Building community as a revolutionary act: An interview with the founder of ¡Para Todos!

Photo of people enjoying outdoor community space, by Leah Newhouse on Pexels

TUCSON, Ariz., May 5, 2025 — “Does anyone have a Keurig that is clean and functional they want to get rid of? I have an elderly neighbor friend, she fell and broke her wrist the other day on her dominant side and is hoping to come by one to make life a little easier,” reads a Facebook post by Abby Bozena Splittstoesser. “Also ISO a footstool for my other elderly neighbor who basically lives on his couch and isn’t able to elevate his feet like he should be when he’s sitting up during the day.”

If you have Abby as a friend on Facebook, you will see posts in your newsfeed with updates on her two boys and funny memes—something that is familiar to most social media feeds. But Abby uses her online presence for more than just general life updates. Amongst the content deluge from your social media friends, you are more likely to see posts from her like the one above. This emphasis on community rather than just self-promotion is rare to find on social media, but in Abby’s eyes, it shouldn’t be.

“We’ve separated ourselves from each other so much,” Abby said when asked why there seems to be a lack of this kind of direct community involvement. “And there's obviously bad people out there, but a lot of times, people hardly even talk to their neighbors anymore. Just being a little bit neighborly is actually a really revolutionary type of thing. And it's very basic, but it makes a huge difference.”

For Splittstoesseer, a strong sense of community is more than just a safety net; it’s the fabric of resilience and the difference between surviving and thriving. As a single mom of two boys, aged 7 and 4, she is a full-time caretaker and homeschool instructor to her oldest, all while pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Built Environments from the University of Arizona. While it would be more than understandable if she couldn’t reach out to those around her to offer support, she is striving to make an even bigger impact with her soon-to-be-launched community-focused initiative, ¡Para Todos!.

Photo courtesy of the founder, Abby Bozena Splittstoesser

Community for everyone

¡Para Todos!, which translates to “for everyone,” is the culmination of years of community cultivation and professional and lived experience. Abby has worked previously for a non-profit grassroots community organization in her hometown of Rochester, Minnesota, and in the public service sector after moving to Tucson, Arizona over five years ago. She has also had personal experience with navigating social services and is employed as a caretaker through her son’s insurance after he was diagnosed with epilepsy and autism. Through the years, she has witnessed first-hand the gaps in community support and how easy it is to get lost in the shuffle.

“Not only do I need something like this, but I know that I've connected with other parents and adults who are really lacking in connection,” Abby said. “I meet people all the time with kids with a disability, and it feels like they can never make friends because, you know, parents of neurotypical children may not understand or maybe their child is not super sociable, so it makes it hard for the parent to feel like they can have any sort of community connection.”

In addition to creating connections with other parents and kids, Abby makes a special effort to connect with the elders in her community. They may not have family nearby but are still looking for companionship and to get out of their house every once and a while. Making the extra effort to ensure they feel like they are part of the community has a major impact on their quality of life.

As a resident of South Tucson, the community Abby lives and works in is predominantly Hispanic and Spanish-speaking. The name ¡Para Todos! was chosen intentionally to reaffirm the organization as a safe place for all, especially in the current political climate where immigrants and families of mixed status may be reluctant to put themselves out there in the community for fear of scrutiny.

“This is about recognizing that you can't just build something and put it in a neighborhood, and think it’s going to help,” Abby said. “Going with a Spanish name, I want to make it as obvious as possible that it's a safe place for people. Instead of coming in and having that white savior mentality, like, ‘I'm going to save everybody and this is going to just going to fix everything now,’ it's like, let's have a space that we can share together.”

Photo of a saguaro, by Lukas Rodriguez

First steps on a long journey

The first services ¡Para Todos! will offer for community members are monthly group birthday parties for kids and families who are unable to host their own parties, a Halloween costume closet so every child can participate in a fun holiday and rotating cleaning crews to help share the burden of house cleaning. Later on, Abby has plans to offer accessibility assessments for local businesses. These assessments would identify areas of improvement, such as sensory-friendly options so that people of all abilities will feel welcome and supported.

Long term, the vision is to have a dedicated community center as a central gathering place for ¡Para Todos!. Abby envisions a place that not only helps fill the gaps for community members basic needs such as a food pantry or clothing donations, but is a space for leisure and play. All too commonly, play and leisure spaces of all ages are exclusive to people with transportation, free time and above all, money.

“The goal is having something that is easy for people to just drop in anytime and that’s not going to be expensive,” Abby said. “We want to make it as easy as possible because people have enough barriers to doing anything.”

If this sounds like a lot of work, it's because it is. This journey won’t be quick or easy, but Abby believes that the benefits of building community in South Tucson with ¡Para Todos! are worth it.

“People are really taking care of each other over here and that's just not something you get when people have a very individualistic mindset,” Abby said about her community. “People here treat you like family, they treat your kids like family. It’s nice.”

If you want to get involved with ¡Para Todos! and help share the workload required to build out the inclusive community spaces Abby envisions, you can learn more on the ¡Para Todos! website: paratodostucson.com.

Follow ¡Para Todos! on social media for community updates: @ParaTodosTucson

Keywords:

Community

South Tucson

Accessibility

Para Todos

Inclusive

Play spaces