Portable Practical Educational Preparation, Inc.

Improving the Quality of Rural Life

PPEP Inc. is a broad and diverse non profit, started in 1967 by DR. John Arnold to bring education classes to migrant farm workers in the fields. He started the organization
out of a small blue school bus and a grant for $17,000. Today, PPEP still thrives with departments serving the Developmentally Disabled, Young Adults with Job Services, Behavioral Health, Migrant Farming Support, Housing and support services, five charter schools, and a Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Department. The Amado Youth Center Project is located in Amado, AZ, just 25 miles north of the Mexican Border. The community has a high poverty rate and there are many under-served families. PPEP, Inc. started serving the youth of Amado in 2008 with a federal grant to improve community capacity and prevent underage drinking and drug use. Many youth have gone through the Amado Programs and gone on to careers or higher education. Skill development includes team building skills, communication, public speaking, academic support, decision-making and goal-setting, financial management, and family management skills. PPEP also provides the Too Good for Drugs and THRIVE after school program, and the Amado Teen project teaching valuable life skills and a weekend camp in the Santa Rita Mountains twice a year. PPEP was leasing a vacant storefront to house its funded programs serving Amado, when in 2018 a flash flood destroyed several buildings in the area, including the youth center. The staff team and community members have been working hard to raise funds since the flood and today have $440,000 of the required $510,000 to construct their own Amado Youth Center on land made available by Pima County and Sahuarita School District. While PPEP has been able to continue its services using various borrowed space around the community and outdoors, a new building is desperately needed to house the programs under one roof and to give the youth back their center, providing the only community space where they can gather for these services. We are so close to making this dream a reality and we are determined to make it happen for the youth (and families) we serve. With a little more help we can set our groundbreaking and begin construction this summer.