Welcome
Thank you for visiting the Foundation for Arizona Students website. We are an Arizona Non-Profit organization comprised of Arizona students who fight for education in Arizona. We know that Arizona can do better for its students, and we need your help. You can follow us on our email list and social networks. You can also become a supporter of Education in Arizona by becoming a founding member.
About Us
The Foundation for Arizona Students (FAS) was created exclusively for charitable and educational purposes. Specifically, the Foundation for Arizona students was created to empower those who aspire to higher education by providing resources for leadership development and civic engagement. The Foundation for Arizona Students would do this through offering conferences, trainings, and other opportunities that enhance participants’ leadership skills and passion for civic engagement.
These conferences, trainings, and opportunities will be available to high school, community college, and university students as well as interested members of the community. Additionally, the Foundation will also hold non-partisan voter registration events on high schools, community colleges, and the university campuses. Finally, the Foundation for Arizona Students will also provide scholarships to students for help with tuition, fees, and textbooks, and other costs that are part of the total cost of attendance for attending a public university or community college in Arizona.
Our Mission
Non-Partisan Voter Registration
The Foundation for Arizona Students will also conduct activities that encourage students at the high schools, community colleges, or universities to register to vote and become civically engaged. This work will include encouraging peer to peer voter contact and facilitating trainings on how to register to vote, voter identification requirements, and where and how to vote for all elections. Furthermore, the Foundation will distribute non-partisan voter education materials, and participate in Get Out The Vote activities. An outline of all of the training would include an overview of election and voter registration requirements for Arizona, a review of the voter registration form, a review of identification requirements, and a review of the dates for the election. All trainings and facilitation of voter registration and civic engagement will be open to the community.
Scholarships
The Foundation for Arizona Students will provide scholarships to students attending Arizona’s public universities or community colleges. The scholarships will be open to anyone who has been accepted to one of Arizona’s public universities or community colleges and the amount and frequency will be determined by the Foundation’s Board of Directors based on need and availability of resources. The scholarships are to be used for the total cost of attendance or a higher education, or for a conference or training that focuses on leadership development or civic engagement. Family members of Board Members or staff will not be eligible.
Trainings
The Foundation for Arizona Students will work to provide free, or as nearly free as possible, trainings and materials for university community college, and high school student leaders. By way of example topics may include, grassroots organizing, lobbying, working with the media, voter registration, and civic engagement. The list of trainings and how to request trainings will be available on the Foundations website and will be open to any individual organization. In addition to offering trainings, the Foundation for Arizona Students will provide other training opportunities including sponsoring individuals to attend other leadership events that align with the organization’s mission.
Conferences
The Foundation for Arizona Students will host the Conference of Arizona Student Leaders (CASL) that is held in Flagstaff at Northern Arizona University. This conference brings together university and community college student leaders from across Arizona. The conference has two componenets. The first is a leadership training conference and the second is a statewide leadership summit. The Foundation for Arizona Students would like to expand this conference and make this experience available to high school students and anyone looking to obtain a higher education. Training tracks at the conference typically include Organizing, Student Government Leadership, Civic Engagement, Media and Messaging, Personal Development, and Social Justice. Each track is designed to further develop an individual’s skills, give them opportunities to connect with like-minded individuals and organizations and encourage them to be a more productive member of their community.
In addition to all of these trainings, CASL also provides an opportunity for people to create their own conversations regarding topics that they care about, called Open Space. The Foundation is set up to be open to anyone that is interested in becoming a stronger leader. All workshops, conversations, briefings, and talks are open to anyone.