The Rev. Delle McCormick is leaving BorderLinks after five years as executive director of the local nonprofit group, which educates the public about issues on the U.S.-Mexican border.
McCormick, a United Church of Christ minister, said she's feeling called to a ministry of another kind. She feels she did her job growing the organization from adolescence to maturity.
"It's like ministry. You do the strategic planning and move forward to the next steps. We've done that, brought the organization to the next level of professionalism and health," she said. "It's also difficult to do the job in such difficult economic times."
BorderLinks relies on donations and its budget took a hit as the economy slumped. When McCormick took over as executive director in 2005, the budget was $900,000. It's now $650,000.
And it's been a stressful job, too.
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"It's just tragic the work we're involved in - the deaths, desperation of families," McCormick said. "The border is a low-intensity war zone - a war against people made poor."
The organization will likely get an interim leader to begin with and then begin a search for a new director, said Kenneth Kennon, co-president of the group's board of directors.
The group has scheduled an event honoring McCormick's service for Aug. 22.
"We were very sad to see her go but we understand all the pressure she's had over the last five years," Kennon said. "She's been asked to speak all over the country, she's well-regarded in many places. Our hope is we'll be able to find someone who will serve as well as she's been able to do."
Among other things, Kennon credits McCormick with increasing the group's experiential education about political and social conditions along the border.
Recently, the group began offering "1070" education sessions, giving participants a history of conditions on the border and the root causes why many Mexicans illegally cross the border into the U.S. Senate Bill 1070 is the tough new immigration bill that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law this year.
BorderLinks is a binational, nonprofit organization based in both Tucson and Nogales, Sonora. It was founded in 1987 as an outgrowth of the Sanctuary Movement, a Tucson-based movement that during the 1980s helped illegally smuggle people from war-torn Central America into the United States. The movement also worked to increase public awareness that the U.S. government was backing wars in El Salvador and Guatemala - the countries from which the refugees fled.
The organization initially began as a safe place for churches to find out about Central American refugees, but as the conflicts in Central America died down and peace accords took effect, BorderLinks increasingly became a source of education on issues related to Mexico. In its first year it had a budget of $20,000 and a handful of volunteers. It now has a staff of nine in Tucson.
When McCormick took over as leader five years ago, she replaced Rick Ufford-Chase, who was one of the organization's founders.
BorderLinks sponsors border education trips and until recently funded the Hogar de Esperanza y Paz - House of Hope and Peace - in Nogales, Sonora, which provides programs for Mexicans to create sustainable communities and to help them find alternative economies in Mexico.
Contact reporter Stephanie Innes at sinnes@azstarnet.com or 573-4134.
