What It Really Means to Build Power in Rural Arizona – Through the Work of Sherri Jones

Sherri Jones

From securing the funding that powers community programs to casting votes that shape local schools, Sherri Jones’ influence stretches across rural Arizona. It’s a balance of strategy and service that makes her leadership both far-reaching and deeply personal. 

As Development Director for Rural Arizona Engagement (RAZE) and Rural Arizona Action, she plays a central role in mobilizing the resources and strategic support that make community programs possible throughout rural Arizona. With more than 15 years in the nonprofit sector and service on statewide boards, Jones connects big-picture vision to the practical realities it takes to make it real, while also serving families directly as an elected member of the Florence Unified School District Governing Board.

Her dedication to rural communities is deeply ingrained in her career and her own story. While working with the Association for Supportive Child Care, she spent nearly 15 years assigned exclusively to rural counties like Mohave, Yavapai, and Yuma. Those years taught her the nuance of navigating spaces where she often stood out as a Black woman in predominantly white communities, and later, she found a sense of belonging in Yuma’s multicultural environment.

“The rhythm and connectedness of rural spaces just aligned with how I was raised,” she shares. “[My work has] always been anchored in supporting kids, and that has remained true no matter where in rural Arizona I am.”

That commitment to community and youth is what made RAZE’s mission feel like a natural fit. Long before joining the staff in 2022, Jones had crossed paths with RAZE co-founders Natali Fierros Bock and Pablo Correa through local organizing. Their connection was immediate and memorable. One of their first conversations ended with the three of them locked inside a restaurant parking lot after hours, waiting for police to track down someone with the keys to let them out.

“We’ve been ‘locked in’ ever since,” she laughs.

For Jones, joining RAZE wasn’t just taking a job. It was choosing to work alongside people she trusted completely.

“Natali and Pablo saw value in me in a way I had never experienced,” she says. “They’ve always stood in their truth and shown up for marginalized communities in rural spaces, and because they showed up for me, my natural response was to show up for them.”

Before RAZE, she took on a pivotal chapter in state government, where she oversaw federal reporting for $1.3 billion in COVID-19 relief funding for child care. That work, and the leadership of mentors she still credits today, gave her the tools and confidence to take on complex systems. It also reinforced her belief that effective leadership is about keeping both accountability and humanity in balance.

In 2020, Jones made history as the first Black person ever elected to the Florence Unified School District Governing Board. She took the seat in the midst of a pandemic, in a county known for its deep-red politics, and quickly learned how to navigate ideological divides without compromising her values.

“I might not always stand up for myself, but I will fight for others,” she says. “It’s about finding common ground without tolerating harm, and building trust over time.”

That resilience stems from her family’s history and her own philosophy. Remembering her grandfather’s stories of traveling under Jim Crow laws, she reminds herself, “I don’t have to go through what they went through. That’s why I push through when it gets tough.”

For Jones, the barriers facing people of color and progressive candidates in rural communities include a lack of generational political networks, fear of backlash, economic strain, and the isolation that comes without strong mentorship. She points out that many leadership and candidate trainings aren’t built with rural realities in mind. While these programs can offer helpful overviews, they often skip over the issues that make or break campaigns outside metro areas, such as limited resources, long travel distances, and entrenched power networks that shape local politics. 

“If your training can’t help me figure out how to navigate the good old boys club, it’s not useful to me,” she explains. “That’s the reality in rural spaces, and if you ignore it, you’re setting people up to fail.”

Still, she believes change is possible if leaders are supported for the long haul. “We can’t burn out our leaders after one term,” she says. “We need them to stay the course.”

From small-town New Jersey to rural Arizona, Sherri Jones proves that leadership rooted in courage, connection, and accountability creates lasting change. Join us in supporting the communities she champions every day at raze.org.