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IMPACT Finalists

The IMPACT Awards finalists represent the best of the best in Valley business. Now YOU can help determine which of these businesses will be named Business of the Year in each category. Click on a category and business sector to learn about the finalists and then cast your vote!

Community Champion

Small

EPI-HAB

EPI-HAB provides services to many non-profits. In fact, we recently opened Arizona’s only non-profit operated print shop. WE offer printing services at discounted rates to nonprofits allowing more of their donated dollars to serve their mission instead of paying for services. We are a job site for many Vocational rehabilitation agencies. Those agencies are also helping to train and place adults with disabilities. We also are a rehabilitation job site for those with traumatic brain injuries that need to work on their eye/hand coordination, finger dexterity and fine motor skills. By volunteering to perform hand assembly with a job coach on site, EPI-HAB is a step in the road to recovery. EPI-HAB is also a location where disabled high school students can receive valuable experience that can help them transition into employment after graduation. EPI-HAB has its mission, but at the end of the day, the underlying objective is to help people and we do. EPI-HAB prints many non-profits fundraising campaign letters which result in nonprofits receiving donations that help them fulfill their mission. We print the programs and signage for non-profit events and we work with vendors to get donations of paper so the nonprofits pay even less.

The Joy Bus

The headquarters of the non-profit is The Joy Bus Diner where the community can dine and get involved. The diner food is provided by locally owned small and large businesses which have become mutually beneficial relationships. The Joy Bus has been able to market these companies by selling their products at the diner and exposing their companies to the community. One of our small businesses that evolves from the diner is Wild Thing Botanicals created by Cherry Dellios. Wild Thing Botanicals is a small locally owned flower and plant stand in Arizona that brings in fresh bouquets and plants weekly. With every plant sold, Cherry donates a colorful bouquet to each homebound cancer patient.

The Joy Bus diner was able to host an educational demonstration for the University of Arizona students on the importance of certain foods when battling illness and specifically cancer. The University of Arizona students learned the importance of food as everyday medicine, and the potential research behind foods that help fight against cancer. This demonstration was such a success that the founder, Jennifer Caraway and the CEO helped to create the culinary medical course which she currently teaches alongside U of A professors and two other local chefs. The Joy Bus is enriched within our community, hosting, and participating in many different events across the valley including Food and Wine Festival, Dish Fest, Breath 2 Believe, AZ Women in Food, The Joy Bus Jam and Life Achievement celebration, recently recognizing Banner’s President and CEO Peter Fine.

Public Square

Under Public Square, Camelback Strategy Group began representing the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association during the height of the defund the police movement. Recognizing that communities suffer from an insufficient law enforcement presence, Camelback helped the association to train and organize neighborhood activists and leaders to advocate for policies that improve safety in Phoenix. Advocates contacted and met with council members, and organized neighborhood events, specifically in our Hispanic and Black neighborhoods, to build relationships and discuss solutions.

Camelback set up fundraisers for PLEA and PLEA charities to help residents and officers in need. Camelback assisted PLEA and neighborhood leaders to set up a non-profit community group named Operation: Blue Ribbon. Operation: Blue Ribbon’s mission is to unite Phoenicians in support of Phoenix law enforcement. They now have thousands of members that support pro-police causes. Last year, Operation: Blue Ribbon participated in dozens of events with PLEA, PLEA Charities, and the Phoenix Police Department, like APS’ electric light parade and Coffee with a Cop. They also put on a softball game with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Luis Gonzalez’s charity, Gonzo’s Hometown Heroes Fund.

Since Camelback started working with the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, the association has helped officers defeat defunding proposals, obtain the most significant pay raise in the last ten years, implement recruitment and retention bonuses, secure funding for force multipliers, and build a stronger relationship with the community and Phoenix City Council.

Mid-to-Large

Arizona Public Service (APS)

At APS, we have a long history of community giving, service and leadership in Arizona. Our community impact strategy is focused on two main pillars: Arizona’s Growth and Prosperity to support a strong and growing economy through creating a thriving and prosperous Arizona, and Human and Environmental Success as we care about people and our environment by supporting partners who deliver services for basic human needs and environmental sustainability. Our partnerships with critical organizations have had a tremendous impact on the community. Our employees donate their time and talents to a wide range of charitable organizations and civic initiatives. In 2022, our employees volunteered an estimated 83,500 hours of time, both in-person and virtually, to causes important to them—a value of $2.5 million contributed to the community. In 2022, we celebrated our 5th year of the Supply My Class program, which granted 1,500 K-12 Title 1 public-school teachers in Arizona $500 Visa gift cards to purchase supplies for their classes. Recognizing the growing food crisis, we also implemented a program that supplied nearly 7 million meals to local food banks. As part of a multi-pronged approach to heat relief, we provided both funding and volunteers to support our community during the hot summer months. APS partners with the Salvation Army to provide cooling and hydration stations throughout the state, enabling 102,199 individuals to receive heat-relief services. These are just a few examples of the many community partnerships and APS signature programs that support our community.

