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Arizona Center for Civic Leadership
Enhancing civic life in Arizona through education, engagement, and leadership programs.
The Center’s cornerstone initiative which includes participation in the Flinn-Brown Academy and Flinn-Brown Network.
Meet the 518 Fellows who make up the Flinn-Brown Network through this searchable directory.
Join us for online public policy seminars emphasizing learning and discussion.
A partnership to measure Arizona's progress on civic participation and connected communities—and act.
A statewide resource for organizations strengthening civic leadership by working together on common priorities.
A program helping teens build necessary skills and knowledge as they imagine unique paths to civic responsibility.
Connect with Arizona Center for Civic Leadership: Stay up to date. Join our email list.
The Arizona Center for Civic Leadership
The nonpartisan Arizona Center for Civic Leadership at the Flinn Foundation enhances civic life in Arizona through civic education, engagement, and leadership-development programs. Flinn Young Leaders emphasizes civic learning and skill-building and helps teens imagine paths to making a difference. CivEx delivers educational programming for the public to become better-informed on Arizona policy and political topics. The Civic Leadership Collaborative and the Arizona Civic Life Partnership convene organizations that strengthen civic participation and connected communities. The Center’s cornerstone, the prestigious Flinn-Brown Fellowship, is an immersive experience for community leaders from diverse backgrounds. Fellows engage in rich discussions with policymakers and political experts; join a robust professional network; and gain understanding of how to address Arizona’s most pressing issues through public service.
24 Arizonans join the Flinn-Brown Network as 2026 Fellows
The Arizona Center for Civic Leadership at the Flinn Foundation has selected 24 Arizonans as 2026 Flinn-Brown Fellows—the 18th cohort of a program that has, since 2011, connected civic-minded leaders across the state with the policy knowledge, peer networks, and tools to make a real difference in Arizona.
The new Fellows join a network of 518 Fellows working across every corner of Arizona. The 2026 Fellows come from eight counties, representing fields as varied as rural health care, municipal finance, affordable housing, agriculture, education, and law, while sharing a commitment to public service. [Read more]
Arizona Center for Civic Leadership celebrates 15 years
In 2026, the Flinn Foundation marks the 15th anniversary of the Arizona Center for Civic Leadership as an important moment for us to reflect on how the Center began and how its work has evolved over time.
Over time, the Center has grown beyond its original focus on preparing state-level leaders. Under the leadership of Flinn Foundation President and CEO Tammy McLeod, Ph.D., and Flinn Foundation Vice President, Civic Leadership Dawn Wallace, the Center has continued to evolve, embracing a more expansive understanding of civic leadership that begins with education, deepens through experience, and is sustained through connection, dialogue, and long-term engagement within Arizona’s civic life. [Read more]
Connection to place is foundational to Daryl Melvin’s work for Indigenous communities
Daryl Melvin carries something most civic leaders don’t: a relationship with this land that stretches back generations. Hopi and Navajo, he was raised in Nuvatukya’ovi—Flagstaff—on land that has sustained his family through farming, gathering, and hunting. That connection to place is not incidental to his work. It is the foundation of it.
After earning a degree in civil engineering from the University of Arizona, Daryl was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Public Health Service. He designed health care systems and worked in hospital and clinic leadership before founding a civil engineering firm that works with native-led nonprofits, tribal governments, and schools. [Read more]
2026 Flinn-Brown Convention brings together Fellows this summer
The annual Flinn-Brown Convention, which attracts Fellows dating back to the first Flinn-Brown cohort in 2011, is a place to make new connections and re-connect with Fellows while learning about state-level leadership and public service. Along with sessions led by Flinn-Brown Fellows and Arizona public-policy leaders, presenters have included national leaders in their fields.
In addition, five awards honoring high-impact leaders are granted to Fellows each year at the Convention: Jack Jewett Award, Network Builder Award, and three Arizona Champion (Northern, Central and Southern Arizona) awards. The 2026 Flinn-Brown Convention will be held in August in Phoenix. [Learn more]
4th-generation Arizonan’s constitutional law work an investment in the state’s future
As a partner at Perkins Coie, Alexis Danneman, J.D., has represented a presidential candidate, the Arizona Attorney General, and the Arizona Governor in voting rights and election law matters. Her clients depend on public policies that uphold the rule of law and the strength of government institutions.
A fourth-generation Arizonan, her roots in the state run deep. After graduating from Georgetown, she earned her law degree at the University of Arizona. That return wasn’t incidental. Arizona is in her bones. [Read more]
News and Updates
Civic Leadership
July 2026 Network News
As Arizona reflects on the nation’s 250th anniversary, this election year offers a timely reminder that democracy is not only something we commemorate—it is something we practice. Across the Flinn-Brown Network, 37 Fellows stepped forward to run for office, putting their names, ideas, and records before voters.
Civic Leadership
A year after devastating fires, Flinn program alums examine recovery of Grand Canyon’s North Rim
As another fire season rages across the West, two Flinn Scholar alums are examining the aftermath of the Dragon Bravo and White Sage fires that scorched the Grand Canyon’s remote North Rim a year ago. Together, the two fires burned nearly 205,500 acres of public lands during the summer of 2025. Among the casualties: the […]
Civic Leadership
Flinn-Brown Fellow Alexis Danneman
Alexis Danneman, J.D. (Phoenix, 2016) has built her career at the intersection of law and democracy, and she would be the first to tell you that the work is deeply personal.
A partner at Perkins Coie, Alexis is a litigator whose practice centers on public law. She represents clients in complex cases involving government agencies and questions arising under the federal and state constitutions. Over the last several election cycles, she has represented a presidential candidate, the Arizona Attorney General, and the Arizona Governor in voting rights and election law matters.
Civic Leadership
June 2026 Network News
I am writing this month’s Network News from Portugal, where I have been introduced to one of the more unexpected civic rituals I have encountered: being hit on the head with a plastic hammer.
For information about Civic Leadership, please contact:
civicleadership@flinn.org or (602) 744-6832
