Empowering voices in rural communities: Supporting inclusive community engagement for water decision-making
A sustainable and resilient water future in Arizona invites local, place-based solutions that are community-driven and collectively crafted to meet the needs of every resident. Community members having a seat at the table is especially critical in rural areas, where residents feel the impacts of water management decisions differently than in urban areas.
The increasing stress on water resources in Arizona has prompted residents in rural communities, such as the Verde Valley in northern Arizona, to be more involved in the decision-making process for ensuring a safe and secure water supply.
Simultaneously, Julia Davis, the program manager of ASU Project Cities, a signature program with the Sustainable Cities Network (SCN) that works to connect Arizona communities with ASU students and resources to co-create strategies that address local sustainability challenges, has noticed an increased interest from rural communities to partner with the university, especially on topics like water management.
When Davis came across a funding opportunity from Impact Water - Arizona, a pillar of the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative (AWII), the Project Cities team saw an opportunity for a university-community engagement event that would also allow the team to develop a framework for inclusive water decision-making in rural areas of the state.
The proposed project in the Verde Valley offered Impact Water – Arizona and AWII an opportunity to support an inclusive collaboration between multiple Arizona communities and the university, centered around the place-based knowledge of local residents and a shared motivation to address water challenges.
With the goal of uplifting diverse voices in rural and small Arizona communities, Project Cities expanded their ongoing partnership with the Town of Clarkdale to invite an intergenerational group of local community members, city leadership, water management practitioners and others from Clarkdale, Camp Verde and Cottonwood to participate in a Verde Valley Water Workshop.
Typically, a local municipality – most often urban – approaches Project Cities with an idea for a student project. Which means residents haven’t been directly involved in project planning, until now.
Susan Craig, the Program Director for Impact Water - Arizona, was excited to support this work to develop an inclusive convening, as well as an updated model for community engagement that would allow knowledge to be translated into action through community-led student projects.
“Impact Water – Arizona champions community-driven solutions, emphasizing inclusive engagement and diverse community collaboration for sustainable water management,” said Craig. “Recognizing the invaluable insights of local communities, this approach tailors solutions to address regional water challenges.”
After receiving the grant award, and almost a year of planning, the Project Cities team facilitated a two-day workshop this spring. The workshop brought together a group of close to forty community members, including municipal leaders, K-12 educators, local youths, older adults, NGOs and others to share information and resources, expand communication networks and brainstorm collaborative community-driven projects.
To help plan the workshop, the local municipalities and regional leaders engaged residents and identified their communities’ water needs. Alison Almand, a program coordinator for SCN, shared that under this flipped model, Project Cities prioritized listening to the local community members and recognized them as the experts to ensure ASU was providing a valuable and meaningful experience for them.
The first day of the workshop, hosted at the Clark Memorial Clubhouse in Clarkdale, was aimed at creating a shared language around water. Prior to informational presentations from ASU experts and local water practitioners, the workshop started with an activity called “Water Words.”
During the activity, participants were able to share their perspectives on what water means to them, their community, city and region by identifying the words they associate with water. From cattle ranchers to small business owners, farmers to teachers and students, and everything in between, the families who live in the Verde Valley consider the Verde River a point of pride.
The river provides an outdoor classroom, recreational area and gathering space, just as much as it provides a natural resource required to sustain life, the environment and the economy. The residents of the Verde Valley are connected by the Verde River, and care about how the watershed is managed and maintained.
Empowering youth voices was also a priority for Project Cities, especially since youth are rarely involved in the decision-making process. Anne Reichman, the director of SCN, shared why it is so important to have youth representation at the table, “Those are your future residents, your business owners, your families, as well as your industries and your businesses, because everybody needs to have a say in the future.”
On the second day, workshop attendees gathered at the Camp Verde Community Library. Following a series of tools and resource presentations from various organizations across the state, self-identified community groups, based on the participants’ place of residence, focused on project planning.
By the end of that day, the community groups had developed several project ideas, which Project Cities has now matched with ASU courses that will start in the fall.
Students will work with the Clarkdale community, part on an ongoing commitment to the town, to expand water education signage at a local park. Another class will develop a visualization of the town water report card to improve how they communicate technical information. In Camp Verde, students will develop a peer community assessment and analysis of their local water conservation activities.
Just as these projects required a diverse group of residents to create them, they’ll also engage a broad range of students from across the university, including courses in technology communications, data visualization and public affairs.
“Our team always noticed interesting dynamics where rural towns are doing everything they can to serve the public,” says Davis, “and residents always want more information and to connect more around those decisions. This is certainly true when it comes to water issues.”
Innovative, community-driven solutions are essential for sustainable water management, which invites a thoughtful and inclusive approach to involve local community members in the decision-making process. Programs like Project Cities and Impact Water – Arizona exhibit a commitment to serving rural residents of the state through their ongoing dedication to creating collaborative spaces that support innovative approaches to water management.
About the author: Laura Randall (they/she) is a storyteller who hopes to broaden people’s perspectives by elevating diverse voices and bringing the humanities to the center of sustainability science. Born and raised in Tucson, AZ, Laura grew up among the Saguaros and has always recognized their strong connection with Nature. They are passionate about sustainability communication, environmental justice and increasing accessibility to education and outdoor spaces.
A twice-over ASU alumna, Laura earned their Masters of Sustainability Solutions and Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from ASU. They have experience researching and writing about community resilience to extreme heat in Arizona, sustainability communication in higher education, policy for sustainable mine management and collaborative management strategies for social-ecology systems.
Groundwater Public engagement Management Water security