Bell Bank

Bell Bank promotes our value of giving back in powerful ways. Every Bell employee receives 2 full days of paid volunteer time annually. We are a lead giver for the United Way in nearly every community where we have a bank, and we are major sponsors of so many fundraising and giving events and nonprofit organizations.

We also partner with “Bell Champion” personalities (including Larry Fitzgerald, Chef Mark Tarbell in Phoenix) and organizations who match our desire to pay it forward, and we find opportunities to work together with them for positive community impact.

Bell’s community development officers work to leverage the banking we do best in ways that help underserved businesses, particularly those owned by people of color. Another community initiative launched last year was our mobile Financial Empowerment Center, a.k.a. Bell’s “Big Blue Bus.” Staffed by Bell volunteers in partnership with local nonprofits, the bus brings resources and guidance to neighborhoods and events, fostering financial wellness including credit building, debt reduction and home ownership.

We couldn’t tell Bell’s story without touching on our unique Pay It Forward initiative. Since 2008, Bell has given away more than $25 million through the power of Pay It Forward. Every full-time employee receives $1,000 and every part-time employee $500 each year to Pay It Forward as they choose to people and organizations in need. Our employees are careful stewards of this program. Providing significant funds for charitable giving has opened the eyes of every team member at Bell to the needs around them.

CopperPoint Insurance Companies

A commitment to give back to and nurture our communities is at the heart of CopperPoint. Supporting and growing where we live and work across our footprint, our Community Giving program is focused on three pillars: Healthy Families, a Thriving Workforce, and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.

Through local and enterprise initiatives, CopperPoint strategically deploys funds and volunteers where the need is greatest. At each of our 14 locations, we have a Community Ambassador to organize volunteer activities and promote giving opportunities within their office. In 2022 alone, CopperPoint matched employee donations of $225,000.

In 2022, we launched the CopperPoint DE&I Scholarship Program to contribute to the realization of students’ educational dreams by helping to bridge gaps and lessening their financial burden. Each year, we grant six scholarship awards of $5,000 to undergraduates throughout our regions. We also launched the Sherri Isenberg Memorial $2,500 scholarship last year to honor one of our own that we lost too soon.

Additionally, we expand our impact through unique collaboration with our agency partners, supporting mutual causes important to our policyholders with matching contributions. This strengthens our relationships with everyone we serve and helps broaden our positive influence. In 2022, we proudly partnered with over 100 agents to support nonprofits for a total donation of $526,000. In total, CopperPoint’s annual giving supported 352 organizations with $1.75 million.

Economic Driver

Small

Duffy Group, Inc.

For Duffy Group, contributing to the economic vitality of Greater Phoenix takes on many forms. The company recruits talent for the jobs of today and tomorrow in industries ranging from higher education and healthcare to advanced manufacturing and alternative energy.

Duffy Group leaders share best practices on smart hiring and retention with HR-related groups. And as a founding member of the Arizona Human Resource Executive Forum, Kathleen solves business and HR issues with business, public policy and community leaders. The company also collaborates with the Arizona chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management on recruiting techniques for company hiring managers.

Duffy Group helps the Greater Phoenix Economic Council and Arizona Commerce Authority, too, by educating companies about the region’s workforce and pipeline of talent. And Duffy Group leverages relationships with Arizona State University to connect relocating and expanding firms to resources for continuing education and hiring. This includes Kathleen’s work creating universal learners as a member of ASU’s board of trustees and capital campaign cabinet.

Duffy Group makes mentoring a top priority, expending hundreds of hours inspiring the next generation of leaders and training Fresh Start Women’s Foundation clients how to network and interview for jobs. Kathleen is a mentor for social entrepreneurs through the nonprofit Seed Spot and has played a pivotal role in tackling gender equality in the workplace through her leadership in the global initiative 50/50 Women on Boards. The company also donates hundreds of hours in pro-bono job searches to nonprofit organizations each year.

Moov Technologies

Moov has created 81 desirable jobs in greater Phoenix, and will expand headcount this year. As the largest global marketplace for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, Moov is an intrinsic part of the burgeoning local semiconductor industry. Arizona continues to do an excellent job incentivizing chipmakers to invest in building and expanding locally. It is critically important that once here chipmakers have the infrastructure and partners they need to be successful.

Moov has helped local manufacturers buy and sell millions of dollars in pre-owned manufacturing equipment in the past year. Moov helps manufacturers easily and reliably buy and sell equipment to nimbly scale. As Gene Perez, founder of US Foundry Solutions in Mesa, AZ, said, “Working with Moov has been refreshing in many ways, mostly in the speed at which transactions move. Because they have tools to automate the process [of buying and selling equipment], all parties walk away happy.”

In addition to local manufacturers, Moov creates value for an ecosystem of partners. Through Moov’s aftermarket suite, Moov ensures a seamless end-to-end procurement process while offering third party partners like refurbishers, logistics providers, insurers, access to global demand and insights to better adapt their services to fit the semiconductor industry.

Last year, recognizing exponential growth and impact on job creation in greater Phoenix, AZ, the Phoenix Business Journal named Moov winner of its Inno Fire Award for innovation. Moov has also invested in new offices at state-of-the-art 100-Mill to help further the semiconductor and technology industry in greater Phoenix.

