What’s Your Impact?

What does impact mean to you? When we talk with our program participants about how they can make a difference and how that change can manifest, we talk about the importance of impact on a systemic level, on a community level and on an individual level. At Valley Leadership, we work to give you the tools to take action and lead at any level – and to make your own impact.

Here’s what we’ve been up to:

Impact Maker exploring the addition of two new Impact Teams. Our Impact Maker is focused on creating long-term, systemic change in areas like education, health and child well-being, among others. But we have also heard from our community and have been exploring new areas to engage Impact Teams, which consist of Valley Leadership alumni, organizations in the community and community leaders. Two new areas we’re exploring are racial justice and the environment. The first step in our process is to convene a “Builder Team” of leaders and organizations working in that space to better understand the landscape here in Arizona and examine where and how the Impact Maker can help move this work forward. We will share more updates soon. If you have recommendations of people to engage on either of these issues, please email us at vl@valleyleadership.org.

Join us virtually at the 71st Annual Man and Woman of the Year event. First and foremost, we create a community through Valley Leadership – one that is committed to building a strong, resilient and inclusive Arizona. We invite you to reconnect with that community virtually on Oct. 29 for our 71st Annual Man and Woman of the Year event. You’ll be inspired by stories of outstanding leadership from our honorees – Kenneth J. Schutz of the Desert Botanical Garden, Karrin Taylor Robson of Arizona Strategies and the late Senator John McCain – and you’ll learn more about the work of our Impact Maker teams and how you can get involved.

Raise your voice – and encourage others to do the same. One of most impactful things we can do as individuals is vote. Yet, in 2016 Arizona ranked 43rd for voter turnout. We know we can do better. That’s why we’ve partnered with One Community to encourage more Arizonans to vote. The election is just around the corner, and today is the last day to register to vote in Arizona. Learn more, and join us in encouraging every Arizonan to use their vote as their voice in November.

No matter how you make an impact, there are plenty of ways to do so this fall and into the future. Thank you for your partnership and leadership as we work to strengthen Arizona.