TUCSON, AZ - On Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, the Metropolitan Pima Alliance (MPA) will hold its 12th Annual Common Ground Awards ceremony. The event honors community leaders, real estate projects and development oriented programs that overcame great obstacles through unlikely and atypical collaboration. Over the years, this ceremony has recognized over 225 exemplary projects that adhere to MPA's mission of bringing the public and private sector together to benefit the entire community.
This year, MPA's highest honor, the Award of Distinction, will recognize the Caterpillar expansion project that will bring an estimated 600 jobs to downtown Tucson. During a recent Sun Corridor luncheon, Tom Bluth, Caterpillar vice president, remarked that a significant factor in Caterpillar choosing Tucson as the site in which to consolidate their operations was the collaboration he witnessed amongst the local governments and community. Such positive outcomes are exactly the kind of efforts recognized at the unique Common Ground Awards ceremony.
MPA received nearly 50 nominations in 2016. Each finalist went through a multi-step process including participating in a panel interview where nominees were scored against weighted criteria including quality, size and complexity of the collaboration. The top 20 highest scoring nominations will be honored at the ceremony with the ultimate Top 10 projects receiving a Common Ground Award.
The Common Ground Award Finalists in alphabetical order are:
| Banner University Medical Center: Transforming a Campus |
| Building our Workforce through ESTEAM - Engineering, Science, Technology, Entrepreneurship, Arts and Math |
| Clearwater and Common Ground: Storage, Recovery, and Partnership in Southern AZ and Statewide |
| Colossal Cave Road, Acacia Elementary to Old Vail Middle School |
| La Estancia Master Planned Community |
| Mainstreet Transitional Care Facility |
| Making Action Possible (MAP) Dashboard |
| Marist on Cathedral Square |
| Park Tucson: Collaborating to Promote Economic Development in Tucson's Emerging Urban Center |
| Paseo de Las Iglesias: Santa Cruz River Bank Protection, Ecosystem Restoration, and Linear Parkway |
| Pima County's Multi-Species Conservation Plan, Endangered Species Act Section 10 Permit |
| Pima County South Rillito West Central Interceptor Rehabilitation Project |
| Sahuarita Farms Land/River Master Plan |
| Sale of the City of Tucson's "Civano Parcel" |
| Steps to Success |
| Tucson Roadrunners |
| Tucson-New York City Non-Stop Air Service |
| U of A Garden-to-Cafeteria |
| Unified Development Code Text Amendment: Urban Agriculture |
| World View Headquarters |
Celebrate finding common ground with the Metropolitan Pima Alliance on November 4th. For ticket and sponsorship information, click here or go to: www.mpaaz.org/events/common-ground.