Finalists Announced in
Five Communities Project

When the Gallup Arizona Poll told us that citizens are highly attached to Arizona and their local communities as a place to live but don't feel very connected to one another, we took it seriously and the 5 Communities Project was launched in spring 2011 as a direct result. We invited communities of all kinds to send us their best ideas that describe how they could move Arizona forward on one or more of the 8 citizen goals. After two rounds of proposals, the statewide/national selection committee selected 10 finalists. Ultimately, 5 communities will be selected to collaborate with the Center on a national funding proposal to provide the resources needed to implement each of the community plans over a three-year period.


ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Arizona Wine Growers Association /
Verde Valley Wine Consortium		 Yavapai, Cochise and Santa Cruz Counties
Big Idea: Transform the rural economies of Cochise, Santa Cruz and Yavapai counties by building on the momentum of the emerging wine industry, increasing acreage and production in value-add, low water use crops, and using the wine industry as a model for creating higher paying jobs in rural Arizona, attracting related businesses, and expanding the export market base while revitalizing and preserving each region's farming heritage and quality of life.
Community Need: In this difficult economic climate, rural areas struggle to develop local capacities, network their resources, and aggregate assets. The result has been stagnant economies, high unemployment and even higher rates of young people fleeing rural areas because of a lack of opportunity.
Transformative Impact: "Instead of rural young people trying to get out, young people will want to "get in."


Gangplank Metro Phoenix
Big Idea: Build an ecosystem for startups and creatives throughout Arizona, including programs for future innovators in area high schools and community colleges.
Community Need: In the years leading up to the Great Recession, Arizona's employment growth rate was around 4% or 5% each year, second highest in the nation. Population explosion expanded the construction and service industries, which dominated employment growth in Arizona. Despite high job growth, the number of Arizonans enrolling in ACCHHS kept rising. Currently, the number of Arizonans at or below the poverty level is 50% higher than the national average. These statistics emphasize job growth alone will not sustain an economy.
Transformative Impact: "We hope to fundamentally change the way Arizona approaches economic development."

International Sonoran Desert Alliance Ajo
Big Idea: Transform Ajo into a place where people choose to live because the community has decent employment, good health, and a town center vibrant with civic life.
Community Need: The Ajo community was devastated economically when the local copper mine closed in the mid-1980's. Unemployment is currently 15% and 25% of adults lack a high school diploma. Town residents are often poorly prepared for the jobs that do become available, and even less prepared to create new enterprises that generate jobs. Obesity and diabetes have become widespread since the O'odham gave up farming in the desert washes.
Transformative Impact: "For the community as a whole to move beyond the expectation that the mine will re-open one day and solve all our problems, and to become involved in the work of creating its own future, will be a true transformative impact."

EDUCATION

ASU / Girl Scouts Navajo Nation
Big Idea: Increase the number of Navajo girls pursuing an education and careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), and teach entrepreneurship to encourage new startup ventures in tribal communities.
Community Need: The Navajo Nation comprises nearly 25% of Arizona's geographic area but most Navajo homes do not have electricity, running water, or telephone service. Only 10% of Navajo high school graduates earn bachelor's degrees, only 4% of are in STEM disciplines, and only one-quarter of the 4% are earned by Navajo women.
Transformative Impact: "Program participants will pursue STEM careers before returning to the Navajo communities and applying their skills to building strong local economies."


Vail Unified School District Tucson/Pima County
Big Idea: Using the Collective Impact model, we want to bring the diverse population and active organizations in our community together to engage civically, and to develop shared, attainable goals around the three "E's" that challenge our community today ─ Economics, Education and the Environment.
Community Need: The Vail District encompasses over 425 square miles of rural and emerging suburban areas. Explosive growth during the past decade has unraveled the social fabric of the community. Developers built thousands of commuter homes but were not required to provide parks, roads or recreational facilities. Nearly 2 out of 3 homeowners are now "underwater."
Transformative Impact: "The way citizens connect to one another will improve, community resiliency will increase, and the community infrastructure to achieve shared goals will be in place."


