Edge High School staff may seem like superheroes at times, but they only have 2 hands and 24 hours in a day just like the rest of us. And, while each member of our staff is ready to do anything to support our students, we also know the infinite power of a strong, collaborative team. That’s why we lean on community partners to help us bring the best to our students: from career opportunities to critical resources, we are proud to partner with a wide variety of Tucson organizations to help round out our tuition-free offerings.
Since 2005, we’ve been partnering with the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation (SAAF) to support their mission and our students. SAAF recognizes that LGBTQ+ youth face unique challenges such as non-accepting families, bullying and problems at school, and fear of being out. They aim to promote health, well-being, and social justice for those living with HIV, LGBTQ+ individuals, and communities marginalized by society. SAAF offers Edge students an incredible array of critical resources for Edge’s LGBTQ+ students, families and friends.
SAAF operates two youth centers in Tucson that are open to all Edge students. Located just a few miles west of Edge Himmel Park, the Eon Youth Lounge provides a safe place to grow in positive identity development and safely connect with other LGBTQ+ youth and their allied peers. The Thornhill Lopez Youth Center provides a wealth of services to LGBTQ-identifying youth and their allies including laundry services, art expression, peer community building, and referrals to community resources.
Edge students are also fortunate to have tuition-free access to SAAF classes, on both of our campuses. SAAF staff visit Northwest & Himmel Park campuses to teach about all aspects of healthy living:
- ALLY Class (Arizona Life Links For Youth): ALLY is a youth suicide prevention program that provides knowledge and skill building to empower youth as leaders. The goal is to reduce the rate of attempted and completed suicides among Arizona’s youth, mainly focusing on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning (LGBTQ+) youth.
- YELL Class (Youth Empowerment Leadership & Life Skills): YELL is a substance abuse prevention program that educates about prescription drug, tobacco, and alcohol misuse among youth. Health educators teach about harm reduction and decision-making skills, while also discussing the impact that alcohol and drugs can have on their lives.
- LINK Class: The Link program focuses on sexual violence prevention and teen dating through healthy relationship building and empowering youth to make better dating decisions. Participants will learn the skills necessary to develop healthy dating relationships including positive communication, sexual risk reduction, and conflict resolution, as well as learn how to help themselves or friends in abusive dating relationships.
During our Edge Day of Service, our students give back to SAAF with a gift of their time and energy. Every year, SAAF hosts a group of students and staff and invites them to learn about the community issues they are facing and working to solve.
Our partnership with SAAF makes all the difference to our LGBTQ+ students who may face challenges at home and in life. At Edge, we want every student to belong to an affirming and welcoming community and have access to critical, possibly even life-saving, education and resources.
Edge’s partnership with SAAF is an on-going opportunity – which means that even though the first day of school has come and gone, you can still make the switch to our tuition-free high school and take advantage of these incredible classes and resources. Contact us or stop by today!
About Edge
EDGE is a Cognia accredited, tuition-free, charter high school, with two campuses in the greater Tucson area. We provide an alternative to traditional education, meeting the diverse learning and life needs of our students with our blended curriculum and flexible morning or afternoon class schedules. Our high-quality, passionate teachers are dedicated to individualized instruction in our small academic classes. Be you. With us. At Edge.