Final Five Communities Selected

Winners have been selected for the inaugural Five Communities Project sponsored by the Center for the Future of Arizona. The five projects will jointly apply with the center for $1.5 million in funding ($100,000/year over a three-year period or $300,000 per project) from national organizations to implement their proposals.


The five winners, representing communities from across Arizona, were chosen from a group of 10
finalists by a national selection panel.


Three winners focus on job creation in their community. They include The Arizona Wine Growers
Association, representing Arizona's emerging wine industry in Cochise, Santa Cruz and Yavapai
counties; Gangplank, a Chandler incubator that wants to expand its impact by moving into new
communities and developing programs for future innovators in high schools and community
colleges; and the International Sonoran Desert Alliance, whose goal is to transform the community
of Ajo from its historic reliance on mining into a place that offers diverse employment, good health
and a town center vibrant with civic life.


Desert Botanical Garden and the Conservation Alliance was selected for the big ideas and plans
they offer that address environmental issues. The collaborative partnership wants to restore and
preserve the mountain park preserves of Greater Phoenix, the largest set of wildland preserves of
any major metropolitan region.

 

The fifth winning community is YWCA Tucson, whose proposal focuses on increasing civic
involvement in its community. YWCA Tucson plans to transform the community by empowering
Spanish-speaking, immigrant women to assume powerful roles as informed, actively involved
citizens in educational and government affairs.

 

The Five Communities Project was created to find the best ideas for strengthening Arizona at the
local level. Communities of all kinds were invited to submit their big ideas for moving Arizona
forward on one or more of the eight citizen goals identified by the Gallup Arizona Poll in The Arizona
We Want research report. Finding ways to involve citizens in both planning and implementation was
a key part of the selection criteria. Ninety-six initial proposals were received from communities
around the state.

 

Ten finalists were selected in September from a group of 31 diverse semifinalists and given $5,000 to
help develop a detailed, final proposal.

 

The center will continue to work with the other five finalists that were not selected as winners – The
Arizona Center for Empowerment, Valley Interfaith Project, Prescott Creeks Preservation
Association, Vail Unified School District, and Arizona State University College of Technology and
Innovation in partnership with Girl Scouts of America, Cactus Pine Council – to find ways to build and
strengthen their communities.