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Arizona Center for Civic Leadership
Enhancing civic life in Arizona through education, engagement, and leadership programs.
The Center’s cornerstone initiative which includes participation in the Flinn-Brown Academy and Flinn-Brown Network.
Meet the 495 Fellows who make up the Flinn-Brown Network through this searchable directory, including the 2025 Fellows.
Join us for virtual public policy seminars emphasizing learning and discussion.
A partnership to measure Arizona's progress on civic participation and connected communities—and act.
A statewide resource for organizations strengthening civic leadership by working together on common priorities.
A program helping teens build necessary skills and knowledge as they imagine unique paths to civic responsibility.
Connect with Arizona Center for Civic Leadership: Stay up to date. Join our email list.
The Arizona Center for Civic Leadership
The nonpartisan Arizona Center for Civic Leadership at the Flinn Foundation enhances civic life in Arizona through civic education, engagement, and leadership-development programs. Flinn Young Leaders emphasizes civic learning and skill-building and helps teens imagine paths to making a difference. CivEx delivers educational programming for the public to become better-informed on Arizona policy and political topics. The Civic Leadership Collaborative and the Arizona Civic Life Partnership convene organizations that strengthen civic participation and connected communities. The Center’s cornerstone, the prestigious Flinn-Brown Fellowship, is an immersive experience for community leaders from diverse backgrounds. Fellows engage in rich discussions with policymakers and political experts; join a robust professional network; and gain understanding of how to address Arizona’s most pressing issues through public service.
30 Arizonans selected as 2025 Flinn-Brown Fellows
Thirty Arizonans from across the state — representing a wide range of professionals, ideologies, and lived experiences — have been selected as the 17th cohort of the Flinn-Brown Fellowship, a flagship program of the nonpartisan Arizona Center for Civic Leadership at the Flinn Foundation.
The 2025 Flinn-Brown Fellows represent the breadth of Arizona’s talent and dedication needed to meet Arizona’s complex challenges. United by a shared commitment to public service, they join a statewide network of leaders working across differences to shape Arizona’s future. This summer, the new Fellows will begin their journey through the Flinn-Brown Academy, a rigorous 12-session public policy institute and will join the Flinn-Brown Network — now 495 Fellows strong. [Read more]
Fellow Reetika Dhawan helps bring transformative investment to Yuma County workforce
The Honorable Reetika Dhawan, a 2022 Flinn-Brown Fellow, leads efforts to align academic programs with the evolving needs of Arizona’s workforce in Yuma as Arizona Western College’s Chief Executive Officer of Entrepreneurial College and Vice President of Workforce and Healthcare Programs.
Public policy is central to her work, which includes initiatives in economic development, broadband access, health care training, and workforce readiness—especially in high-demand industries critical to rural and border communities. She also serves on the board of the Southwest Technical Education District of Yuma (STEDY), supporting high school students in the region. [Read more]
Flinn-Brown Fellow Jamie Festa-Daigle: A deep-rooted passion for public education
After more than two decades in Lake Havasu City, Jaime Festa-Daigle is bringing her deep-rooted passion for public education and civic engagement to northern Arizona.
A lifelong Arizonan, the 2023 Flinn-Brown Fellow began her education career in Phoenix, teaching American history to students who were new to the United States. As both a teacher and administrator, including as director of student achievement for the Lake Havasu Unified School District, she consistently emphasized the role of education in preparing students to be thoughtful, engaged citizens. [Read more]
Fellows Christopher Glover and Patrick Tighe serving the homeless with Keys to Change
Flinn-Brown Fellows Christopher Glover and Patrick Tighe discuss their roles as board members for Keys to Change, an organization dedicated to supporting individuals experiencing homelessness in Maricopa County, in this 16th episode of the Leadership Forward for a Better Arizona podcast by Arizona Center for Civic Leadership at the Flinn Foundation.
Glover, a 2016 Fellow and former Mesa City Councilman, and Tighe, a 2019 Fellow from Phoenix and attorney with Snell & Wilmer, also share how their broader civic engagement in Arizona—and their experiences with Flinn-Brown Fellows—have shaped them into leaders driving effective community transformation. [Listen]
Center hosts CivEx on chronic student absenteeism
The Arizona Center for Civic Leadership hosted the CivEx, “Still Missing Too Much School: A Follow-Up Analysis of Arizona Chronic Absence Trends in Grades 1–8,” hosted by Flinn-Brown Fellows Paul Perrault, Ph.D. (Phoenix, 2016) and Lenay Dunn, Ph.D. (Phoenix, 2017). They examined the effects of chronic absenteeism on students, schools, and the broader community in Arizona.
Drawing on insights from the 2022 report by Helios Education Foundation and WestEd, and the latest data in the 2025 report, the webinar offers valuable perspectives on how these trends, accelerated since the pandemic, are reshaping our educational landscape. [Watch]
News and Updates
Civic Leadership
CivEx: The Cost of Care—What Medicaid Cuts May Mean for Arizona
Arizona is evaluating federal Medicaid funding changes that could impact AHCCCS eligibility and operations or shift more financial responsibility to the state. Beth will provide a detailed overview of how these adjustments may affect AHCCCS health plans, enrollment, and access to care—particularly for low-income families, children, and individuals with disabilities.
Civic Leadership
Flinn-Brown Fellows: The Passage of Proposition 479
Though it’s been over half a year since voters approved the measure in November 2024, Proposition 479 remains a strong example of what can be accomplished through long-term planning, coordination across jurisdictions, and broad-based public engagement.
Civic Leadership
June 2025 Network News
In a recent Chronicle of Philanthropy article, I described Flinn-Brown Fellows as “sentries at the gate.” For me, the analogy reflects the spirit of the founding aspiration of the Flinn-Brown Fellowship—to build a strong network of principled leaders to help offset the decline of bipartisan cooperation and the weakening of institutional stability in Arizona policymaking, but also to cultivate a statewide network capable of safeguarding Arizona’s long-term philanthropic investments through effective public policy development.
Civic Leadership
May 2025 Network News
While summer in Arizona often brings triple-digit heat, weekend escapes to higher elevations, and the steady hum of air conditioning, for me, it signals something far more energizing: the arrival of a new class of Flinn-Brown Fellows. Each year, we welcome a remarkable group of Arizonans into our statewide network of civic leaders—a summer tradition that continues to inspire and renew our shared commitment to public service.
For information about Civic Leadership, please contact:
civicleadership@flinn.org or (602) 744-6832
