Flowing Wells Neighborhood Association & Community Coalition

FW Wins 2007 All-America City

FWNACC is the only neighborhood represented in the nation-wide

2007 competition in Anaheim, CA. The Flowing Wells Neighborhood Association brought home the National Civic League's All-America City Award on June 8, becoming only the second community in Arizona to do so. Flowing Wells was one of ten cities to receive the award after an extensive application process and oral presentations before a jury of eight civic leaders from around the country.

"What an honor it is for Flowing Wells to receive this All-America City Award-- despite being the only neighborhood association in the running!" said Ellie Towne, president of the Flowing Wells Neighborhood Association and Community Coalition (FWNACC). "This award is not the end for us. It is just the beginning of everything we plan to do in this community. The All-America City designation will allow us to leverage the partnerships that have already made this all possible, and we are so excited to put this award to work for our neighbors here in Flowing Wells."

The All-America City Award is given to communities demonstrating an outstanding commitment to identifying and addressing community problems in an innovative, inclusive fashion. The fifteen-page application requires each group to identify three community projects which have addressed a specific problem in the city, county or neighborhood, with a focus on concrete, quantifiable results.

Flowing Wells was recognized for three such projects: their community parks, Curtis Park and the Flowing Wells District Park; the Flowing Wells Health Clinic, which assists an under-served population in receiving health and dental services through an innovative model of bringing services to the citizens; and the Ellie Towne / Flowing Wells Community Center, not yet completed, which will provide a state-of-the-art meeting location and social service hub for the residents of Flowing Wells.

A delegation representing Flowing Wells and their community partners travelled to Anaheim this past week to participate in the competition. The group included Towne; Terri Hutts, FWNACC's grant writer; Dr. Nicholas Clement, Superintendent, Flowing Wells School District; Peg Harmon, CEO of St. Elizabeth of Hungary's Catholic Social Services; Joy Mehulka with Pima County Natural Resources Parks and Recreation; and Lauren Harmon, special staff assistant to Supervisor Bronson.

"The All-America City Award recognizes all the hard work the Flowing Wells Neighborhood Association has put into making their community a great place to live," said Sharon Bronson, Pima County Supervisor from District 3. "I am so proud of Flowing Wells-- not just for winning this particular award, but for all the persistence that made this possible, and for the great things I know they will do in the future as Pima County's first and only All-America City."

In addition to being the only neighbor-hood association represented at this year's competition, Flowing Wells is the first All-America City winner from the metro Tucson/Pima County area. The only other city from Arizona to ever receive this designation was Tempe, which was named an All-America City in 2003.

"None of this would have been possible without the help of our partners," said Towne. "Partnership is what we focused on in our presentation, and it's those partnerships that won the day for us. All the other cities up for the award had a formal government to write the application, raise money, and coordinate the oral presentations. Flowing Wells is a group of community volunteers, and this is even more meaningful for us because it shows the real support we have from Pima County, among the non-profit organizations, within the business community, and with the City of Tucson."

This article was written by Lauren Harmon.