Rural
Development
Council
Investing in
Rural Communities & Tribal Nations
As the state’s federally designated Rural Development Council, Local First Arizona partners with nonprofits, economic development organizations, tribal nations, rural cities, towns, and counties, and federal agencies across the state to help build a thriving, self-reliant and resilient rural Arizona economy.
A neutral facilitator and coordinator, the Arizona Rural Development Council connects efforts and stakeholders with distinct agendas but shared goals to:
Grow economic opportunity
Increase the number and size of grants won for cities, towns, tribes and nonprofits
Strengthen small businesses and entrepreneurship
Retain youth and create jobs
Develop robust food systems that improve healthy food access
Increase revenue through tourism
Improve access to capital through micro-lending
Develop collaboration and partnerships
These strategies further empower cities and towns to build opportunities for those that choose, every day, to make rural Arizona their home.
Our Programs
Community Development
We strive to build more vibrant, self-reliant, and resilient communities through a variety of proven methods that build bridges and break down silos while creating a culture of inclusion and engagement.
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Providing free services, the Arizona Economic Resource Center helps eligible Arizona cities, towns, counties, tribal communities and nonprofits win and implement competitive federal, state, municipal, or foundation grants.
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Since 1984, Keep Arizona Beautiful has worked with citizens across rural Arizona to organize and implement local initiatives that keep our state clean and beautiful, including litter abatement efforts, recycling programs, illegal dumping prevention, and community beautification projects.
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This annual event connects rural and tribal economic development professionals, community leaders, business owners, nonprofits, and other rural stakeholders and advocates who are interested in sustaining rural and tribal communities.
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The Rural Funders Network brings together funder resources, expertise and perspectives from organizations that focus on rural and tribal communities. Together, the network shares information and collaborates to address the unique funding needs and opportunities of rural Arizona and tribal nations.
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Collecting broad public input that represents the true demographics of a rural community takes intention and hyper-local strategies to be done right. In addition to providing facilitation services, Local First Arizona can help rural and tribal communities build their own skills and capacity to foster critical conversations that are inclusive and productive. From one-time convenings that help jump-start local momentum to ongoing engagements for longer-term and more complex projects, Local First Arizona provides custom approaches fitting different rural and tribal settings.
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Item As a selected partner for the the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s PREPARED (Promoting Readiness and Enhancing Proficiency to Advance Reporting and Data) program, Local First Arizona offers free support to strengthen and improve data use and reporting quality for agencies, communities and organizations seeking EPA funding or managing EPA-funded projects.
We help equip you with tools, training and additional support to collect and use technical data and stakeholder input in your project planning, implementation and evaluation. Why? Because building your capacity to collect and use data will help you achieve – and report – more robust data-driven activities and outcomes, setting you up for success with your funded work and with being more competitive at securing future funding.
Economic Development
Resilient rural and tribal economies are diversified and offer opportunities for everyone to prosper. Local First Arizona can help tribes and communities ensure their economic development goals and programs are building local resilience. For tribes and communities well on that path, Local First can take strategic plans from facilitation into action while targeting key areas of local economic development, including employer-led, data-driven workforce strategies and tourism tools and plans.
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Developing in-demand skills in locally available talent, matching that talent supply to rural employers’ needs, and supporting rural workplace cultures where people want to stay and grow their careers is all part of how Local First Arizona supports rural workforce development. Retaining or attracting rural youth and employing vulnerable populations, as well as advocating for small employers’ talent needs, take broad collaborations and integrated networks of educators, trainers, business sectors and support service providers. Local First Arizona helps to build and strengthen those networks across rural Arizona. LEARN MORE
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To establish and sustain tourism as a local economic driver, a destination needs a fully developed promise of the visitor experience it will create and the tools and capabilities to deliver consistently on that promise. Local First Arizona works with rural and tribal partners to identify community assets, to understand and articulate their unique value proposition, and to create branding and marketing strategies to reach target audiences and measure impact. LEARN MORE
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To help rural communities reach Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs, Local First developed a 6-month business accelerator program, called Fuerza Local, which teaches strong business acumen while helping under-resourced business owners build a credit score to access fair market capital. Taught in Spanish by experienced, bilingual business professionals, the Fuerza Local program has graduated more than 1,000 entrepreneurs who have gone on to create thousands of jobs that help grow local wealth. LEARN MORE
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These assessments examine the spending patterns of local residents and identify market gaps and opportunities for existing or new businesses that may want to expand/enter into the market. By identifying which products or services are extracting funds from an area, recommendations can be made to guide targeted business procurement and/or community campaigns that promote a more localized economy.
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While planning is always necessary for knowing what success looks like and how to navigate from current to desired state, Local First Arizona knows rural and tribal resources and time are limited. The approach to developing strategic plans for rural and tribal partners is to build on existing assets and strengths, and to map incremental actions that create frequent, smaller wins on the road to major improvements or change. Local First Arizona offers a variety of planning programs that can jumpstart a project of any size and keep it advancing on an intentional, measurable path toward success.
Tribal Community Connections
Local First Arizona is honored to work with Arizona’s 22 Indigenous Nations and citizens to foster meaningful relationships that support sovereignty and strengthen self-sufficiency. With integrity, respect and intention for the best interest of Indigenous communities and its people, Local First partners with Tribal nations, government agencies, nonprofits and other key stakeholders to support investments in entrepreneurial ecosystems, food systems and workforce development.
Community Partnerships
Local First Arizona is an active strategic partner in communities and networks across the state, helping to grow economic opportunity, retain youth, create jobs, develop robust food systems, and increase revenue through tourism.
News in Rural Development & Tribal Engagment
