Rugged Togetherness
Last month, we hosted a Prevention Design Lab, where we convened 40 of our partners to generate ideas for supporting our state’s families.
To open the discussion, our facilitator, Holly Truitt, asked the group a question:
If you had a magic wand, what would make the biggest difference in Arizona’s ability to support families?
One woman answered “I would eliminate the mindset of rugged individualism.”
That answer led to a great discussion. Rugged individualism – leaving everyone to figure things out on their own – ignores that we all do better when we all do better. A collective mindset is what’s needed to build an Arizona that’s a great place to have a family and be a child.
We can stay rugged. We just don’t need to be individualistic about it.
Humans aren’t equipped to figure everything out ourselves. At some point, we will need to rely on someone else. That’s because, try as we might, no one has full control of their circumstances.
If we want people to be self-reliant and self-determined, we need to first work together to create an environment in which that’s possible.
We need rugged togetherness. And luckily, that’s already part of Arizona’s DNA.
If you work in the human service sector, you’ve likely been part of many conversations about where Arizona ranks in comparison to other states in terms of education, child health, infant mortality, incarceration rates, and any other measure of wellbeing. And those conversations are often lamentations, because we usually don’t rank particularly well.
Arizona has many challenges, but we can’t surrender to them. We can’t and we don’t. Because all the barriers to our wellbeing can be surmountable when we wield our strengths.
And we have many. We can’t let ourselves forget that.
When I moved to Arizona in 2009 and adjusted to life in this state, I had a friend tell me something that I’ll always remember: “Whatever survives in the desert deserves to live.”
Arizona is resourceful. We have to be. We live in a literal desert, and despite our varied history, the people of this state always had to band together to survive the ferocity of our environment.
Arizona is scrappy, and I mean that as a high compliment. We are unapologetically anti-elitist. In Arizona, anyone who cares about something can contribute to that something. If you care, you can do. That’s not the case everywhere, and I love that about us.
Even though our challenges are big, our tenacity and persistence and hearts are bigger. We may have literal and figurative deserts of resources, but we figure it out. Arizonans are figure-outers.
Stay rugged, Arizona. We can use what makes us great to build a great state for families and children, together.
P.S.: If you want to do one small thing right now to contribute to a big impact, sign the First Things First letter of support asking legislators to protect resources for our state’s youngest children.
Published Dec. 1, 2025