REDW LLC

REDW is committed to supporting Arizona’s longest-standing residents – the state’s 22 federally recognized Tribal Nations. By advancing the goals of these communities through a wide range of tribal services, we help to fuel a powerful economic engine that drives revenues for the rest of the state. For 40 years REDW has been an advocate for tribal self-determination, and our team members have collaborated with tribal governments and enterprises to help achieve their goals of sovereignty and economic development. For example, REDW team members continue to teach budgeting and financial literacy to underserved tribal populations and Native youth through organizations like the Phoenix Indian Center.

In April 2022, High County News reported that Tribes are often the largest drivers of regional economies via hospitality, agriculture, fossil-fuel, and renewable energy. Since 2002, $1.9 billion in gaming revenue has gone to Arizona (12% to cities like Phoenix and $97 million to the Arizona Benefit Fund which fosters education, conservation, tourism, and emergency services in cities like Phoenix). Tribes need a partner who understands their unique financial issues, and for 12 Arizona tribes and many more tribal entities within Arizona, REDW is that partner.

Mid-to-Large

Desert Financial Credit Union

Desert Financial is proud to give back to the communities in which we live and work. Having served the Valley for 83 years, a great portion of our community development happens right here in the Greater Phoenix area. In 2022, we gave back more than $4 million. With a heavy focus on youth development and human services, we helped organizations such as Free Arts of Arizona, St. Mary’s Food Bank, Human Services Campus, and many more. Additionally, our team members volunteered 15,185 hours, an economic value worth $425,180.

Through corporate, workplace, and foundation giving, Desert Financial and Desert Financial Foundation help fund the 1 Darn Cool School at Phoenix Children’s, and in 2022, raised more than $1 million for the school. This inspirational program is staffed by eight full-time master’s level teachers who provided more than 10,200 patient education sessions in 2022. Helping children recovering stay on track with their peers while they heal.

One of Desert Financial’s more unique community development programs is the Financial Wellness Program. Originally created for team members, it has now expanded to include credit union members, non-profit partners, and educators. The program covers financial literacy topics from budgeting and saving, to borrowing and investing. In 2022, more than 1,700 people participated in financial wellness webinars. One attendee told us “The webinar was very informative” and they “couldn’t wait to use the skills they learned in paying off and staying out of debt.” To learn more about Desert Financial’s community development impact visit desertfinancial.com/community.

Diamondback Healthcare Center

The Diamondback Healthcare building sat empty for six years after an aspiring assisted living closed its businesses. They had only been in the new building for a couple of months when they vacated. The demographic area (on the border of Maryland) kept new businesses from coming in and making something of the space. When Diamondback bought the building and took possession, it had been broken into and ransacked, and there were people “living” in one of the rooms upstairs. We are very proud to have brought upscale skilled nursing services to the South West side of Phoenix. Patients staying with us for post-acute care do so in one of the only facilities that offer all private rooms, DirecTV, chef dining, rehabilitation for patients with ventilators or tracheostomies, and in-house dialysis. We focus on hiring from the surrounding community and promote and train from within. We have over one hundred employees, many of whom live in the immediate area. We also offer an employee meal program. Diamondback is dedicated to driving the economy of the SW Phoenix community by continuing to grow our business, finding new ways to partner with area businesses, and hiring more CNAs, RNs, LPNs, administrative and other professionals with a passion for patient care, especially with the sick and elderly in our community.

Ernst & Young Global Limited

In 2021, Ernst & Young LLP (EY) announced the virtual launch of its first EY Cloud Enablement Center (the Center), housed within the firm’s Phoenix office. The Center represented the first of several technology hubs to be unveiled over time. It will build upon our existing technology talent and services capabilities while catering to the full breadth of regulated industry sectors. The Cloud Enablement Center, or CEC, is the first of its kind at EY; it hired 100+ people in the 2022 fiscal year, 100 more in 2023, and at least 150 in 2024. These are highly skilled and highly paid jobs and specialties like architecture engineering, cyber security, data and analytics, organizational change, risk management, and people with deep expertise in industry-specific regulations. EY tapped into the diverse talent in the valley by building an ecosystem of academic institutions such as ASU, Arizona Veterans organizations, not-for-profit organizations, and others to become the employer of choice in Phoenix.

Exceptional Workplace

Small

Better Business Bureau Serving the Pacific Southwest

A company is only as good as the people who stand behind the brand. We are committed to implementing programs and services for our diverse workforce and communities. We’ve strategized meaningful enhancements toward talent acquisition, professional development, internal committees, and policies. Our professional development efforts have secured complimentary educational opportunities and our inaugural BBB Clase de Espanol which was created to increase our ability to equally serve Spanish-speaking populations. We’ve established a staff-led committee to build a culture of inclusion, equity, respect, safety, and anti-racism in our workplace and community where diversity is not only recognized but celebrated.

