Tempe High School

Sustainability & Resilience Office staff has partnered with Tempe High School for a few of years, first supporting the Sustainability Club, then integrating with a  history teacher named Mr Wince.  

In a unique AZ & US History class, a project melding Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), sustainability, and lessons from history has taken shape. In this pilot program: students, teachers, city staff, and researchers from the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College all work together to engage with research methods, future-thinking, and creative problem-solving. Here's an article from the NEA about this work. 

McClintock High School

City staff has partnered with McClintock High School for several years! Our work includes students and staff involved in the Sustainability Club (formerly Neighborhood Justice). 

Youth, teachers, and city staff have co-created projects around:

• Vegan and vegetarian food inclusion in the cafeteria.
• Sonoran-desert native plants like corn, squash, melon; and desert-adapted plants as well. 
• Greenhouse repairs for use by the larger school community.
• Hosting a free pop-up clothing reuse event on campus.
• Working with an indigenous consultant to design a gathering space and pollinator garden.
• Designing and implementing a strategic plan to increase recycling school-wide. 

Youth Stories of Heat

Imagine a Tempe with cooler streets, more comfortable summers and community resilience to extreme heat. More than just water bottles, a Tempe where we can all stay cool. 

Introducing: Youth Stories of Heat - a storytelling project from the Sustainability & Resilience office. 

In 2023, we asked Tempe youth to share their stories about how they experience our summers. They told us about their hobbies, their families, how they get around – and the specific challenges they face when it gets hot. We think these accounts are important when we plan for summer - youth may be overlooked when thinking about who experiences heat. Making sure youth voices are heard is a vital step in building a resilient Tempe!

The complete playlist is linked here, and each video in the series is below. 

Mayor's Youth Advisory Commission 

The Mayor's Youth Advisory Commission (MYAC) is a Tempe Commission made up of up to 30 teenaged commissions from the Tempe area. Each year, the Commissioners develop recommendations from their self-selected priorities, based on insights from their youth community.  

The priorities of the 2024-2025 MYAC are:
Diversity Equity and Inclusion, Environment and Sustainability, Emotional and Mental Wellness, & Aiding The Unhoused

The Sustainability & Resilience Office collaborates with MYAC on: gardening projects, volunteer events, and several commissioners joined the Rain to Roots Ambassador Program in order to impact the future of Tempe. In addition, in 2024 MYAC hosted a Tempe Youth Talks event to both inspire and engage students in dialogue on topics that are important to them as well as give a chance to connect with City leaders; staff from the Sustainability & Resilience office attended and participated in a panel discussion and Q&A. Read more about the Tempe Youth Talks event here. 

In 2023-2024, MYAC's priorities were: Environmental Sustainability & Justice, Aiding the Unhoused Population, Emotional & Mental Wellness. 
Take a peak at the 2023 MYAC report here. 

Tempe Elementary District #3

The Sustainability & Resilience office (SRO) frequently works with Tempe Elementary District #3 on campus greening and beautification projects that result in cooling for students.  

In 2023 the SRO worked with nonprofits, businesses, and the community to:

• plant a mix of desert-adapted trees (61 total) at Connolly Middle School. (with more trees being planted in nearby parks and neighborhoods too!)
• remove old turf, till the soil, repair irrigation and install trees and bushes at Connolly's interior courtyard.
• completely renovate and replant nine large garden beds at Shamley Elementary.
• refresh the exterior courtyard at Thew Elementary, including irrigation repairs, and adding bushes and trees. 

Additionally, city staff has partnered with Spracale Elementary fifth graders on their "Designing Future Cities Project" - a project-based learning exercise that brought together city staff, community members, teachers, and students to think through what it takes to create the ideal city of the future. 

 In 2024 we have more greening and beautification in the works! Watch this space or email Evelyn to get more information.