SVP Tucson member Jane Shurtleff recently shared an op-ed in the Arizona Daily Star exploring how Southern Arizona can create stronger pathways from poverty to prosperity.
The article highlights the Prosperity Initiative, a regional effort focused on reducing generational poverty and increasing economic mobility across Pima County and the City of Tucson. The initiative provides a shared framework for addressing interconnected barriers involving housing, health, education, and workforce development.
Jane highlights how organizations across the region are putting that framework into action, including Pima County, the City of Tucson, the Community Coalition for Prosperity (CC4P), Tucson Electric Power, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and community leaders.
CC4P brings together representatives from philanthropy, nonprofits, higher education, business, subject-matter experts, and people with lived experience to advance more coordinated approaches to economic mobility and systems change.
The article reinforces an important idea: meaningful progress on generational poverty requires government, nonprofit, business, philanthropic, and community organizations to work together around shared priorities and practical solutions.
Jane Shurtleff is a member of SVP Tucson, the Rotary Club of Oro Valley, and the Community Coalition for Prosperity, and is the author of From Poverty to Prosperity: Breaking the Cycle of Generational Poverty.