A Message from the Executive Director—Looking Forward in 2025

2024 was a highly productive year for the Ten Across initiative but also included many climate-driven events of serious consequence. As I write this, the wildfires in Los Angeles are still not contained, suggesting that 2025 will be filled with many challenges, complications and the need for thoughtful and inclusive innovations.
 
On a positive note, the Ten Across initiative is continuing to advance our collective work. On the education front, students in universities and high schools in locations across the country are now benefiting from the 10X flagship course, Resilient American Futures, with more offerings in the works. Students from across the Ten Across region participated in the inaugural 10X Prize which sought out innovative responses to clean cooling solutions and offered $200K to advance these ideas.
 
Our communications team delivered rich content via the 10X Newsletter, the Ten Across in Conversation podcast, the regular 10X essays on American Public Media’s Research Lab website, and through our public events.
 
Finally, we are addressing local and national concerns in the largest metro regions along the U.S. I-10 via the highly productive 10X Resilience Network and its federal partners. 
 
Moving forward, activity within the Ten Across geography in 2025 will no doubt reinforce the logic of this region as the leading indicator for the future of the country. Climate change is continuing to alter our cities, communities, and ways of life. We just experienced the hottest year in recorded history, multiple hurricanes followed by severe flooding and an ongoing drought in the Southwest. These events laid bare the fragility of formerly reliable insurance safety nets and our exposure to future risk, a topic we intend to pursue with vigor over the coming months.

More importantly, these events revealed stories of determination, resourcefulness, adaptability, and genuine caring for others, including strangers brought together by necessity. While there are many problems to be solved, the population of the region continues to expand, businesses are making substantial investments, and institutions like ours will continue to empower the next generation to take on the work ahead with confidence. We are inspired by the insights that many of you have shared with us in 2024 and we look forward to even greater positive impact in 2025. We thank you for your encouragement and support.

Accordingly, we have chosen to focus this Ten Across update on the progress being made to advance our collective work—progress that would not be possible without the support and dedication of our committed sponsors, network members, and broader Ten Across community.

To each and every one of you, we thank you and look forward to working together this year!

Sincerely,

Wellington “Duke” Reiter, Executive Director and Founder
Ten Across Initiative

2024 Ten Across Conversations Setting the Stage for the Year Ahead

This past year marked our most productive podcast season to date. We featured over 56 subject experts sharing their insights and innovative perspectives on a variety of emerging topics affecting the Ten Across region. Tune in to our year-end episode to hear some of the most notable 2024 insights from distinguished guests George Packer, Abrahm Lustgarten, Clarence Anthony, Jim Fallows, and Anne-Marie Slaughter.

Photo: (R)Ten Across Senior Director Rae Ulrich visits American Public Media partners (L) Craig Helmstetter, Managing Partner of the APM Research Lab and (C) Duchesne Drew, Senior Vice President of American Public Media in their St. Paul, Minnesota offices.

Ten Across American Public Media Research Lab Partnership Enters Fifth Year

Our fourth Ten Across American Public Media (APM) Research Lab data journalism fellow, Maya Chari continues her work in 2025. Articles produced through our partnership focus on data informed insights rooted in the Ten Across region—from adult literacy to electric vehicles to affordable housing issues. These pieces continue to be among the most read on the APM Research Lab website providing insights to broader national audiences.

Ten Across and Marketplace Collaboration

Ten Across is partnering with American Public Media’s Marketplace to create a year-long series examining how Ten Across cities are addressing the socio-economic impacts of climate change. We are actively fundraising to support the project, with a potential launch planned for late fall 2025/spring 2026.

Interested in learning more? Reach out to Rae Ulrich.

The Ten Across Resilience Network meets virtually every month and in-person annually to discuss, problem solve and share important resilience, mitigation and sustainability solutions for the region. 

