March 28, 2026
Bringing Leaders Together to Build Local Solutions
The tables were set, the conversation was roaring, and the ideas were flowing at the first-ever Be Connected Communities Academy in Phoenix. Leaders from communities across Arizona came together with a shared purpose: to strengthen support for service members, veterans, and their families through practical, community-based solutions.
This was not a passive event built around presentations alone. It was a collaborative working session where participants rolled up their sleeves, shared what they are seeing in their communities, and began shaping ideas for projects grounded in real needs, barriers people may face, and opportunities to make support more accessible.
Underlying the work is a simple idea: communities make more progress when they are connected, working from the same goals, and building on each other’s strengths.
A Working Session
The Be Connected Communities Academy was designed as a statewide working session. Built around the Be Connected Communities Five Steps to Impact, the event gave local leaders and partners a practical path for moving from conversation to action. Throughout the Academy, participants worked through a process centered on gathering the right people, learning what is needed, designing focused plans, putting those plans into motion, and continuing to improve over time.
The conversation stayed rooted in practical problem solving, with attention on local realities and on the people who may need support most. Rather than pushing broad answers or abstract ideas, the Academy encouraged participants to think about what makes sense in their own communities and what could help people connect to support sooner and more effectively.
This Work Matters
The work at the center of the Academy is important because reducing suicide risk is not simple, and it is not quick. It takes long-term commitment, steady partnership, and a willingness to act before a person reaches a visible crisis. The Academy centered on an upstream approach, one that challenges communities to act earlier and address the stress that can quietly build over time.
The framework presented during the event focused on four areas that can strengthen protective factors and reduce risk:
- Increasing access to care
- Increasing access to support
- Increasing social connection
- Improving social determinants of health
In The Room
The Academy brought together leaders and partners from communities across Arizona, along with local teams, statewide partners, and others committed to strengthening support for service members, veterans, and their families. What mattered most was not only who attended but the range of experience and perspective they brought into the room.
One of the Academy’s strongest aspects was how active it felt. Participants worked in groups, responded to prompts, reviewed data, shared observations from the ground, and used those conversations to begin shaping project ideas together. The event was built to move people beyond general concern and into more focused planning.
Designing the Response
As the work progressed, teams were asked to look closely at what is already known through available data and community experience, what additional information might be helpful, and who in their communities may be quietly struggling or at higher risk. That question mattered. The people most in need of support do not always announce themselves, and they do not always reach out in clear or direct ways. The Academy pushed participants to think beyond the obvious and consider how communities can identify need earlier and respond more effectively.
From there, the conversation turned toward design. Teams were encouraged to get specific about who they were trying to reach, what barriers were standing in the way, and what kind of response could make a practical difference. The emphasis was not on building the biggest possible initiative. It was on building something focused, useful, and realistic enough to launch. That helped make the work feel grounded and achievable.
A Catalyst for What Comes Next
This Academy was the starting point of this initiative, which gave communities a chance to get ideas moving and expand their work beyond the event. That is what made the event feel so productive. It did more than create good conversation in the room. It gave people a stronger sense of where to go next and what it will take to keep that momentum going.
The first Be Connected Communities Academy showed that meaningful progress happens when communities come together, share what they know, and commit to building solutions side by side.
The conversations that started in Phoenix are now happening in communities across Arizona, where local ideas can become practical, sustained efforts to strengthen support for service members, veterans, and their families. We look forward to that progress and facilitating more community-based solutions across Arizona.
