Mesa announced its Together in Service initiative to inspire collaboration, innovation and creativity between the City and the local faith-based community to better meet residents' needs. Launched at Mayor John Giles' annual Faith Leader Breakfast, the effort aims to understand the social services landscape in Mesa and encourage collaboration to maximize community resources.
"One of Mesa's greatest strengths is its faith community," said Mayor John Giles. "Together in Service builds upon a strong foundational relationship between the City of Mesa and our faith-based organizations. Compassion and service go hand in hand, and working together helps us to best serve the needs of our community."
Mesa is conducting a brief bilingual online survey to capture details about the faith-based community to gain a greater understanding of the social services these organizations provide and gauge their interest in collaborating with each other and the City. The effort will create a centralized group of faith-based organizations to share community needs and develop collaborative responses to issues affecting residents. It will also diversify the number of agencies and organizations responding to Mesa's needs.
"Mesa is fortunate to have robust and giving faith communities that significantly contribute to the care of our city," said Andrea Alicoate, Mesa's Director of Diversity and Engagement. "Together In Service will be a meaningful way to collaborate further and gain insight from our faith leaders."
The faith-based community in Mesa is comprised of places of worship with a mission grounded in faith beliefs or practices and faith-based charitable organizations and nonprofits. The first Together in Service meeting will be on November 1, at 2 p.m. in the Studios at Mesa City Center, 59 E. First St.