COT NEWS RELEASE: City of Tucson and Local First Arizona Advance Sustainable and Resilient Economy Through Urban Institute Partnership 

Collaboration highlights opportunities to grow Tucson’s sustainable and resilient economy, strengthen local businesses, and prepare Southern Arizona’s workforce for the jobs of the future.

The City of Tucson and Local First Arizona are advancing a shared vision for a more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive economy, building on findings from a partnership with the Urban Institute that identified strategies to ensure that Southern Arizona workers, entrepreneurs, and locally owned businesses benefit from the region’s growing sustainable and resilient economy. 

Tucson and Local First Arizona were selected to participate in the Urban Institute’s national Climate Capacity Initiative, supported by The Kresge Foundation, alongside Newark, New Jersey, and Norfolk, Virginia. 

The partnership examined Southern Arizona’s clean-energy and climate-resilience landscape, with a particular focus on workforce development, small-business growth, and economic opportunity. The research sought to better understand where investments are occurring, what skills and businesses will be needed to support emerging industries, and how Tucson could position local residents and businesses to benefit from those opportunities. 

“The Urban Institute’s research shows that climate action and economic development can, and should, go hand in hand,” said Tucson Mayor Regina Romero. “This is why the council and I created the Office of Community and Economic Impact earlier this year. As we make investments that strengthen our climate resilience and accelerate the transition to clean energy, we also have an opportunity to create good jobs, strengthen locally owned businesses, and build pathways to economic prosperity for Tucson families.” 

The work builds on Tucson’s growing position as a center for renewable energy, climate technology, and sustainable innovation. Regional assets include the University of Arizona, Pima Community College, and a growing network of clean-energy businesses that provide a strong foundation for continued economic development. 

Through research, stakeholder engagement, and technical assistance, the Urban Institute worked with local partners to explore how Tucson can connect climate and sustainability investments directly to workforce training, entrepreneurship, small-business support, and local supply-chain development. 

"Our research found that Tucson already has a strong foundation to build upon, with more than 50,000 workers and 5,000 businesses operating in sectors that are critical to the region's sustainable and resilient economy," said Oriya Cohen, lead researcher at the Urban Institute. "The opportunity now is to connect economic development, workforce training, small-business support, and climate resilience strategies so that the benefits of future economic growth are broadly shared. Through our work, we've seen the leadership, assets, and regional collaboration in Southern Arizona needed to move that vision forward." 

The research identified several opportunities that could help Tucson expand access to economic opportunity through the sustainable and resilient economy: 

● Preparing Tucson residents with the skills and training needed for emerging clean-energy and climate-resilience careers. 

● Helping locally owned and small businesses compete for contracts and participate in growing sustainable and resilient industries and supply chains. 

● Strengthening partnerships among employers, educational institutions, workforce organizations, local governments, and community organizations. 

● Identifying barriers that may prevent residents and small businesses from participating in the transition to a sustainable and resilient economy. 

● Ensuring that economic and climate investments create opportunities across Tucson’s neighborhoods and throughout Southern Arizona. 

Local First Arizona brings extensive experience in entrepreneurship, small-business development, and building resilient local economies to the partnership. 

“Local First Arizona’s mission is to create inclusive economies to ensure opportunities are shared broadly” said Kimber Lanning, founder and CEO of Local First Arizona. “And the findings from the Urban Institute study provide a roadmap for growing Tucson’s small business sector to meet the needs of future sustainable and resilient economies.” 

Findings from the Tucson partnership were also highlighted during an Urban Institute event in Washington, D.C., focused on mobilizing community and economic development organizations to address climate change. The City of Tucson’s Fatima Luna and Lane Mandle, as well as Kimber Lanning and Ginger Sykes Torres from Local First Arizona joined national researchers and practitioners to discuss how cities can integrate climate resilience into economic-development strategies while creating tangible opportunities for workers and small businesses. 

The work reflects Mayor Romero’s broader approach to sustainability and treating climate resilience not simply as an environmental challenge, but as an opportunity to strengthen the regional economy while accounting for long-term water, heat, and infrastructure constraints. 

By aligning climate investments with workforce development, education, entrepreneurship, and small-business support, Tucson is working to create an economy that is more competitive, locally rooted and resilient to future challenges through the creation of the new Office of Community and Economic Impact, which brings the work of equity, sustainability, cultural affairs, prosperity, and economic development into one working group. 

The City of Tucson and Local First Arizona, and regional partners will continue building on the findings from the Urban Institute partnership, using the research to inform strategy and guide future public and private investment.