The Frances McClelland Youth Award

The Frances McClelland Youth Vision Award is given to honor a youth leader or group of leaders who are working towards improving the well-being of children, youth, families, and community. The youth embody the strength, dedication, vision and passion that Frances McClelland exhibited throughout her life and youth. This award is for a youth leader or a group of leaders who inspire hope for Arizona’s future.  Frances overcame adversity through her life and manifested resilience. We are looking for youth that embody Frances’ spirit of valuing her immigrant roots, overcoming adversity, and demonstrating resilience in the face of challenges. We are looking for future professionals who will work with individuals and families in careers of family, health, criminal justice, psychology, social work, healthcare practitioners, teaching, and other related fields. The youth leader or group of leaders should be between 11-22 years old.

Graciela Rodarte is a senior at the University of Arizona majoring in Law and minoring in Spanish. She is currently working at Step Up to Justice, a Pro Bono law firm, that provides legal advice to low-income community members who cannot pay for an attorney in Tucson. She has interned with the International Rescue Committee and the Colibri Human Rights Center. At the International Rescue Committee, her time consisted of helping refugees, asylees, and any other person in the Tucson community fix their immigration status. Graciela’s fluency in Spanish helps her communicate with families all over Latin America to complete in-takes at Colibri Human Rights Center. Colibri Human Rights Center help families look for their missing person who was attempting to cross the Southern Arizona/Mexico border. They also provide free DNA tests to help families identify missing remains to send back to their families. She plans to attend law school and one day hopes to practice immigration law. 

Graciela’s mentor stated, “Graciela has deep compassion for those who are vulnerable and need a voice, especially immigrants. She is a kind-hearted defender of those in need of support.” 

We are honored to award an individual who is passionate and dedicated to helping immigrant families.