We place a large focus on the mental health of our employees by offering LifeGuides, resources for nutrition and wellness, a BBB gym, and catered lunches. We have a monthly ‘Living the Brand’ Award for an employee who exemplifies what BBB stands for, and BBB Bucks that are awarded to employees that go above and beyond. It doesn’t stop with the employee, we care about family priorities too and offer a bring your baby to work policy, private feeding room, and flexible working arrangements.

We believe balance is key and promote this by having a 37.5-hour work week, 14 paid holidays, birthdays off, and four paid days per year to volunteer with a charitable organization. During the holiday season, we organized a season of giving challenge and staff volunteered 300 hours to a variety of local charities which brought staff together for a common goal.

Duffy Group, Inc.

People love working at Duffy Group. And why not: the company is all about inclusiveness, acceptance and shared values. Here, flexible schedules have always been the norm, and teamwork, trust and transparent communication are the bedrocks of success.

Founded on the premise of work-life balance (Duffy Group was among the first to innovate and lead an entirely remote workforce), the company has created a culture where team members thrive. There are training programs to help ambitious leaders move up the career ranks, enneagrams to bolster communication among a diverse workforce based on their unique personality types, and a hefty investment – $450,000 – in staff training and development each year. This includes an investment to help team members become certified diversity recruiters and join the company’s internal DEI Committee to identify potential issues and seize opportunities focused on inclusiveness.

Duffy Group is a nurturing company that sincerely cares about its team, helping redirect staff and reinvent roles during challenging times like The Great Recession and COVID-19, and encouraging employees to “go off the grid” worry-free of work during personal emergencies.

The company also has a penchant for giving back to the community. Quarterly and additional personal paid service days send employees deep into the community to support myriad nonprofit organizations.

There are plenty of perks, too, including 100% employer-paid health, dental, life and disability insurance, generous retirement and PTO during traditional and employee-designated holidays. There are also bonuses, contests and “shout-outs” for employees who go above and beyond the call of duty.

Ideas Collide

At Ideas Collide, we want all team members to BELONG + CONTRIBUTE to the culture of our brand with high-performance excellence and a growth mindset to fulfill our company purpose. Ideas Collide pays for Discovery and Volunteer time for all team members, encouraging them to take an hour each week for self-development and volunteering, on paid company time. In addition, team members are provided a stipend for wellness + discovery/learning. Upon completion of their first 90 days, team members are presented with their favorite childhood toy (even if we have to get a vintage version on eBay) and encouraged to keep it at the office, never losing their sense of “play”.

Upon completion of every agency-wide meeting, team members give out “Brags” to thank and recognize each other across all locations for special things they’ve done. Ideas Collide offers flexible schedules and empowers us to choose how we get our jobs done while balancing personal needs. Ideas Collide is family friendly; that includes both the human and the furry family members. Ideas Collide is collaborative. IC leaders are approachable, and everyone puts their ego aside to help the team succeed. We take the time to give praise and recognition, even during our busiest times.

Mid-to-Large

ADP

Our WinAsOne culture welcomes diverse perspectives and creates a place where our people can flourish. ADP’s seven core values are our pillars of our culture: Integrity is everything, Insightful expertise, Service excellence, Inspiring innovation, Each person counts, Results-driven, and Social responsibility. Our workforce initiatives include business resource groups, engagement campaigns and wellness initiatives. ADP’s 11 BRGs groups of like-minded associates that help shape our culture and foster engagement and talent development. They are instrumental everyone feeling welcome and included, invaluable drivers of talent acceleration, talent referrals, increased retention, and community connection.

Fostering an inclusive culture involves leadership. ADP’s leadership programs for advancing women, underrepresented groups and training for all leaders about bias, fair and equal hiring practices and utilizing tools to minimize systemic barriers for historically underrepresented groups are instrumental. Associates participate in in shaping they way we work through forums to share business process improvements, hackathon contests and innovation programs.

Our wellness programs focus on associate’s physical, mental and financial wellbeing. With the launch of our “It’s OK” campaign, leaders encouraged associates to recognize the value of “being OK” with actions such as taking a quick walk, listening to a meditation session or spending time with a pet for mental wellbeing. ADP’s culture and focus on our associates has earned awards in 2022 such as Best Company for Diversity, Best Company for Women, Best Culture by Comparably; a 100 percent rating in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s annual Corporate Equality Index; and Diversity Inc’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity.

Arizona Public Service (APS)

Our nearly 6,000 employees are our most important assets and investing in them and their success is a primary focus area for the company. In fact, one of our five long-term strategies outlined in our 10-Year Strategic Plan is to Support an Evolving Workforce. We do this by creating an environment in which employees are empowered to speak up, have opportunities to grow and develop with multiple career pathways, and have a sense of purpose, belonging and community.

Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy influences our hiring strategies, supplier relationships, our 10 employee network groups and community partnerships. In 2021, APS was recognized for our DEI efforts when we received the Inclusive Workplace Award from Diversity Leadership Alliance and Arizona SHRM.

Along with a comprehensive benefits package, APS employees are encouraged to prioritize their physical and mental wellbeing through a variety of programs, including Total Wellbeing, our wellness program; APS Moves, our movement program; Lyra, our employee assistance program; and Wellthy, our caregiver support provider.

