How Is a River Formed?

I keep thinking about a proverb that Jack McCain learned when he was in Afghanistan: drop by drop, a river is made.

He acknowledged, as so many of us have, that change can take time, but those small changes add up. Our Impact Maker teams work on big, challenging issues that can mean rethinking how our systems are made – and they’ve been busy in these last few months. Drop by drop, they’re having impact and making progress.

Our Education Impact Team has taken their FAFSA playbook – a tool for counselors and educators to ensure more students get access to financial support for their education after high school – and created a playbook for companies committed to helping build a strong, smart workforce. Your company can join them! We’re hosting a webinar from noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 18, where you can learn more about how your company can engage, and you’ll hear from businesses who’ve successfully built a plan to get involved.

Our Health Impact Team continues their work of harvesting, packing and distributing some 200 bags of fresh produce each week with our partners at Fresh Connections. We have a new opportunity for you to help – and you’ll put that fresh food in the hands of seniors in need.

And, we’ll be sharing more work soon. Our Child Well-Being Impact Team is exploring a technology tool to help families find the services they need. Meanwhile, our Health Impact Team is finalizing a website with curated resources for employers who want to reduce the stigma of opioid use disorder and help them be better prepared to privide their employees with the support and resources they may need to be healthy and productive.

To close, I want to share a moment of gratitude. Throughout this year, we’ve been so overwhelmed by the willingness of our VL network and the many who power Impact Maker to roll up their sleeves, get to work and be ready to tackle whatever challenge comes next. It’s been a lot of work, and we were so pleased to take a moment to celebrate with the 71st Man and Woman of the Year and with all of you virtually on Oct. 29. (If you missed it, you can rewatch it here.) It was great to how everyone showed up to support each other and celebrate the kind of leadership that gets things done in Arizona. You also showed this organization and its Impact Maker great support by donating nearly $25,000, which will support our work to train leaders and mobilize them to tackle the most pressing issues in our state.