Celebration for Resilience

Honoring local champions who inspire us to think upstream

When you spend years responding to problems, you can sometimes overlook the fact that you could be preventing them.

— Dan Heath Author of Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen

Our annual Celebration for Resilience provided an opportunity to promote resilience concepts to a wider audience and to showcase individuals and organizations that are leading the way to build community resilience in Arizona.

This year we gathered at the historic Orpheum Theater around the idea of working upstream — heading off problems closer to their source rather than solely responding to their consequences.

Bestselling author Dan Heath gave the keynote, sharing examples from leaders across sectors who have learned to spot problems in advance and discussing the forces that incentivize downstream thinking as well as the levers that can be used to prevent problems before they arise. The first 300 attendees at this year’s event received a complimentary copy of this influential book.

Dan Heath presents ideas from his book Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen.

Mark Skalny, Mark Skalny Photography

Following Heath’s talk, he joined a panel of local leaders, moderated by Univision political panelist and former Resilience Fellow Adonias Arevalo, to discuss how to apply upstream thinking to the most pressing challenges faced in Arizona.

Members of Friends of the Verde River's executive leadership and board accept the 2022 Resilience Prize.

Mark Skalny, Mark Skalny Photography

We also recognized our partners, scholars and Resilience Fellows and awarded the annual Resilience Prize. This award celebrates a deserving organization, selected by our Council of Resilience Leaders, for its systemic efforts to improve community resilience in Arizona. Check out the next article to learn about this year’s recipient.