APS focuses on employee engagement by helping leaders create an environment in which employees understand how the work they do contributes to our goals, and by receiving regular coaching and feedback on their performance and career. Employees have opportunities to engage with our 10 employee network groups, volunteer for a variety of causes and attend company engagement events like our annual Fall Festival and Light Up the Holidays. Our Employee Experience Survey scores reflect top tier engagement with an overall engagement score of 83% in 2022.

Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab is dedicated to cultivating a culture that values the strengths of every employee.

Through established workforce diversity programs:

  • Campus recruiting at HBCUs and Hispanic-serving institutions like the University of Arizona
  • A $3.5 million endowed scholarship providing financial assistance and career opportunities to underrepresented students (including Arizona State and the University of Arizona students) with a declared major in Financial Planning
  • Partnerships and sponsorships with 25+ organizations to help recruit diverse talent
  • Neurodiversity@Work, established in partnership with Inclusively, helping us hire a neurodiverse workforce and train managers to help them flourish
  • Hiring Our Heroes, which empowers veterans, U.S. military members and military spouses to succeed in the civilian workforce

Through helping employees connect and partner:

  • Multiple mentorship programs, including the D&I Mentorship Program, which pairs director-level employees of color with senior leaders
  • Employee-driven resource groups built upon shared characteristics or life experiences and committed to enhancing diversity and inclusion at Schwab

Through unique benefits:

  • Paid parental leave of up to six weeks regardless of gender, sexual orientation, marital/family status or any other legally protected status
  • A no-cost employee assistance program offering counseling and crisis intervention services to all employees and their household family members
  • A wellness program supporting physical, emotional, financial, and social wellbeing
  • A 28-day sabbatical after 5 years of continuous employment
  • A workplace flexibility program providing opportunity to work remotely

Since 2013, Schwab has been named one of the Top Companies to Work for in Arizona by the AZ Capitol Times, demonstrating how Schwab’s culture continues to shine year after year.

Industry Innovator

Small

evolvedMD

evolvedMD applies leading-edge behavioral health techniques to improve patient outcomes that move both the business and industry forward. One of several examples during the past year involves an older adult experiencing kidney failure who likely would no longer be alive if it weren’t for evolvedMD’s enhanced collaborative care model, or CoCM, that integrates both mental and physical health care. Intense fears involving needles and masking prevented the patient from receiving a much-needed kidney transplant. The evolvedMD team worked for months to alleviate her anxiety to a point where surgery was possible. The patient ultimately had a successful surgery, is thriving, and now wears a mask every time she goes shopping or to visit family without worry.

Innovative practices, especially amid the pandemic-driven behavioral health crisis, emboldened evolvedMD to expand its high-quality services to as many patients as possible – including out of state. We’re delivering behavioral health support to tens of thousands of patients across Arizona and parts of Utah and expect to expand into Colorado and other states in 2023. The company received $5.4 million in Round A funding and made Inc. 5000’s list of “Fastest Growing Companies in America.” Finally, true to our people-centric culture, we were recently named a “Best Places to Work” by the Phoenix Business Journal, attracting talented clinicians to our team to champion the model and provide life-changing services. As more primary care practices seek innovative solutions to today’s most pressing healthcare issues, many look to evolvedMD for answers.

Gateway for Cancer Research

Gateway for Cancer Research invests in novel, patient-centered early phase clinical trials that arm men, women and children in their battles against cancer. Trials that no medical facility or insurance will invest in or support. We have invested $95M to advance nearly 200 cancer clinical trials, healing over 10,000 patients.

From a Patient: “I want to give many thanks and praises to Dr. Yinghong Wang for the successful treatment of immunotherapy inducedcolitis using the Gateway clinical trail for FMT. I have stage 4 melanoma with metastasis to the bone. I received one dose of Opdivo/Yervoy in January 2022 and developed severe ICI colitis unresponsive to steroids and biologics. It is because of this clinical trial that I have a good quality of life and I am forever thankful. Both the colitis and cancer are in remission.”

The Joy Bus

The Joy Bus is an innovative nonprofit organization due to its unique income strategy. The hybrid social format pushes The Joy Bus to create exciting new ways to provide for the mission and get the community involved.

The Joy Bus WOW beer is one of the many ways The Joy Bus brings in revenue for the meal program innovating how nonprofits bring in revenue. It is one of the first nonprofits in Arizona to break into the alcoholic beverage industry. The Joy Bus WOW is sold in The Joy Bus diner, Four Peaks, and in most grocery stores and event venues. One of the many other ways The Joy Bus has innovated within the community is through Jennifer’s health-focused cookbooks. Jennifer started The Joy Bus for her dear friend Joy, who struggled with ovarian cancer to which she ultimately succumbed. During Joy’s battle, Jennifer wanted to help her friend by cooking for her and visiting her. She believes that food has the power to heal and strengthen people. Therefore, she has created a cookbook to teach the community how to take care of themselves and heal. Her recipes are innovative and have innovated how people use food in their health journey.

