News & Events Newsletter Archive Newsletter May 2025

May 2025

What Helps Students Take Ownership of Their Future? We Have New Insights.

Participating students, high schools, and community colleges gather to learn the outcomes of a six-year grant.

“Every student deserves to leave high school with hope, a plan, and a future they are excited about,” said Izael Beltran, a student from Cibola High School in Yuma. “It’s not just about what’s offered; it’s about what’s experienced — and who gets the invitation to step into it.”

That sentiment is at the heart of CFA’s Arizona Pathways to Prosperity initiative, which—after six years of research and collaboration with 12 high schools and seven community colleges across Arizona—is advancing what truly works to help students engage in post-secondary education and career planning.

The takeaway? When students feel ownership over their education and career paths, believe in what's possible, and are supported across schools, colleges, and employers, they're more likely to create and follow through on education, training, and goals after high school.

Key strategies uncovered in our research include:

Student-led planning projects that help teens earn 9+ college credits in high school
Hands-on college and career exploration built into core 10th-grade classes
Shared responsibility and strong coordination among schools, colleges, and industry partners to support students

Our comprehensive research report will be released in January 2026. In the meantime, we're working with education partners across the state to continue advancing student-centered approaches to education and career planning.

Arizona Civic Life Partnership Convenes 20 Organizations for Statewide Impact

Representatives from over 20 organizations learn more about & discuss recent updates to the Civic Health Progress Meters.

The Arizona Civic Life Partnership (ACLP) recently brought together 20 organizations to explore the state of civic health in Arizona and issued a call to action to work together on a path forward.

Grounded in newly updated Arizona Civic Health Progress Meters data from CFA and the Arizona Center for Civic Leadership at the Flinn Foundation, this event marked the start of a series of efforts to foster collective action.

By gathering diverse perspectives from across the state, the goal is to identify the metrics that matter most to understand how connected and engaged Arizonans are in civic life and ultimately set bold, shared targets for progress. This is a critical step toward ensuring more Arizonans are informed, involved, and empowered to shape their communities.

Real-World ROI: Yuma Students Deliver Workforce Solutions Through Paid Virtual Internship

Students share strategies to increase healthcare workforce recruitment in a virtual presentation to Sunset Health and community members.

This spring, four Yuma County high school students participated in a paid, virtual internship focused on developing healthcare workforce recruitment strategies, one of many career-connected learning experiences coordinated by CFA’s Arizona Pathways to Prosperity initiative in partnership with the Work-Based Learning Alliance.

Interns reviewed existing outreach efforts, analyzed job market trends, and identified local organizations that could support recruitment goals, gaining valuable career exposure and transferable skills. The participating company, Sunset Health, in turn, gained fresh ideas and insights, like social media campaigns, website improvements, and more, from future professionals already invested in their community.

Bring virtual internships to your organization

Transforming Communities Through Education: The Burton Family Foundation Invests in Changemakers

The Burton Family Foundation Co-Founder & Chair Christy Burton poses with CFA’s Chair, President & CEO Dr. Sybil Francis at CFA’s 20th Anniversary Celebration.

Economic opportunity, education, and strong civic engagement — these are just a few of the Shared Public Values Arizonans agree on. For almost a decade, the support of The Burton Family Foundation has enabled CFA to transform those values into action, creating lasting change that uplifts individuals, regardless of background or zip code, and transforms communities.

One of the most powerful ways they’ve done this is by investing in educational leadership. Recognizing the critical role school leadership plays in driving positive outcomes, The Burton Family Foundation made an initial, groundbreaking investment in 2016 as part of a public and private partnership to expand CFA’s Beat the Odds Leadership Academy (BTO), a nationally recognized, game-changing initiative that equips Arizona principals with the skills to lead schools where both students and educators thrive. The Burton Family Foundation has supported BTO's expansion and exponential impact for almost a decade. Through their support, the work has prepared more than 450 school leaders, impacting over 100,000 students across the state, and continues to transform Arizona’s educational landscape by empowering leaders at the heart of thriving schools and communities.

“Strong school leaders lead to student success,” said Christy Burton, Co-Founder and Chair of The Burton Family Foundation. “From the start, we saw Beat the Odds Academy as a powerful opportunity to invest in the leaders driving meaningful change in Arizona schools. We’re proud to support work building a network of changemakers with the vision and capacity to strengthen communities across the state.”

The Burton Family Foundation’s support extends beyond education, including initiatives to build the next generation of engaged civic leaders in Southern Arizona, launch Southern Arizona’s first Workforce Leadership Academy, and deepen our understanding of the future Arizonans want. We’re proud to work alongside The Burton Family Foundation to cultivate a flourishing and vibrant quality of life for Arizonans across the state.

What Arizonans Prioritize for Election Results

In a recent statewide survey, Arizona voters were asked to choose between two recently proposed priorities in election design: getting faster results or keeping the convenience of dropping off early ballots through Election Day.

The result? 69% chose convenience. Voters across the political spectrum supported preserving flexible options for casting early ballots, even if it means waiting longer for final results.

The vast majority of voters do not prioritize faster election results at the expense of access and convenience. In a moment when election policies are often framed as all-or-nothing, voters show interest in something more balanced.

Read more in this Arizona Capitol Times op-ed from CFA Chair, President & CEO Dr. Sybil Francis.

Celebrating 50 Years of Greater Phoenix Leadership

Dr. Sybil Francis joins a panel at the Greater Phoenix Leadership Annual Meeting & Membership Advance: Celebrating 50 Years on May 8.

Greater Phoenix Leadership (GPL) recently marked its 50th anniversary, celebrating a half-century of impact as a driving force behind progress in Arizona. For five decades, GPL has united the region’s top business leaders to advance solutions that strengthen our economy and quality of life.

The milestone event gathered distinguished voices, including former Governors Doug Ducey, Janet Napolitano, and Bruce Babbitt; a gubernatorial proclamation from Governor Hobbs’s office; and a wide range of leaders advancing the future of Arizona.

As part of the program, CFA Chair, President & CEO Dr. Sybil Francis joined a forward-looking panel alongside GPL President & CEO Neil Giuliano and Neal Peirce Foundation Treasurer Bill Fulton. Together, they explored the region’s transformation over time and the opportunities ahead.

GPL plans to release The Peirce Report, Revisited, a reflection on how far Greater Phoenix has come and the challenges that must be addressed to build on progress and secure a stronger future. Developed in partnership with CFA and the Neal Peirce Foundation, the forthcoming report will offer context and insights into the future of growth, talent, and civic leadership in the region.

SPB Vote Days 2025: West Point Students Vote for Campus Project

Through School Participatory Budgeting, students at West Point High School in Avondale are learning democracy by doing — voting on projects to improve their own campus. Plus, their actions in high school are inspiring a lifetime of civic participation.

From West Valley View

Educators Raise Concerns Over Tying K-12 Funding to Other Measures

The article explores how these proposals are being received and cites CFA’s Arizona Voters’ Agenda, which found that 79% of voters across the political spectrum support increasing public education funding.

From Arizona Mirror

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