Ryan Caracciolo for District 4:
1. Affordable Local Education
2. Train Arizona's Healthcare Professionals
3. Build the Workforce That Builds Arizona
4. Bring Back JUCO Football
Arizona Native with Business Leadership Rooted in District 4
Introduction
Hi, I'm Ryan Caracciolo. I was born and raised in Glendale, Arizona, and I've spent my life rooted in the West Valley. I'm a business leader, entrepreneur and community advocate running for the District 4 seat on the Maricopa County Community College District Governing Board, and I've built my career around innovation, leadership and helping organizations grow.
Why I'm running
I'm passionate about strengthening Arizona's education system and making sure students have access to career-focused learning that prepares them for real-world success. Community colleges play a critical role in workforce development, university transfer pathways, and technical and skills-based education that directly supports local employers, students and Arizona families.
Maricopa Community Colleges manage a $1.7 billion annual budget. As a candidate for District 4, I'm focused on responsible leadership, student success, stronger partnerships between education and industry, and making sure MCCCD remains accountable to taxpayers and the communities it serves.
My goal is to help create more pathways for students to gain the skills, training, credentials and opportunities they need to build successful careers, while helping Arizona develop the workforce it needs to support its continued growth.
My priorities
Affordable local education. Every dollar of the $1.7 billion budget should be spent carefully, so tuition stays low and quality programs, from career training to university transfer pathways, stay close to home for families in the West Valley.
Train Arizona's healthcare professionals. With healthcare staffing projecting shortages in the coming years, I want to expand nursing degrees, respiratory therapy, medical assistant certifications and other allied health programs so our hospitals and healthcare organizations can hire people trained right here.
Build the workforce that builds Arizona. TSMC in north Phoenix and Amkor's $7 billion campus in Peoria are bringing tons of new construction and trades jobs. Our colleges should expand two-year degrees, industry certifications and apprenticeships in construction, the trades and advanced manufacturing, built alongside the employers who are hiring.
Bring back JUCO football. When Maricopa ended football at Glendale, Mesa, Phoenix and Scottsdale Community Colleges after the 2018 season, hundreds of young people lost a path to college. For many players, junior college football is a second chance: a way to earn credits, grow academically and compete for a scholarship at a four-year university. Cutting the program was an injustice and must be brought back.
Background
I attended Arizona State University's West Campus, where I continued developing my passion for leadership, business and community involvement.
For more than 14 years, I've owned and operated Striventa, a business growth agency that helps organizations strengthen their presence, reach more people, compete in changing markets and create sustainable growth.
Through my work with Striventa, I've partnered with businesses, organizations and community leaders throughout Arizona and beyond. That experience has given me a firsthand understanding of what employers need from today's workforce and why connecting education with real career opportunities matters so much.
I'm a past president of the Glendale Rotary Club and have been an active member for more than a decade.
In the news
- Arizona Republic: Maricopa Community Colleges board candidates seek return of football
- FOX 10 XTRA - FOX 10 Xtra: The Importance of JUCO Football, Healthcare and Trades
- Joe Hoft: How We Destroyed Community College Education for Generations of Students, and Why We Need a Reset
Learn more about Ryan
Vote
Ryan Caracciolo appears on the ballot for every voter in Maricopa County Community College District 4. Check your registration and voting options at elections.maricopa.gov.
Our Mission
1. Affordable Local Education
COLLEGE SHOULD BE AFFORDABLE AND CLOSE TO HOME.
Maricopa Community Colleges were built to give students an affordable path to a better future right in their own communities. Our goal is to protect our community colleges and preserve that promise for the next generation of students and families. Protecting that promise starts with fiscal responsibility.
With a $1.7 billion annual budget, every dollar must be managed carefully so tuition stays low, essential programs remain strong, and students can access a quality education close to where they live and work.
Our team brings the diverse expertise needed to make that happen: John Crow, a CEO who understands budgets, efficiency, and accountability; Ryan Caracciolo, a marketing expert who knows how to compete for and attract students and grow enrollment; and Susan Winder, a 35-year educator and administrator who understands what belongs in the classroom and what students need to succeed.
Together, we can control costs, grow enrollment, strengthen the quality and marketability of education, and protect the community college system that so many Arizona families depend on. Fiscal responsibility isn’t just about balancing a budget — it’s about keeping college within reach and ensuring our community colleges remain strong for generations to come.
2. Train Arizona's Healthcare Professionals
ARIZONA NEEDS HEALTHCARE WORKERS — LET'S TRAIN THEM HERE.
