Highlights

Four of Arizona's most capital-connected institutions are pooling resources to stage a national convening on extreme heat — and to announce pooled funding commitments on the final day. The Arizona Community Foundation, the City of Phoenix, Arizona State University, and Desert Botanical Garden announced the 122° Conference, a two-day event scheduled for December 2–3, 2026, in downtown Phoenix.

The conference takes its name from Phoenix's all-time record temperature of 122°F, set on June 26, 1990. The convening is designed to connect research, lived experience, and policy insight with a solutions-oriented framework that will culminate in a public announcement of pooled funding commitments from national and local funders.

ACF is leading the effort. The foundation manages more than $1.5 billion in assets and distributes more than $137 million annually in grants, scholarships, and loans, according to its website. Anna María Chávez, ACF's president and CEO, described Arizona as ground zero for extreme heat in the announcement, saying the conference is designed to bring together people, projects, and partnerships already advancing solutions and create conditions for those solutions to scale.

ASU is co-presenting the conference through its Ten Across (10X) initiative, which supports communities along the Interstate 10 corridor — one of the regions the announcement describes as most exposed to extreme heat in the United States. The City of Phoenix contributes through its Office of Heat Response and Mitigation. Mayor Kate Gallego is quoted in the announcement saying Phoenix is proud to host the conference and to deliver globally relevant, local solutions.

Desert Botanical Garden joins as a field and programming partner, bringing expertise in desert plant science, urban heat mitigation, and community-facing sustainability solutions. Chris Kline, the Garden's president and CEO, said the desert can help show the world how communities can thrive in a hotter, drier future.

Who is funding the conference?

The announcement does not disclose a specific budget or list individual funders. The conference is structured to culminate in a public announcement of pooled funding commitments from national and local funders, with those commitments intended to support a statewide response to extreme heat and generate shared learning for other regions.

Registration details and a full speaker list have not yet been released. The conference is scheduled to open December 2, 2026, in downtown Phoenix.

Sources

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  1. dbg.org retrieved 2026-05-06T22:35:14.659851+00:00
  2. azfoundation.org retrieved 2026-05-06T22:35:14.659851+00:00

Authored by lily_ortega. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 2026-05-06T22:35:14.659851+00:00. Every claim traces to a source.