From local chapter to global movement: scaling the teach-the-teacher model one community at a time

Why Community Matters for the Paradox

In our previous blog, we explored the beautiful paradox of human flourishing—how we can experience deep meaning and growth even while navigating pain, anxiety, and sadness. Understanding this intellectually is one thing. Living it sustainably? That almost always requires community.

The transformation from seeing emotions as problems to seeing them as information happens best in relationship with others who are on the same journey. This is where Heroic Arizona comes in—not just as a local community, but as a pioneering model for how the broader Heroic mission can scale globally.

The Heroic Vision: 51% by 2051

Heroic's audacious goal is to help 51% of humanity flourish by 2051. The strategy isn't top-down programs—it's the patient work of building local communities where people can embody these principles and naturally teach them to others. One person becoming a teacher at a time. One local community at a time.

Heroic Arizona serves as both a thriving regional network and a crucial testing ground for this global vision. As one of the first formalized regional entities, we're developing the blueprint that informal Heroic meetups worldwide can use to evolve into sustainable local communities.

Understanding Our Regional Model

From Local Paradox to Regional Strategy

Heroic Arizona represents something unique: a regional entity designed to support multiple local communities rather than being a single local community itself. We began with our own paradox—calling ourselves "Heroic Arizona" while hosting primarily in-person events in Tempe, in the East Valley of Greater Phoenix.

As we've evolved, we've discovered our real function is serving as backbone infrastructure for true local communities wherever they naturally form: in Tempe, Central Phoenix, Tucson, at Arizona State University, or any other location where groups gather around shared geography or interests.

Hybrid Model, Global Learning

Our weekly roundtables and monthly meetings operate in hybrid format—both in-person and virtual. People from Tucson regularly participate virtually in our Phoenix-area gatherings. Individuals from other states and countries join our sessions to experience what we're building and consider adapting these approaches to their own contexts. Our quarterly workshops provide deeper structured learning environments.

This hybrid model creates a learning laboratory where emerging communities worldwide can witness our experiments in real-time and adapt our lessons to their unique circumstances.

Expansion as Evolution: Growing the Regional Network

This October, we're expanding our regional support to include Tucson and Southern Arizona. This represents our evolution from a single local community to regional infrastructure that can support multiple local communities across Arizona.

The most powerful transformation happens in genuine local communities—groups small enough for real relationships, geographically close enough for consistent connection, and culturally coherent enough for deep trust. Our role becomes supporting these communities: providing facilitator training, sharing curricula, creating connections between communities, and maintaining the larger vision.

This expansion lets us test crucial questions: How do we support the birth of new local communities? How do we maintain connection between Tempe, Central Phoenix, Tucson, and future communities without losing the intimacy that makes local community powerful?

The Ripple Effect and Global Impact

Every person who learns to navigate life's paradoxes becomes a teacher for others. Heroic Arizona members are showing up differently in their workplaces, families, and broader communities, creating ripple effects that extend far beyond our formal programming.

The parent who learns to hold space for their teenager's anxiety without rushing to fix it. The manager who creates psychological safety for their team to discuss challenges without shame. These are the multiplier effects that make community-based transformation so powerful.

Meanwhile, virtual participants from around the world witness these transformations and consider how to build similar local communities in their own regions. Every challenge we navigate in supporting multiple local communities becomes part of the playbook for other regional entities worldwide.

The Infrastructure We're Building

What we're building in Arizona is infrastructure for supporting local community transformation at scale. We're developing systems for:

• Supporting the birth and growth of local communities within our region
• Training local facilitators who can hold space for life's paradoxes
• Creating programming that serves local needs while connecting to global vision
• Maintaining coherence while encouraging local adaptation
• Connecting local communities with each other and the global network

Our evolution from single-location community to regional support infrastructure becomes a crucial model for the global network, directly informing how other regional entities develop worldwide.

An Invitation to Pioneer

As we expand our support to Tucson and Southern Arizona, we're looking for pioneers who want to help build local communities within our growing regional network. This is an opportunity to be part of foundational work: building local community infrastructure that connects to regional support and global mission.

Whether you're in Greater Phoenix, Tucson, or anywhere else in Arizona (or joining virtually from around the world), there are ways to engage: attending our hybrid programming, helping launch new local communities, or learning from our model as you consider what might be possible in your own region.

Heroic Arizona's role extends far beyond state boundaries. As one of the first regional entities in the Heroic network, we're pioneering sustainable infrastructure for local community support. When we reach the goal of 51% of humanity flourishing by 2051, it will be because we learned to build local communities where people can embody life's paradoxes and teach others to do the same—supported by regional infrastructure that provides training, resources, and connection.

And it starts with what we're building together right here in Arizona—one local community at a time.

Ready to be part of pioneering community-based flourishing? Join us for our weekly roundtables or monthly meetings in Phoenix, help us launch our Tucson expansion this October, or connect virtually to learn from our model. Because changing the world happens one local community at a time, and every great movement needs its pioneers.

Visit [link to Tucson expansion info] to learn more about getting involved in Southern Arizona, or reach out to discover how you can help develop the model that's scaling globally.