Beginning today through tomorrow, we celebrate Arizona Gives Day, when Arizonans band together to multiply their giving efforts and support organizations that are working to build a bright future for all of Arizona.
The Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation once again counts itself among the outstanding nonprofit organizations asking you to support our efforts to foster regional prosperity. Did you know that through your continued support the Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation has helped more than 500,000 Arizonans? I am so proud of the work we have accomplished together to support Arizona businesses while giving back to the community. By focusing on four key pillars—education, workforce, wellness, and research—we’re strengthening our region’s foundation for success by ensuring that employers have robust, diverse talent pipelines, supporting students to succeed in college and career, providing employers with the tools they need to support employee wellness, and publishing empowering data.
EDUCATION
The Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation’s education initiative, ElevateEdAZ, is preparing Arizona students for college and career through stronger alignment between business, education, and the community. ElevateEdAZ has partnered with Phoenix Union High School District and Mesa Public Schools and is focused on aligning classes and curriculum with workforce needs, creating opportunities for students to apply academics through work-based learning, and increasing student exposure to career pathways through internships, career fair, and job shadow experiences. In addition, ElevateEdAZ is leveraging partnerships with local organizations to host Virtual Educator Externships, providing educators across Arizona with direct experiences to learn from industry professionals, ultimately impacting over 10,000 students across our state.
WORKFORCE
The Foundation’s workforce efforts have grown, expanding to six employer-led workforce collaboratives with recent additions in Advanced Manufacturing and Information Technology (IT). The Foundation’s Construction Workforce Collaborative, Build Your Future Arizona initiative is going the extra mile to help individuals find their path into a career in the trades. Its Cybersecurity Workforce Collaborative and IT Workforce Collaboratives are continuing to grow and diversify talent pipelines through a mid-level apprenticeship program, Apprenti Arizona. In addition, these Collaboratives are in the process of evaluating and aligning high-school and post-secondary curriculum to ensure the next generation of IT and cyber professionals are prepared for the workforce. The Foundation’s Financial Services Workforce Collaborative is increasing home-grown talent with a unique partnership with the Maricopa Community Colleges on the Securities Industry Essentials Exam Prep program to prepare people for licensed positions. Its Heath Carel Workforce Collaborative is addressing the growing shortage of specialty nurses in the region by designing and implementing programs to upskill nurses in specialty areas including telemetry, oncology, the ICU, and more.
WELLNESS
The Foundation’s wellness initiative, Wellness AtoZ expanded to monthly programming to include virtual WorkWell webinars and quarterly Spanish WorkWell and PlayWell webinars focused on staying active. Additionally, Wellness AtoZ continues to provide employers with free toolkits to create custom wellness programs or supplement existing efforts. We continue to expand the reach of Wellness AtoZ through por tu salud, a Spanish language version of our free workplace wellness program, we’re fostering prosperity in our community. To date, Wellness AtoZ has helped more than 400,000 individuals access vital health and wellness resources.
RESEARCH
The Foundation publishes data-driven research on education, workforce, public policy, and economic trends to inform local and national leaders, policymakers, and the general public. I invite you to review the 2021 State of the Workforce report to hear about key challenges, successes, and opportunities in the workforce relative to specific industries in the Greater Phoenix region. This report gives you the opportunity to dive deeper into the most current critical industry challenges, impacts the COVID-19 pandemic had on our workforce, and solutions to improving the talent pipeline.
Today you have the opportunity to contribute to all of these efforts to strengthen our community with a tax-deductible donation to the Foundation. Your contribution will go a long way in enhancing the lives of Arizonans. As you know, this is more important than ever given the talent pipeline challenges many Arizona business sectors are facing. Thank you in advance for your generosity!
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