ENVIRONMENT

Desert Botanical Garden Greater Phoenix/Maricopa County
Big Idea: Improve the mountain park preserves of the Phoenix area and create local, regional and worldwide recognition for them as models that demonstrate how sustainable use of nature preserves can be achieved within an extensive metropolitan region.
Community Need: Desert park preserves managed by the City of Phoenix and Maricopa County are collectively the largest set of wildland preserves of any major metropolitan area. Urban growth, invasive species, lack of funding, inappropriate use and lack of effective protection within the preserves have the potential to cause long-term degradation of these important natural, cultural and economic assets.
Transformative Impact: "In the same way that visitors to New York "must" visit Central Park, or visitors to San Diego "must" visit Balboa Park, we envision the day when visitors to Phoenix "must" visit South Mountain Park (the largest municipal park in the country) or Usery Mountain Regional Park."


Prescott Creeks Preservation Association Prescott/Yavapai County
Big Idea: Implement the Granite Creek Greenway ─ Headwaters to the Verde River concept to unify and integrate management of the natural environment, expand opportunities for citizen-based science, and develop a sustainable economy from the Prescott area downstream to the upper Verde River.
Community Need: 132 years ago, John Wesley Powell proposed establishing the West's political boundaries along watershed boundaries. We now grapple with the consequences of not following his prescient advice. The Granite Creek Watershed includes the third-largest metropolitan area in Arizona and is an important headwater to the Verde River. The area's water future is uncertain and contentious at best. A grid-locked government without funding (and with other priorities) is widely criticized for its management and protection of the natural environment, water supplies and open spaces. The time is now.
Transformative Impact: "While the various communities within the watershed have collaborated to some extent, we have not fully embraced the concept within the context of a natural system, linked by our common water course. This project offers a focal point for the future."

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

Arizona Center for Empowerment Metro Phoenix
Big Idea: Increase civic involvement and citizen connection to one another through a targeted Latino voter engagement campaign and an innovative "Grow Our Own Leaders" Project.
Community Need: In Phoenix, Latinos are roughly 40% of the city population but account for only 18% of the electorate and only 9% of the votes cast in the 2007 municipal election. In addition, the Latino voice is under-represented on Phoenix boards, committees and commissions that oversee such vital services as public transit, affordable housing, public safety and the revitalization of key regions.
Transformative Impact: "An engaged Latino voting and leadership base will transform the City of Phoenix."


Valley Interfaith Project Metro Phoenix
Big Idea: The Alliance Communities Strategy will prepare 200 grassroots leaders in three neighborhoods to connect their local schools, faith institutions, and local non-profits in an alliance to ensure children have a clear pathway to post-secondary education and that adults can enter workforce training to secure middle class jobs.
Community Need: Metro Phoenix families are in an economic and civic crisis. Many of the 300,000 jobs that were lost in this region during the recession are not coming back. The Arizona Board of Regents project that by 2018, 64% of Arizona jobs will require a degree, yet only 25% of adult Arizonans have one today, and Arizona ranks 49th in K-12 investment.
Transformative Impact: "Our neighborhood leaders, who once thought they were powerless, will find their voice and learn to create their own paths to middleclass prosperity and social mobility."

YWCA Tucson Tucson
Big Idea: Lider de mi vida: Hispanic Women's Leadership Initiative will transform our community by empowering Spanish-speaking, immigrant women to assume powerful roles as informed, actively involved citizens in educational and governmental affairs to bridge the gap between the broader community and the growing numbers of recent immigrants from Mexico.
Community Need: Tucson is struggling with a poverty rate of 23.4% and a high school drop-out rate of 41.5% among Hispanic youth. Despite the fact that the single most reliable predictor of a child's educational achievement is the educational achievement of their mother, efforts to improve educational outcomes have overlooked the fact that 40% of Hispanic women in Arizona lack a high school education.
Transformative Impact: "We will never again accept the lack of civic participation and academic achievement in the Hispanic community as a community norm."