This year, Arizona Directions assesses the health of both ends of the P-20 spectrum: early childcare and education and the high school /postsecondary-to-industry nexus. Both are viewed through the lens of Arizona’s current competitive position and its trajectory through the broader economic landscape. How well does Arizona regulate, promote and ensure equitable access to quality early childcare and to programs that help children enter Kindergarten ready to learn? Does Arizona’s production of graduates and skilled workers align with current and projected industry needs? In other words, are we setting our children up to succeed in the new global economy? At the same time, are we creating a talent pool that will help Arizona stand out as the place to start and grow a business? Arizona Directions’ data-driven approach enables Arizonans to step back and examine the evidence without the distraction of clashing political rhetoric. The report is designed to create a common reference point for civil discourse and post-partisan, collaborative approaches to improving Arizona’s competitiveness. Still, the data are merely the kindling. Many minds are needed to stoke the fire and convert its energy into real-world results.

Over 92,000 people between the ages of 16 and 24 in metro Phoenix who are neither working nor in school present a staggering challenge to the area. These Opportunity Youth (OY) have a lifetime taxpayer burden of $27.3 billion and a lifetime social burden of $218.5 billion. Nationally, the 6.7 million Opportunity Youth have a potential taxpayer burden of $1.56 trillion and an aggregate social burden of $4.75 trillion. Figures like this signal a clear call to action. National and local businesses, along with leading academic institutions have the opportunity to emerge as leaders in decreasing the taxpayer and social costs of OY while simultaneously helping their own bottom line. The opportunity of a collaboration between leading business and leading academic institutions on the issue of OY creates a win-win for the national and state economy as well as the welfare of all citizens.

Arizona’s vulnerable populations are struggling on a daily basis but usually do so in silence, undetected by traditional radar and rankings, often unaware themselves of their high risk for being pushed or pulled into full crisis. Ineligible for financial assistance under strict eligibility guidelines, they don’t qualify as poor because vulnerable populations are not yet in full crisis. To be clear, this report is not about the “poor,” at least not in the limited sense of the word. It is about our underemployed wage earners, our single-parent households, our deployed or returning military members, our under-educated and unskilled workforce, our debt-ridden neighbors, our uninsured friends, our family members with no savings for an emergency, much less retirement.