Ten Across Resilience Network to Participate in FEMA Extreme Heat Exercise Spring 2025

The Ten Across Resilience Network has been chosen to take part in a first-of-its-kind regional extreme heat exercise in collaboration with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other key organizations. Recognizing the region’s record-breaking heat challenges, chief resilience, sustainability, and heat officers, along with emergency response staff from several Ten Across cities, counties, and states, have enthusiastically signed on to participate. The exercise will focus on identifying critical metrics and reporting gaps, refining mitigation and response strategies, and identifying future stressors. The results will further inform preparation and responses to extreme heat emergencies at a regional and national scale.

Ten Across Resilience Network Joins 70+ Organizations in Supporting Federal Policy Agenda for Tackling Extreme Heat

The Ten Across Resilience Network joined the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) and more than 70 labor, industry, health, housing, environmental, academic, and community associations and organizations in unveiling the 2025 Heat Policy Agenda. This strategy provides specific, actionable policy ideas to tackle the growing threat of extreme heat in the United States. Rollout of the Heat Policy Agenda comes as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirms 2024 as the hottest year on record, continuing a sustained trend. Help us spread the word by sharing the Agenda with your networks!

Ten Across Executive Director Duke Reiter presents Ten Across to over 700 international business leaders attending the 2024 Esri User Conference, Leadership Summit in San Diego, California.

Ten Across Featured at Esri Annual International User Conference

Each year, over 20,000 professionals gather in San Diego, California, to exchange knowledge on the latest geospatial innovations at the annual Esri User Conference. In 2024, Ten Across Executive Director and Founder Duke Reiter was invited to present Ten Across at the Esri Senior Executive and Business Leadership Summits’ plenary sessions. These events drew international interest in the initiative and introduced potential for several impactful partnerships to form in the year ahead. 

Listen in to his presentation at the Senior Executive Leadership Summit.

Ten Across Launches Private Sector Network + Thought Leadership Publication

Executives from a diverse collection of industry leaders gathered in a closed session to discuss the most critical future challenges of the Ten Across region. These dynamic conversations culminated in a commitment to develop a collection of the Network’s most impactful insights for publication. The collection, set for release later this year, will focus on key resilience challenges and opportunities from the perspectives of a range of business sectors. The work will be featured at the Ten Across Jacksonville Summit, October 21-23, 2025 and via other digital channels. 

A special thank you to our Private Sector sponsors Stantec, Gensler, Epcor, Land Advisors and Blue Cottage of Cannon Design for their generous support of Ten Across.

Resilient American Futures Course Expands to High School Students Across the Globe

Student feedback from the flagship Ten Across survey course—Resilient American Futures—has been extremely positive, with many calling it the best class they have ever taken. As a result of this outstanding response within ASU’s College of Global Futures and Universal Learner platform, this course will also be available international to Khan Academy high school students in the 2025 spring semester.

New Ten Across Honors Course and Network Launching in 2025

In addition to launching our first honors program Resilient American Futures course at Arizona State University this spring, we are also in implementation discussions with several colleges and universities to establish a regional honors college network. Through this network, students at institutions across the Ten Across region will have the opportunity to enroll in the course through their respective schools, offering them an exciting introduction to career paths and disciplines focused on climate and resilience challenges.

New Resilient American Futures Geospatial Course Launching Fall of 2025

In collaboration with ASU’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Ten Across will be launching a new GIS for Resilient American Futures course focusing on geographic information systems (GIS). This course will use the issue and place format of the current Resilient American Futures online course, this time with a focus on GIS to better understand and address climate, social inequity, and other challenges impacting the Ten Across region. Throughout the course, students will hear from professionals working in various GIS careers, offering real-world insight into how the technology assists with critical decision making and resilience planning.

Northern Arizona University’s Project SmartFan team celebrates receiving the $100K 10X Grand Prize.