Arizona is facing an enormous and growing demand for healthcare professionals. Our state is projected to have nearly 4,800 openings for registered nurses every year, more than 3,600 annual openings for medical assistants, and nearly 15,000 annual openings for home health and personal care aides. Respiratory therapy jobs are projected to grow 28%, while Arizona is also experiencing critical shortages in behavioral health and primary care.
Maricopa Community Colleges should aggressively expand training for the healthcare careers Arizona needs most — and provide a pathway for students at every level.
That means more four-year degree opportunities in fields such as nursing; two-year degrees for registered nurses, respiratory therapists, radiologic and imaging technologists, physical therapist assistants, and other high-demand allied-health careers; and short-term certificates and specialized training for medical assistants, nursing assistants, phlebotomists, surgical technologists, pharmacy technicians, and other frontline healthcare positions.
We should work directly with Arizona's hospitals, healthcare systems, and employers to identify the positions they cannot fill and rapidly expand the programs that prepare students for those jobs.
If Arizona needs the workers, Maricopa Community Colleges should be training them.
3. Build the Workforce That Builds Arizona
THE JOBS ARE ALREADY COMING — LET'S MAKE SURE ARIZONANS ARE TRAINED TO FILL THEM.
Maricopa County is experiencing an extraordinary construction and advanced-manufacturing boom. TSMC is undertaking one of the largest private investments in American history in North Phoenix. Amkor is building a $7 billion semiconductor facility in Peoria. VAI Resort is constructing what will become Arizona's largest resort in Glendale. Across the Valley, new semiconductor facilities, data centers, hospitals, roads, housing and advanced-manufacturing projects are creating tremendous demand for skilled workers.
The State of Arizona estimates that more than 20,000 new construction and trades jobs need to be filled by 2030. These projects require electricians, HVAC technicians, plumbers, welders, heavy-equipment operators, construction technicians, industrial maintenance specialists, machinists and increasingly sophisticated semiconductor and advanced-manufacturing technicians.
Maricopa Community Colleges should be the premier training ground for this workforce. We need to expand two-year degrees, industry certifications, apprenticeships and accelerated specialized training developed in direct partnership with the companies and contractors doing the hiring.
Not every successful career requires four years at a university. Many of these careers provide outstanding wages and opportunities for advancement with two years — or even months — of specialized education and hands-on training.
Billions of dollars are being invested right here in Maricopa County. We need to make sure the jobs and opportunities that come with that investment are going to people who live here.
4. Bring Back JUCO Football
FOR MOST JUCO MEN, FOOTBALL ISN'T JUST A SPORT — IT'S THEIR PATH TO COLLEGE, A TRADE, A CAREER AND EVEN A FAMILY.
When Maricopa Community Colleges eliminated football after the 2018 season, we didn't just lose four football teams. We eliminated an opportunity that was bringing hundreds of young men onto our college campuses — including many who may never have pursued higher education without football.
And the decline since then should concern us. Since football ended after the 2018 season, fall enrollment of Black men at the seven Arizona community colleges that dropped the sport has fallen 29%, from 2,326 in fall 2018 to 1,651 in fall 2024. At Maricopa's four former football colleges, it fell 27%, from 1,591 to 1,169. Many factors played a role, including COVID, and these numbers don't prove football's loss caused the decline. But it's a question the district owes these students an answer to.
Football also teaches things that cannot always be learned in a classroom. National research shows that more than 90% of college athletes say athletics strengthened their work ethic, responsibility and teamwork, while more than 80% credit athletics with developing leadership, goal-setting, time management, adaptability and the ability to perform under pressure.
Those lessons matter. Discipline. Teamwork. Perseverance. Tenacity. Accountability. A good football program surrounds young men with coaches, teammates, academic expectations and a structure that demands they show up — for practice, for class and for each other. It can create a sense of belonging and give a young man who never pictured himself as a college student a reason to become one.
And football doesn't just build players. It builds community. For generations, Friday night and Saturday football has brought students, parents, alumni and neighbors together around their local schools. Glendale, Mesa, Phoenix and Scottsdale Community Colleges once had football traditions that communities could rally around. Glendale's program alone dated to 1967 and won three national championships before being eliminated.
We believe it is time to protect and restore community college football — responsibly, sustainably and with strong academic accountability.
Bring back JUCO football. Bring young men back to our campuses. Give them a team, a purpose and a pathway to a better future.