2024 Annual Membership Meeting

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During this year’s Annual Membership Meeting of the International Sonoran Desert Alliance held on Saturday, February 24th, the ISDA staff jointly presented the 2023 Annual Impact Report and the planning team from Better City presented an update on the Sonoran Desert Biosphere Region Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS).

2023 marked the 30th Anniversary for the organization which gave us a good excuse to look back over the organization’s growth and evolution over the years. Included in the 2023 Annual Report are timelines for the International Sonoran Desert Alliance, the Sonoran Desert Biosphere Region, and a photo retrospective for 20 years of celebrating the International Day of Peace.

During the meeting, the Better City planning team provided an update on the Sonoran Desert Biosphere Region’s CEDS and solicited input from ISDA membership. The update included a draft SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) as well as emerging content on strategic topics including: Business Opportunities, Education, Food Security, Healthcare, Leadership & Regional Collaboration, Quality Housing, and Tourism & Placemaking.

To conclude the meeting, staff announced the board election results as well as the 2024 board officers:

  • President: Annelise Keuper

  • 1st VP: Lorraine Eiler

  • 2nd VP: Dr. Nelida Barajas Acosta

  • Secretary: Lance Bell

  • Treasurer: Jim Gillett

A recording of the meeting and links to all of the presented material are available on the Annual Meeting page.

Seeding Resilience in Uncertain Times

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Seeding Resilience in Uncertain Times

For many of us, this year has been a bit of a rollercoaster with daily changes to our current reality and our expectations for the future. Hopes for a return to some semblance of post-COVID normalcy continue to rise and fall in line with case counts and hospitalization numbers. Patterns of rain, drought and extreme weather events are creating rapid shifts in ecosystems and driving us to rethink long held assumptions about the built environment. Cancellations and postponements to signature convenings remind us of just how critical celebrations and gatherings are for community health and for culture bearers to pass on inherited food, story, song, and dance. For the International Sonoran Desert Alliance (ISDA), 2021 was a definitive statement about the undeniable value of seeding resilience through adaptation and co-creative thinking.

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I Am ISDA

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I Am ISDA

What is the International Sonoran Desert Alliance? Is it an Environmental Organization? Is it an Arts & Culture Group? Is it a Community Development Corporation? Yes to all. But first and foremost it is a place-based membership organization committed to preserving and enriching the environment, culture and economy of the Sonoran Desert.

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