder and president of the AZ Lost Boys Center. The center is funded through a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.” Arizona Monthly Summer 2004 issue, “Lost Boys of Sudan”

L.        Other issues of interest? There is also a similar center called the Lost Girls, but unfortunately most of the girls are made servants in refugee homes, are sold into slavery, are forced into marriage by the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army, or are raped and murdered before they have a chance to make it to the United States.

M.        Is the agency noticeably pro or con immigration? (you may need to determine this from readings its position papers, press releases, news reports, etc) It is pro immigration.

N.        Web site? Give URL www.azlostboyscenter.org

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