Recap: Summit en la Sierra

Summit en la Sierra was designed to enhance and elevate community ownership of Climate Change policy and goals within the City of Phoenix. To do so, community leaders and stakeholders were invited to dialog alongside nonprofit leaders and local government officials to fill a gap between existing community solutions and proposed City of Phoenix climate change goals.

The Summit took place September 13-14, 2021, at Willow Springs Lake. While the summertime heat makes outdoor meeting venues a challenge in the Phoenix area, there are many beautiful locations at much cooler temperatures an hour and a half out of the city, and vice versa during winter months in cooler areas of the state.

Summit en la Sierra yielded a clear consensus that the outdoor space provided for a more relaxed and open atmosphere to build trust, enhance creative thinking, engage in honest dialog, and facilitate innovation. As the founder of Neuro Strategies, I would encourage leaders within different sectors whether it be nonprofit, local government, or small business, to think about your next “big conversation.” Do you want to build better cohesion amongst your team? Do you want to build trust among partnering organizations involved in a collaborative project? Do you work at a foundation, and has zoom fatigue diminished creative thinking at your board meetings? Take a step back, and ask yourself if shaking things up a bit, and meeting outside could be helpful to your organization and the results you are seeking.

The Phoenix metro area has a wealth of outdoor venues, both established, and primitive, that offer free access to open space, fresh air, and beautiful scenery from the local topography. Taking things outside periodically is easy and enhances the connectivity we feel to our community and home within the Sonoran Desert. The cool weather is here, it’s time to get outside, refresh, and reconnect.

Below are sketches done during the summit in response to the questions above and the experience at the summit.