The Arizona Community Foundation, the Republic of Arizona, and ASU’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy are pleased to announce the three winners of the Common Good Challenge, the fifth annual charitable awards contest offered under the banner of the New Arizona Awards. I am happy.

A total of 38 teams met the deadline and submitted their projects for consideration by a 32-member evaluation committee, with 6 teams scoring high enough to qualify as finalists. The finalist proposed her solution Wednesday, May 24, in front of a live audience and her nine-member selection committee, which elected her three winning teams. Each receives a $100,000 grant to develop the project. Winners were judged on their ability to develop collaborative solutions to critical community challenges.

“We are honored to have so many Arizonans participating in the Common Good Challenge as entry teams, evaluators and community supporters. They are our greatest representatives. and are designing solutions for some of the state’s most pressing needs,” said Jamie Dempsey, ACF’s Chief Programs and Acting Community Engagement Officer. “The purpose of this competition is to bring together people with diverse perspectives, backgrounds and experiences to find meaningful responses to complex problems that will make our society stronger, and us stronger. I accepted the idea.”

The three winners of the Common Good Challenge are:

Team: Anytown Leadership Program, Inc.
Project: Anytown: Developing Leaders for a Better Tomorrow
Covered counties: Coconino, Gila, Maricopa, Pima, Yavapai, Yuma
Hate speech and hate crimes dominate the headlines. People are openly harassed because of their race, sexual orientation, political or religious beliefs, etc. You don’t have to do it this way. At Anytown, we believe that differences make us stronger and youth is the key to a brighter future.

Team: Boys to Men Tucson, Inc.
Project: Healthy Intergenerational Masculinity (HIM) Initiative
Jurisdiction: Pima
A diverse coalition of community leaders has called for “healthy education” to address crises related to how boys are raised, including gender-based violence, academic achievement gaps, school shootings, addiction and untreated mental health. Launched the Intergenerational Masculinity Initiative. This community-based system change project was born out of the wisdom that communities become safer when men and boys practice wholeness together.

Team: Read Better, Get Better
Project: Read Better Be Better After School Reading and Writing Instruction
Jurisdiction: Maricopa
Read Better Be Better is the only local nonprofit that pairs middle school and third grade leaders in a college education major-driven program to solve Arizona’s literacy crisis. With this unique cross-age peer tutoring, Read Better Be Better will serve two of her students simultaneously while providing a valuable classroom experience for future educators.

To watch team videos and learn more about the winners and finalists, please visit: commongoodchallenge.org. The remaining three of her finalists also received her $10,000 grant to cover the costs of participating and developing the project further.

The New Arizona Award aims to create the Arizona of the future. It is a state where innovation thrives, ingenuity is supported, and the best thoughts are harnessed to create long-term, positive solutions to enduring needs. Arizona Community Foundation continues to provide over $145 million in grants, scholarships and impact loans in the last fiscal year, while hosting a philanthropic awards contest aimed at attracting new thinking and innovation doing. Through these open, fair, and transparent competitions, ACF collaborates with the Republic of Arizona and the Morrison Institute for Public Policy to leverage some of its philanthropic resources to develop innovative solutions to state challenges.

About Arizona Community Foundation

Founded in 1978, the Arizona Community Foundation is a statewide charitable foundation supported by thousands of Arizonas. With regional offices serving communities throughout Arizona, ACF is one of the top 25 community foundations in the nation, with more than $1.4 billion in trust and endowed assets and a national standard for U.S. community foundations. and has been awarded the highest four-star rating by the American Community Foundation. 12 years of experience as a charity navigator. Since its inception, ACF has provided her over $1.2 billion in grants, scholarships and loans to nonprofits, schools, students and government agencies. For more information, please refer to the following URL: azfoundation.org.

Read more stories from our community connections on Signals A Z.com to learn about others who are making a difference in the Quad City.

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