Being the first nonprofit to focus on at-home cancer patient meal delivery, The Joy Bus has become a leader and major innovator in this field by creating new ways of care for people and getting the community involved.

Mid-to-Large

Copa Health

Copa Health is unique in that it has its own digital platform that takes internal and external medical data to provide real-time information allowing its providers to better meet the needs of patients, whether in reducing or increasing the level of care, which helps to reduce hospitalization, incarceration, and homelessness.

The organization also developed its nationally recognized Lighthouse home model a few years ago. It allows the most complex of mental health patients an opportunity to maintain their housing if they require an inpatient stay, promoting better outcomes while saving millions of dollars in the overall cost of care.

In collaboration with community stakeholders Copa Health will open an integrated residential treatment facility in August of 2023, wherein youth ages 13-17 with intellectual/developmental, behavioral, and medically fragile conditions have a therapeutic program where they live, learn new skills and have 24/7 support to address their needs.

Copa Health led the development of the first provider-led behavioral health/complex care ACO (Accountable Care Organization) in Maricopa County. The ACO is a partnership with community providers that complement each other and are designed to remove gaps intreatment and reduce the cost of care.

A collaborative project will provide services at a new transitional housing facility being built in downtown Phoenix. The facility will provide transitional housing for up to 54 residents, as well as an integrated healthcare clinic open to the public. It is designed to offer whole-person solutions for adults experiencing homelessness with a serious mental illness (SMI) designation, addressing immediate barriers to engagement, stabilization, recovery, and permanent housing.

Crown Castle

The 2023 Super Bowl held in the City of Glendale was an enormous success for Crown Castle and its clients, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. During 2022 and in cooperation with Cardinals organization and the City of Glendale, Crown Castle built a state-of-the-art network with the most advanced wireless infrastructure available on the market that had the capacity to manage the data requirements for the highest profile sporting event in the United States.

In addition to the buildout of 90 small cells for the metro area surrounding the stadium – the Crown Castle team deployed over 2,000 iDAS nodes inside the stadium. The combination of 5G small cell support with the new DAS may be the largest most advanced 5G network ever built to date. Every upgrade was necessary as the data demands by the attendees for this Superbowl was 17TB more than the previous. On the 5G millimeter-wave front, both Verizon and AT&T have each added hundreds of antennas to support their different spectrum bands, with placements in the upper infrastructure as well as in small-cell deployments outside the venue. The new Crown Castle DAS design had 118 sectors and used approximately 2,000 antennas, with about 1,000 of those deployed under the seating in the main bowl. The newly installed infrastructure will continue to provide robust 5G wireless connectivity for all future events held in and around State Farm Stadium.

Sonora Quest Laboratories

Sonora Quest is a leader in innovation in diagnostic testing and provides efficient health solutions to Arizonans. This year, Sonora Quest launched a collaboration with DermTech to launch a new, innovative melanoma detection test. The DermTech Melanoma Test uses a non-invasive Smart Sticker™ to lift skin cells from the surface of a patient’s skin to be tested for select genomic markers associated with melanoma and rules out melanoma with over 99% reliability. This test provides heightened access to testing and reduces the number of unnecessary biopsies and referrals to specialists.

To provide additional opportunities for Arizonans to access convenient, affordable treatment, screening, and diagnostic services, Sonora Quest launched its first home testing kits available through its self-order service, My Lab ReQuest. The new kits allow patients to collect their own samples for either colorectal cancer screenings or measuring hemoglobin A1c (blood sugar) without a health care provider’s order, health insurance, or a trip to a Sonora Quest Patient Service Center.

Sonora Quest has also been at the forefront of supplying COVID-19 PCR testing since the start of the pandemic. The company’s latest innovation is a qualitative, multi-target, molecular diagnostics testing that uses only one patient sample to aid in the detection of three viruses: COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and Influenza. This 3-with-1 respiratory virus combination testing helps patients and health care providers get much-needed answers more quickly, increasing the possibility of using time-sensitive treatments and slowing the spread.

IMPACTful Nonprofit

Small

Make-A-Wish Arizona

As one of the leading nonprofits in the Phoenix area, Make-A-Wish Arizona has spent the past 40 years putting our city on the map as the local chapter of the largest wish granting organization in the world. Make-A-Wish Arizona has increased the number of wishes granted year-over-year exponentially since it started with one 8-year-old Arizona boy’s wish to be a police officer. Their mission focuses on bringing hope, strength and joy to a child when they need it most – post diagnosis of a critical illness. Once referred, a child and their family is supported by a community of volunteers and staff who personalize and customize the wish experience for each child. The child’s wish is 100 percent covered by the organization, with no hardship on the family. In addition to creating a sense of community with the volunteers and staff, local businesses volunteer to partner with the organization as donors of cash, grants and in-kind goods and services so the organization can continue to reach more and more children year over year. Most importantly, wish alumni, families and medical professionals speak to the impact and the power of a wish, with 95 percent of wish alumni sharing that their wish experience improved their well-being and that they felt more hopeful for their future after their wish. In addition, more than 98 percent of medical professionals observed the wish experience helped relieve a family from any amount of traumatic stress related to a child’s critical illness.

