SIERRA VISTA VETERANS MEMORIAL IMPROVEMENT

The Foundation was established in 2016 to help improve the Veterans Memorial at Veterans Memorial Park in Sierra Vista, Arizona. The Foundation aims to develop a diverse and rich depiction of the service and sacrifices of our U.S. Military Service members and even their service as veterans.
In 2015, the need for this project was presented by the Knights of Columbus, who sponsored a dinner for which the future president of the Foundation made a presentation. The dinner guests were invited from our community's many veteran service organizations (VSOs). Out of this meeting, a foundation was eventually formed and incorporated. They set about developing a basic strategy and plan for the memorial improvements. They briefed many VSOs and the City Council of Sierra Vista on the plan, which received their support and approval. The Foundation then contracted a professional landscape architecting firm, known as Wheat Design Group, to develop a construction-ready plan that could be used to generate estimates from local construction companies. These estimates provided estimated costs, which are now used to solicit funding support from grant-making organizations. The process of achieving non-profit status and developing the plans, estimates, and fundraising strategies took several years, and then the COVID-19 pandemic occurred. The pandemic impacted our ability to meet the public and generate involvement in the project from 2020 through 2022. Since then, the Foundation has recovered its momentum through fundraising, but progress remains slow-paced in this small rural community.
The project's benefit is ensuring that Sierra Vista and Cochise County communities have a place to honor the memory of veterans who have selflessly served to defend our nation. With 20% of our area’s population comprised of veterans, our current memorial underplays the significance of veterans' impact on our lives, our community, and its history. It should show the citizenry in much more detail about what veterans did and what they sacrificed in their service. We need a more fitting veteran memorial to recognize the hundreds of thousands who were residents or passed through this area as part of their military service.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool classifies Cochise County as a "Disadvantaged Community" since it meets more than one burden threshold and the associated socioeconomic threshold. The County exceeds the burden threshold in the following areas: expected economic loss to agricultural value, projected risk to properties from wildfire, low income, average annual energy cost, heart disease, presence of formerly used Defense site(s), average of relative cost and time spent on transportation, and the percent of people ages 25 and older whose high school education is less than a high school diploma. Organizations seeking to improve social conditions would do well to consider this project.