A key component of the investment by Mike and Cindy Watts is bettering the lives of those who live in Maryvale, the neighborhood where they both grew up.

Located several miles northwest of downtown Phoenix, Maryvale is the most populous of the city’s 13 “villages” with over 250,000 residents. If it were a municipality, it would be the 5th largest in Arizona. The community emerged from a developer building affordable family homes in the area more than 70 years ago. Today, Maryvale has the lowest median age of any village in the city of Phoenix. It also has the second highest percentage of residents living below the poverty line (34%).

The community faces many struggles, including a decline in household income, lower education levels and lower test scores. But the community has many strengths, and the Maryvale Revitalization Project and One Square Mile Initiative want to tap into those strengths to help improve the neighborhood and opportunities for those who call it home.

Impact:

• Strategic alliances with already existing nonprofit and governmental agencies serving Maryvale
• Increase in ASU units deployed to Maryvale
• Decrease in the number of youth and young adults who commit crime
• Increased youth engagement with arts, culture, sciences, and sports
• Increased enrollment in post-secondary education (higher education, West-MEC, etc.)
• Increase positive human and environmental health outcomes
• Evaluate and re-evaluate with a series of group meetings/town halls and surveys to determine what is working and what is not working, and react accordingly

This endowment offers flexible funding for student tuition and transformative experiences such as study abroad and internships, with priority given to first-generation college students in Arizona.

This group of students will also have the opportunity to participate in an “Early Start” program where they will be introduced to ASU a week prior to the regular move-in date. They will also participate in coaching and career services tailored to first-generation students.

Impact:

• Increased enrollment and retention of Arizona’s first-generation college students
• Increased participation in educational opportunities not typically afforded to all (e.g. study abroad)

Provides scholarship support for the college’s flagship program, which admits students from across ASU, as well as programmatic support for its community outreach through the junior scholars program.

Impact:

• Increased engagement with community leaders in the mentorship program
• Mentorship at Maryvale high schools
• Increase of 60% in the number of high school students engaged in the program.