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central and Northern Arizona

One in five children live in rural communities, yet most of the specialized pediatric care needed to treat critical illnesses or injuries, such as cancer or traumatic brain injury, is usually only available in larger, urban settings like Phoenix. These families face some tough choices – incur lodging bills they may not be able to afford, curl up in a chair beside their child in the hospital or sleep in their car.

Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Central and Northern Arizona provides hundreds of families each year with a comfortable and safe place to stay close to their hospitalized children.

The demand for our services is greater than ever. In 2021, we welcomed a total of 1,580 children and adults from 575 families, providing 9,917 nights of rest and 22,520 nourishing meals. As we finalize 2022’s impact, we anticipate these numbers to increase. We welcomed over 900 families from all 15 Arizona counties and beyond, providing over 15,000 nights of rest. Additionally, more than half the families we serve are considered low-income and eligible for Medicaid.

As an essential extension of healthcare services, we continuously partner with various hospitals in the Valley to assess how we support and better serve our community. As the need for our services continues to grow, we’re planning and preparing alongside our healthcare partners to meet the ever-changing needs of families we serve. Additionally, we also collaborate with various other nonprofits to pool our resources to expand our reach and services to those in need.

Ryan House

Ryan House positively affects the Greater Phoenix community in many ways. Our primary focus is to improve the lives of children and families who are navigating life-limiting or end-of-life journeys. In FY21, 298 children and families were enrolled in our respite program. Ryan House provided 24,816 hours of care to 90 children with life-limiting conditions and supported 45 children and their families at end-of-life. Approximately 91% of the children qualifying for service at Ryan House reside in Maricopa County. In addition to the direct care provided to Ryan House children, we provide support for the entire family through memory making and legacy building activities, by hosting family parties, family holiday shopping days, adopt-a-family programs, and bereavement support programs.

Ryan House gladly welcomes both care team and short-term volunteers. Care team volunteers assist our clinical staff to meet the needs of the children and families staying at Ryan House. These volunteers play a vital role and participate in reading, arts and crafts, games, music, and more.

Short-term or episodic volunteers assist in anything from our signature fundraising events to tasks around the House such as cleaning, organizing, baking, and cooking dinner at our bi-monthly grief support group. In addition to this, many community and corporate groups in the Greater Phoenix area host pantry and toy drives to support Ryan House families.

We are incredibly grateful for all the support from our community volunteers, yet we continually hear how much their time at Ryan House has positively impacted their lives.

Mid-to-Large

Adelante Healthcare

Societal limitations to healthcare are one of the most significant challenges we face as a community. Disparities in health due to a person’s income, zip code, or knowledge of the healthcare system are substantial and tangible barriers to our overall wellness.

Adelante’s mission is to break down these barriers, creating healthy and thriving families in our community. We take this challenge head-on through our various efforts, initiatives, and intentional actions.

Our locations throughout Maricopa County reflect this mission as we are in areas with limited health resources or a patient population needing more affordable options – more than 85,000 patients who may have no other place to turn. We offer whole-person care addressing medical care for all ages and complementary care such as nutrition and financial eligibility. Our behavioral health services have grown tremendously as we shift to address this area that has become a community need more than ever before.

While our nine health centers continue to grow, we take our care directly to the community and expand beyond our brick-and-mortar locations with the launch of our CareMobile. This outreach tool allows us to take a fully staffed medical team directly to the community for essential medical services.

On the education side, our teams regularly provide health screenings at events to provide help and guidance in applying for available programs such as AHCCCS. Our outreach efforts include extensive work in childhood vaccines/immunizations and special populations such as the LGBTQ+ population and the migrant farmworker community.

Phoenix Art Museum

In addition to our English-Spanish bilingual initiative and our institutional commitment to supporting local artists (mentioned above), the Museum actively breaks down barriers to the visual arts so the broadest segments of our community can interact with outstanding exhibitions and art installations. To remove economic barriers to the arts, the Museum offers various voluntary-donation and free-access programs. Four times a year, we host PhxArt AfterHours, featuring free-admission from 5 – 9 pm and art-making workshops, performances, and other special entertainment that activate the galleries and encourage visitors to engage with art in unique, dynamic ways. Also presented four times a year, PhxArt Family Fundays provide free admission from 10 am – 5 pm on select Sundays and include arts-engagement programming suitable for visitors of all ages, interests, and abilities. Every Wednesday, from 3 – 9 pm, the Museum opens with voluntary-donation admission and reduced tickets to special exhibitions for Pay-What-You-Wish Wednesdays. The Museum also partners with Men’s Arts Council to provide free admission (including special exhibitions) to all Maricopa Community Colleges students with an active ID. In FY22, the Museum welcomed 77,000+ community members during free-access times and engaged 54,000+ visitors in onsite and offsite arts-education programs.

The Museum is also a committed employer. We currently have 70 full-time employees and 96 part-time employees, along with 250 Docent educators and 250 volunteers. Additionally, throughout our history, we have hired thousands of local artists to lead art-making workshops, present lectures and performances, and more in an effort to leverage the Museum’s platform and bring awareness to their work.

