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VIP & St. Francis Xavier leaders leveraged more than $5 million to improve neighborhood safety in Maryvale following a year-long organizing effort. Last spring, leaders in St. Francis Xavier began a house meeting campaign to develop a team of leaders to learn about issues affecting families in the Maryvale area. Quickly, concerns about public safety and traffic concerns rose to the top. Leaders shared stories about dangerous and dark neighborhoods, gang activity, and unsafe streets. They moved to meet with Phoenix city councilmembers from districts 4 & 5 to get councilmember commitments to address these issues. |
Intersection of 27th Ave. and Indian School Road, Photo Credit: Christina Estes, KJZZ |
The first victory was in the summer of 2021. VIP and St. Francis Xavier won more than 30 new streetlamps in areas the VIP leaders had identified as needing lighting and where crime was an issue.
Now, the Phoenix city council has voted to approve more than $5 million dollars to create a safety corridor along 27th Ave., installing new lighting, street safety, traffic cameras, and assigning additional public safety officers to deal with the ongoing vandalism and gang activity.
At the meeting Councilwomen Laura Pastor recognized VIP for its work in bringing this issue to their attention and making this project a possibility.
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Catalina Aldaco announces the win at the Feb. 24 VIP Leaders Assembly |
Read more:
“Phoenix considers safety and crime prevention project for 27th Avenue corridor”, Christina Estes, KJZZ, [pdf]
“Phoenix trying to crack down on 27th Avenue crime with $5M plan”, 12News, [pdf]