Our Community
Ajo, Arizona is a small, rural town with a population of 3,705 people, located 10 miles west of the Tohono O’odham Nation and 40 miles north of the State of Sonora, Mexico—we are only 90 miles from the Mexican seacoast. We are the gateway to the extraordinary, pristine Sonoran Desert and surrounded by public lands including the Organ Pipe Cactus national Monument, and the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife refuge. Ajo’s historic town center is Arizona’s only extant example of the City Beautiful movement, featuring a spacious Spanish-revival style plaza.
Our People:
Ajo is an older, tri-cultural community. Our community members include 39% Hispanics and 10% Native Americans. The median age is 52.
Our Strengths:
We have many strengths and assets including our historic and present cultural diversity. We have a beautiful historic town plaza, which serves as a center for our friendly, safe and quiet community.
Our Challenges:
Once a thriving copper mining town, Ajo was economically devastated when the mine closed in 1985. Today 23% of our residents live under the poverty level. For the community as a whole, some of our challenges are:
- People are in need of jobs and income
- Many of the youth in our community feel alienated
- Too many youth drop out of school
- There is tension associated with law enforcement being one of the town’s primary industries, with 300 border patrol agents stationed here, and
- Old ethnic and racial divisions (from when the town was segregated) lie just beneath the surface
Ajo Communities for All Ages:
In 2005, with the support of the Arizona Community Foundation, Ajo began the creation of our Communities for All Ages coalition, bringing together an intergenerational group of community residents, artists, local institutions and policymakers to address the challenges we face. The Ajo Communities for All Ages team has been highly successful in bringing people together across generations and cultures, while creating educational, economic, and cultural opportunities for residents of all ages.
