Tucson, AZ—For Barbra Coffee, director of economic initiatives for the City of Tucson, the city’s trajectory is inseparable from its relationship with the University of Arizona. “Talking to companies, the university isn’t an aside—it’s often our starting point,” she says.

Coffee describes the city’s approach to economic development as relationship marketing: connecting firms to what they need to grow and thrive in Tucson. In a competitive landscape that spans California and other metro areas in the Southwest, she says access to an R1 university means access to what companies seek in choosing a location: talent and expertise. She also points to Tech Launch Arizona (TLA) and its capabilities in helping companies get innovation to the marketplace.

The U of A’s presence adds to Tucson’s other strengths when it comes to attracting companies: available land, easy access to suppliers and customers nationwide and in Mexico, and a lower cost of doing business. She admits the cost of living is going up, “but we’re still about 30% more affordable than some neighbors to the west.”

"I put on my Wildcats pin, and it’s like a backstage pass.” — Barbra Coffee

Coffee and her team enjoy leveraging the university’s reputation externally. “At SPIE Photonics West, the U of A is a household name. I put on my Wildcats pin, and it’s like a backstage pass.”

Looking forward, Coffee says she’d like to dovetail with the university’s new strategic research priorities. “If the U of A is focusing on something like AI and healthcare, how can we amplify it and support an economic cluster?” she says. “It makes sense to take university priorities into account, since it is educating the workforce.” She points out that talent continually flows through Tucson and says all stakeholders need to do their part to recruit and retain it.

“The university should be acutely aware of how poverty affects our entire community—and help us address it. We all need to do more to create opportunities so young people can support themselves and their families here.” — Barbra Coffee

Coffee adds that the city and university should collaborate more to address quality-of-life challenges, noting that Tucson’s poverty rate is among the highest compared with peer cities across the West. “The university should be acutely aware of how poverty affects our entire community—and help us address it. We all need to do more to create opportunities so young people can support themselves and their families here.”

She urges the university to join the city in framing a shared narrative: “We love to cross-promote and jointly tell the story of Tucson.” When it comes to connecting people to opportunities, she believes the more effort, the better. “Connected people stick around,” she says.