The Arizona Smart Growth Scorecard is a tool for community self-assessment developed by a working group of the Growth Cabinet. It is designed to strengthen the ability of local officials to plan for future growth and development and to adopt comprehensive strategies that address growth-related pressures. Arizona's Growing Smarter Guiding Principles were developed by the Growing Smarter Oversight Council. The Guiding Principles are organized into six major categories which provide the basis for the Scorecard: responsibility and accountability; preservation of community character; stewardship of natural resources; opportunity for broad choices; essential service infrastructure; and economic development.

The Drug Treatment Alternative to Prison (DTAP) Program enables drug addicted criminal defendants to plead guilty to an offense and then enter a residential, therapeutic community treatment system for three years as an alternative to a prison sentence. The Program begins with three months of in-patient, residential drug treatment followed by wraparound recovery support services managed by a resources specialist, including transitional housing, literacy services, higher education, job training and placement services, and counseling, accompanied by drug testing, probation monitoring, and regular court hearings.

The Santa Rita Ranches operate in cooperation with the Santa Rita Experimental Range located to the west of the Santa Rita Mountains, in the upper Santa Cruz Valley. It was established in 1903 and is recognized as a principal site for research on the improvement and management of semiarid grasslands in the Southwest.