Advancing Community Resilience Partnership: Maricopa County

Maricopa County is the 12th largest metro area in the U.S., home to Phoenix, the 6th largest city, and a significant regional economic driver. Like many places, the Greater Phoenix area faced a range of economic, social and environmental resilience challenges. The county was working to recover from the Great Recession, combat racial divides, enhance its cultural core, manage the water supply and adapt to extreme heat. With these challenges came the opportunity to make the region’s communities more resilient – economically, socially and environmentally.

In partnership with Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, a foundation focused on enriching health, well-being and opportunity for Maricopa County, ISC worked to advance community resilience, social cohesion and civic engagement. The Advancing Community Resilience Partnership: Maricopa County focused on key program areas of health care and medical research, children, older adults, arts & culture, and education.

Over a three-year period, ISC worked to inspire, align and accelerate a shared vision for the people of Maricopa County to further build a strong community shaped and shared by all. A major driver of this work rested within the social profit sector, fragmented and under-resourced. ISC strengthened the capacity, collaboration and awareness of nonprofits working toward shared positive goals through in-depth social mapping in Maricopa County and collaborative opportunities for organizations to share lessons learned and make meaningful connections.