Solari Crisis & Human Services

Solari Crisis & Human Services is an award-winning non-profit organization founded in 2007. The company serves as the provider of Arizona’s statewide crisis line (844-534-HOPE or text “hope” to 4HOPE) and as the primary call center responding to calls made in Arizona to 988, the national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Solari also operates as a national backup center for 988, answering calls made in states which lack sufficient resources to respond to all their 988 calls. All lines are free and confidential and operate 24/7/365 in English and Spanish with real-time translation services available for other languages.

Solari also operates a peer-support warm line with specialists with lived experience who are trained to provide compassionate support and connections to resources in the community. The warm line is free and confidential and available 24/7/365 to anyone in Arizona at 602-347-100. Help is accessible in English and Spanish with real-time translation services available for other languages.

In addition to these services, Solari also operates the 211 Arizona Information and Referral Service program to connect community members with resources and services that are available to them locally throughout the state. Live-answer operator service – available 24/7/365 in English and Spanish, with real-time translation for other languages – ensures a personal, human connection for all callers. Trained operators take time to learn about each caller’s circumstances to provide “whole-person care” and ensure all the individual’s and/or family’s needs are met.

Solari’s mission is “Inspiring Hope,” and the organization strives to do so every day.

Mid-to-Large

Copa Health

Copa Health is unique in that it has its own digital platform that takes internal and external medical data to provide real-time information allowing its providers to better meet the needs of patients, whether in reducing or increasing the level of care, which helps to reduce hospitalization, incarceration, and homelessness.

The organization also developed its nationally recognized Lighthouse home model a few years ago. It allows the most complex of mental health patients an opportunity to maintain their housing if they require an inpatient stay, promoting better outcomes while saving millions of dollars in the overall cost of care.

In collaboration with community stakeholders Copa Health will open an integrated residential treatment facility in August of 2023, wherein youth ages 13-17 with intellectual/developmental, behavioral, and medically fragile conditions have a therapeutic program where they live, learn new skills and have 24/7 support to address their needs.

Copa Health led the development of the first provider-led behavioral health/complex care ACO (Accountable Care Organization) in Maricopa County. The ACO is a partnership with community providers that complement each other and are designed to remove gaps intreatment and reduce the cost of care.

A collaborative project will provide services at a new transitional housing facility being built in downtown Phoenix. The facility will provide transitional housing for up to 54 residents, as well as an integrated healthcare clinic open to the public. It is designed to offer whole-person solutions for adults experiencing homelessness with a serious mental illness (SMI) designation, addressing immediate barriers to engagement, stabilization, recovery, and permanent housing.

Crown Castle

The 2023 Super Bowl held in the City of Glendale was an enormous success for Crown Castle and its clients, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. During 2022 and in cooperation with Cardinals organization and the City of Glendale, Crown Castle built a state-of-the-art network with the most advanced wireless infrastructure available on the market that had the capacity to manage the data requirements for the highest profile sporting event in the United States.

In addition to the buildout of 90 small cells for the metro area surrounding the stadium – the Crown Castle team deployed over 2,000 iDAS nodes inside the stadium. The combination of 5G small cell support with the new DAS may be the largest most advanced 5G network ever built to date. Every upgrade was necessary as the data demands by the attendees for this Superbowl was 17TB more than the previous. On the 5G millimeter-wave front, both Verizon and AT&T have each added hundreds of antennas to support their different spectrum bands, with placements in the upper infrastructure as well as in small-cell deployments outside the venue. The new Crown Castle DAS design had 118 sectors and used approximately 2,000 antennas, with about 1,000 of those deployed under the seating in the main bowl. The newly installed infrastructure will continue to provide robust 5G wireless connectivity for all future events held in and around State Farm Stadium.

Sonora Quest Laboratories

Sonora Quest is a leader in innovation in diagnostic testing and provides efficient health solutions to Arizonans. This year, Sonora Quest launched a collaboration with DermTech to launch a new, innovative melanoma detection test. The DermTech Melanoma Test uses a non-invasive Smart Sticker™ to lift skin cells from the surface of a patient’s skin to be tested for select genomic markers associated with melanoma and rules out melanoma with over 99% reliability. This test provides heightened access to testing and reduces the number of unnecessary biopsies and referrals to specialists.

To provide additional opportunities for Arizonans to access convenient, affordable treatment, screening, and diagnostic services, Sonora Quest launched its first home testing kits available through its self-order service, My Lab ReQuest. The new kits allow patients to collect their own samples for either colorectal cancer screenings or measuring hemoglobin A1c (blood sugar) without a health care provider’s order, health insurance, or a trip to a Sonora Quest Patient Service Center.

Sonora Quest has also been at the forefront of supplying COVID-19 PCR testing since the start of the pandemic. The company’s latest innovation is a qualitative, multi-target, molecular diagnostics testing that uses only one patient sample to aid in the detection of three viruses: COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and Influenza. This 3-with-1 respiratory virus combination testing helps patients and health care providers get much-needed answers more quickly, increasing the possibility of using time-sensitive treatments and slowing the spread.