Our Initiative

Our team: 5 staff members from PRO neighborhoods who work in assigned territories around Pima County. Each staff member works with their territories’ local governments, agencies, businesses, organizations, residents, and both formal and non formal community groups.

Our funders: Arizona Community Foundation, City of Tucson, Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, Pima County and United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona.

Our initiative
Our Communities for all Ages initiative began with leadership projects in the South Park neighborhood. PRO neighborhoods, an organization dedicated to community organizing, supported local groups of resident leaders and local organizations to develop a range of initiatives to address community concerns by using an asset based community development approach. These projects succeeded in creating new alliances/networks and increasing communication between residents of different ages and a range of community organizations and institutions in the South park neighborhood. The local leadership development work resulted in a greater range of opportunities and supports for residents of all ages as well as increased opportunities for community interaction and connection in social/green spaces. Here are some examples:

• The leadership group focused on community beauty organized a neighborhood association which sponsored clean up and landscaping events in the local park
• The leadership groups working on inclusion and building community relationships across culture worked in collaboration with the local cultural center and public library to organize multi-age game nights, films, puppets shows, workshops and bilingual support groups.

The neighborhood specific leadership projects in South Park enabled community residents and organizations to experience first hand the added value and importance of using an intergenerational lens in community building work. As a result of the success of the South Park initiative, PRO neighborhoods has incorporated intergenerational lens into their organizational strategies, processes and systems. As a result, new coalitions and neighborhood groups across Pima County have emerged and are developing intergenerational leadership projects and alliances in neighborhood communities.

In these new coalitions, intergenerational strategies are intentionally cultivated and encouraged. Since the beginning of the South Park project 155 communities in Pima County have received community organizing grants from PRO neighborhoods and been trained on how to bring residents of all ages to the table when developing local initiatives. Before these groups even apply for the grants, they work in a pre-application process to identify meaningful ways of engaging residents of all ages as leaders and decision makers.

Some examples of successful intergenerational leadership initiatives around the county include:

• A multi generational community leadership board created by the city manager that will be providing input on city funding and management
• Town hall meetings with residents of all ages that provided feedback on local budget cuts and helped to save vital social services from being cut.
• Bringing youth on board as paid staff to a local initiative for youth services that previously had only adult participation.