RCE Greater Phoenix aims to build an active network of organisations from the community at large and from Arizona State University. Community stakeholders include government, businesses, civil society organisations, and educational providers. ASU partners include research labs as well as the partnership between  Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and School of Sustainability, with the support of ASU’s Knowledge Exchange for Resilience and Global Futures Laboratory.

This diverse group of stakeholders is committed to working together to address our region’s most critical sustainability challenges through education, while providing opportunities for collaboration, learning, and impact.
 
RCE Greater Phoenix aims to foster cross-sectoral collaborations to empower all learners, especially historically marginalised youth, to access high quality sustainability education, both formal and informal, and engage in meaningful learning experiences that contribute to sustainability outcomes for the region.

The Greater Phoenix metropolitan region is a large, interconnected urban area situated within the natural boundaries of a desert valley surrounded by mountains. It is one of the ten largest cities in the U.S. with an estimated population of over 1.7 million people and the fastest growing population centres in the U.S. The Phoenix Metropolitan Area comprises Maricopa County (estimated population of 4,420,568), and Pinal County (2020 population: 425,264). A characteristic of the region and Arizona’s history is the diverse blend of racial, ethnic and cultural identities. The State of Arizona is built on the lands of 22 federally recognised tribes, having inhabited this land for centuries and today holding the highest number of indigenous populations nationwide. Maricopa County is located in the Salt River Valley on the ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) Indian Communities, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today.

As a rapidly expanding area situated in a precarious desert environment, the Phoenix metropolitan region faces significant sustainability challenges. Phoenix has recently been called the most unsustainable city in the world, especially in terms of air quality, heat island effect, groundwater availability, and quality education. Stakeholders across a range of sectors, including schools and universities, businesses, non-profits, and public administrators, are starting to address these issues, emphasising sustainability education as key to developing solutions to these critical social, technical, cultural, and environmental challenges faced by Arizona.

(Photo credit: RCE Greater Phoenix)