Inaugural 10X PRIZE Awarded and Project Implementation

In 2024, more than 700 colleges and universities throughout the Ten Across region were invited to submit innovative clean cooling solutions to compete for the $100,000 10X PRIZE. On March 19, 2024 five finalist student teams took part in a fast-paced virtual pitch competition for the grand prize. The 10X Grand Prize was awarded to the team from Northern Arizona University, who presented Project SmartFan. An additional $50,000 was awarded to their community partner Habitat for Humanity of Northern Arizona to support implementation of the solution in Flagstaff, Arizona starter homes for low-income families beginning this summer, with a longer term goal to offer this low-coast solution for low-income starter homes across the U.S. and globally. More to come on the project implementation later this fall! Learn about the additional finalist teams.

A special thank you to ClimateWorks Foundation’s Clean Cooling Collaborative for generously funding this competition to help the region benefit heat-challenged communities everywhere.

Ten Across Network members are hard at work in their cities, counties and states working to address critical resilience issues impacting their communities. Below is just a small collection of network-wide accomplishments. Join us in celebrating their work!

  • City of Phoenix City Council Unanimously Approves $60 Million Shade Plan To Combat Climate Change [Learn more]
  • City of Tucson Receives Nearly $20M Community Change Grant [Learn more]
  • EPA announces City of New Orleans receives $49.9 million from the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program (CPRG) to implement community-driven solutions that tackle the climate crisis. [Learn more]
  • City of Jacksonville and The Water Institute Receives National Planning Award for Resilient Jacksonville Strategy [Learn more]
  • United Houma Nation in Partnership with the Community Resilience Center at The Water Institute, Greater New Orleans Foundation, and Others Receives $56.5M Climate Resilience Grant from U.S. Department of Commerce and NOAA [Learn more]
  • City of El Paso Among Top 50 Green Fleets in North America [Learn more]
  • City of San Antonio initiates Texas’s biggest municipal solar project via $30M federal grant [Learn more]
  • City of San Antonio Sustainability Grants Advance Community Resilience [Learn more]
  • City of Tucson Gets $11.5M Federal Grant to Help Improve Long-Term Affordable Housing Conditions and Assist Those living in Mobile Homes Across the City and County [Learn more]
  • City of Tallahassee receives $28 million grant to boost power grid; new system will expand their use of solar energy, saving on fuel costs and improving reliability [Learn more]
  • California’s Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation Awards $9.4M for Local Governments and Community-based Organizations to Combat Extreme Heat and Build Community Resilience [Learn more]
  • California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) approved $93.6 million to help build climate resiliency centers in neighborhoods most impacted by extreme heat and other climate related issues [Learn more]

Let us share your resilience and sustainability accomplishments! Email us and we’ll do our best to share on our social media channels and upcoming newsletters.

We are excited to be hosting our fifth Ten Across Summit in the beautiful coastal city of Jacksonville, Florida. Ideally situated to examine the critical topics of water, energy, infrastructure, equity, and governance, Jacksonville provides a compelling backdrop for addressing some of the critical issues confronting the country today. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for program details coming soon!

In addition to the Ten Across Summit, we’ll also be at several key events in 2025. We hope to see you there! 

  • 10X at Rethinking Water West Summit – ASU Global Water Institute – Phoenix, AZ – March 20, 2025
  • 10X at American Planning Association Annual Conference – Denver, CO – March 29-April 1, 2025
  • 10X at Climate 365 – Miami, FL – March 23-29, 2025
  • 10X Sunbelt Cities Extreme Heat FEMA Table Top Exercise – April 2025
  • 10X at Esri Geo Summit – Redlands, CA – April 29 – May1, 2025
  • 10X at Society of Environmental Journalism Annual Conference – ASU Tempe, AZ – April 23-26, 2025
  • 10X at Southeast Sustainability Directors Network – May 6-9, 2025
  • 10X at Esri User Conference – San Diego, CA – July 14-18, 2025
  • 10X at Climate Week – NYC – September 21-28, 2025
  • 10X at Aspen Climate – Spring 2026

PARTNER WITH US! 

Interested in working with us? 
Reach out to Rae Ulrich to schedule a call.