When conversations first began about how to achieve the Arizona we want, we set an ambitious goal: Identify a vision and set goals for Arizona that could mobilize people and communities throughout the state.
In 2009, with the help of Gallup, we asked Arizonans to describe the future they want for our state. The objective was never to just capture a picture of what citizens think about life in Arizona communities, it was always to identify a set of common goals that would mobilize people and survive transitions in leadership over time.
“The Arizona We Want 2.0: The Case for Action” presents very specific next steps to move us toward that desired future. Those specific steps are organized around eight goals: Education, Job Creation, Environment and Water, Infrastructure, Health Care, Young Talent, Civic Engagement and Community Involvement. Some of these goals are citizen-driven, requiring individual and collective action of citizens everywhere. Others are leader-driven, requiring the collective action of leaders around the state.
Goal 1: Education. We need to increase Arizona’s education performance to meet state, higher education and national goals. This can be achieved by funding and implementing Common Core Standards and Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). It should also include the creation of an education funding investment model that is tied to student, teacher, and school performance.
Goal 2: Job Creation. Arizonans want increased job opportunities and higher wages. This can be done through a commitment to training programs and workforce development, increasing research and development spending, and developing incentives to attract entrepreneurs, small businesses, and major companies.
Goal 3: Environment and Water. Arizonans have cited the need for a comprehensive water plan that balances population growth with preserving open spaces. Our plan includes a mix of conservation, forest thinning, and modernizing of our state trust land laws.
Goal 4: Infrastructure. Increase citizen support of municipalities and their efforts to upgrade streets and other public transportation is critical. Organizing Arizona into “economic zones” will allow each region to capitalize on their own distinctive infrastructure opportunities.
Goal 5: Health Care. Build upon the successful parts of the state’s Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) program. Identify strategies and incentives for health providers and employers to help people maintain a healthy lifestyle, so that we can collectively lower costs and improve access.
Goal 6: Young Talent. Young Arizonans want and deserve the best opportunities we can offer. We need to engage them in their communities by valuing their input on the type of city they want to live in and making Arizona an attractive state to live and work.
Goal 7: Civic Engagement. Just 10 percent of Arizonans believe their elected officials represent their interests. This voter apathy can be reduced by starting civic engagement at the local level and promoting the benefits of becoming an active, engaged Arizona citizen.
Goal 8: Community Involvement. According to our study, Arizona is a state whose citizens feel a lack of community connection. We can change this by encouraging associations and foundations to position themselves as “conveners” to support community involvement statewide.
The Arizona We Want 2.0 report provides further detail on all of these goals at www.thearizonawewant.org. We believe that these goals can be achieved if citizens and leaders work together and remain committed over time. The rapid transformation of Arizona is under way. How we respond will be key to building a better future for our state.
• Lattie F. Coor is chairman and CEO of the Center for the Future of Arizona.
chatmandu002 posted at 11:01 am on Tue, Feb 26, 2013.
What are the results so far?
1. Education, lots of spending but no appreciable results so far.
2. 7.9%(Dec) unemployment rate. Not much improvement. But trying.
3. Suffering the effects of irrational federal EPA rules and regulations.
4. Infrastructure not to bad when compared to back east.
5. The Obamacare bomb has nullified this issue. There can be no healthcare cost savings.
6. Young talent? Heck all the young ever wanted was to legalize medical pot.
7. It's still the liberals versus the conservatives. With the libertarians setting on the fence.
8. Community involvement? With illegals all over the place, Californians abandoning their state and coming here, Canadians buying up property and so many part-time snowbirds, how could we have a sense of community.
Not much has changed in almost 4 years.
Cerulean posted at 7:07 pm on Tue, Feb 26, 2013.
Lattie, you have provided a very good list of goals.
Chatiedu, you have provided a list of deep bosh.
VofReason posted at 1:32 pm on Wed, Feb 27, 2013.
I will give old Lattie this, when he was President of ASU, tution stayed reasonable and pretty stable. Since Crow, not so much. Strange how Tempe around the campus looks more and more like Manhatten every year and the cost of tuition is flying up the charts. This is the problem with Educrats, they don't understand economics and don't think anyone on the outside considers that what they run up for the cost of education from K-12 to college doesn't make common sense to the rest of us.
Bluepoet posted at 7:20 am on Fri, Mar 1, 2013.
Mr. Coor, I'd like to offer some help to you, and your list of goals.
Combine #6-8, since they all seem to be the same thing.
All in all, it's a nice framework...have you considered that a lot of these things are going to have to be presented to the local governments, and most of the people running these may resent being told just how bad a job they are doing?
Maybe if you dress it up as a conservative think tank, they'll listen (be sure to grease some palms, along the way)...
Good luck!!
pd posted at 12:23 pm on Fri, Mar 1, 2013.
Chatmandu says: "Education, lots of spending but no appreciable results so far."
I left a business career to become a teacher in AZ over 20 years ago. I'm a true free-market conservative, but as an insider who keeps up on the financial data and sees the impact of the recent TEA Party victories in slashing education spending in the name of reducing "fat" and waste, I have to say that spending is not out of control. You can literally trace every dollar that is allocated for education (and there are poeple who do). Certainly we need to work to improve education, but I am weary of the TEA Party people screaming about waste in education -- attack Barack Obama's policies please, but leave our public schools alone. I'm also weary of my Republican colleagues who are personally profiting from the school reform legislation that they pass (i.e. charter schools).
VofReason posted at 1:12 pm on Fri, Mar 1, 2013.
Pd, student funding from all sources 9K per student. Class size 28 times 9K= $250K+. We cannot pay a teacher , keep a roof and educate a class for a quarter million. Please explain?
pd posted at 3:24 pm on Fri, Mar 1, 2013.
Vof Reason -- Go to the state auditor's site (Shows excellent summaries district by district -- this office is run by conservative Republicans). Also, go to the school board sites for each district -- Funds and how they are allocated are summed up in public finance statements. You really can trace specific expenditures. I have a good Republican friend who served on an advisery committee for GPS. She was against Prop 204, but she couldn't believe the erroneous information about the over-rides being touted as fact by candidates like Colvin and other TEA Party enthusiasts. The fact is, there are numerous reasonable places where your 9K per student goes. It's bad practice to use "back of the napkin" calculations, jump to conclusions, and miss a lot of the important specifics regarding school finance. The Goldwater Report investigates school waste in schools from time to time. I've read the latest -- There is waste, but it's what one would expect from a large organization or corporation of any kind -- a few hundred dollars here, a few thousand there -- There certainly aren't millions of dollars being hidden or wasted -- that idea, spread by my TEA Party friends, is simply false. Look it up.