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STATE PRIORITIES

Our state policy priorities offer a range of solutions aimed at improving the lives of Arizonians.

housing and homelessness priorities

MC2026 GOAL: Ensure all can have a safe home to call their own. Reduce the number of families and individuals entering or experiencing homelessness by 50%.

  1. The Arizona Department of Housing (ADOH) plays a fundamental role in the state’s affordable housing landscape, coordinating and deploying resources statewide. With its current mandate set for sunset review, we will urge lawmakers to extend this vital agency’s operations.
  2. LIHTC: Ensure that the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit is renewed and increased as it is set to expire in 2025, to address the shortage of affordable housing.
  3. The Housing Trust Fund: leverage the fund to build various types of housing, and support for eviction prevention programs. Recommend significant investment for homelessness prevention.
  4. Support housing for seniors and efforts to streamline zoning on proposed projects in development.
  5. Support policy efforts that provide funding for services that help reduce preventable evictions.

education priorities

MC2026 GOAL: Close opportunity gaps to ensure children read at grade level by 3rd grade and youth are prepared for educational success and employment. Increase the number of 3rd graders reading proficiently by 25%. Increase the number of people between ages 16-24 who are working and/or in school by 38%.

  1. Lift the constitutional aggregate expenditure for K12 schools and community colleges.
    1. Advocate for long term reform to avoid need for legislative overrides.
  2. From the Governor’s budget support:
    1. Hold charter schools and ESA funded private schools to the same reporting requirements as district schools.
    2. Support Dual Enrollment Programs to increase post-secondary attainment.
    3. Expand the Arizona Promise Scholarship Program by including funding capacity for an additional 10,000 students.

health priorities

MC2026 GOAL: Remove barriers to ensure everyone in our community is healthy, with focus on access to food and health care. Decrease food insecurity by 50%. Increase the number of individuals with access to affordable care by 100,000.

  1. From the Governor’s budget:
    1. $20M to expand the income eligibility cutoff for the KidsCare program from 200 percent of Increase federal expenditure authority for AHCCCS and the Department of Economic Security ($115.8 million) the federal poverty level to 300 percent of the federal poverty level.
  2. Support the implementation of the Community Health Worker Certification and educate stakeholders about the impact of the initiative to seek reimbursement from ACCHS.
  3. Continue to coordinate efforts with Medicaid stakeholders, including AHCCCS, UniteUs, Contextue, and Managed Care Organizations, in partnership with Equality Health Foundation, to develop a standardized method for social care reimbursement utilizing Medicaid resources and funding, like the closed loop referral system.
  4. Support AHCCCS 1115 demonstration waiver to allow for billable codes for medically tailored food boxes, in coordination with Arizona Food System Network and Desert Mission Food Bank. Public comments and committee testimony.

workforce development priorities

MC2026 GOAL: Open pathways to better paying jobs. Increase preparation for a living wage job by 33%. Achievement of higher paying employment by 20%.

  1. Improve economic stability for lower-wage workers through improved work benefits, greater education and training, and opportunities to advance.
    1. Support and promote workforce accelerator program Future 48, providing advanced skills training in rural Arizona, and Drive 48 training for high-tech manufacturing jobs housed in Central Arizona.
    2. Strengthen the state’s workforce by supporting fair chance hiring programs/workforce development efforts and identifying policy efforts that reduce discrimination and improve hiring options.
  2. Expand incentivized sector-based strategies that help meet employer demand for a more educated and skilled workplace.
    1. VSUW’s Fair Chance Collaborative engaged a diverse group of employers, service providers, educational institutions, and state agencies in robust conversations on Fair Chance hiring and works to strengthen and sustain the Fair Chance ecosystem in our community by increasing the number of Fair Chance employers in the valley. The collaborative arms businesses with the resources and tools to incorporate fair chance hiring practices which will result in increasing the number of people with past convictions who gain productive, family-supporting employment.

Other priorities

County priorities

Our county policy priorities aim to enhance the lives of Maricopa County residents.

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Local PRIORITIES

Our local public policy priorities addresses issues that our local community has shared are most important.

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For more information, please contact:

Beatrice “Bea” Rocklin
(602) 499-8600
Bea@beaspoken.com

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