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The most basic way a citizen can participate is by voting during a City Council election. Many people who are active in their neighborhoods also are involved with city government. Neighborhood associations meet to discuss what’s going on in the neighborhood and plan events that help the neighborhood. Council members often go straight to the neighborhood association when they want to know how the neighbors feel about something. And, neighborhood associations are quick to place a call to city government when something needs to be fixed or when thieves break into cars on a neighborhood block.

Block Watch is another neighborhood organization that is very involved with city government. Police officers help neighbors set up a Block Watch when citizens want to help prevent crime in their neighborhood.

Village Planning Committees are the next step from the neighborhood associations. The city is divided into 15 villages that are made up of large groupings of neighborhoods. The village planning committees are made up of volunteers appointed by the City Council. They compile the opinions and concerns of all the neighborhoods within their village and report to the Planning Commission and the City Council. Many elected city officials first gained experience as a volunteer on these committees.

Citizens also provide opinions about city spending and city policy. Many city departments have an advisory group, board or commission. All of these are groups of citizens who meet to make decisions. For example, citizens on the Parks and Recreation Board make suggestions to City Council about the needs for parks and recreation programs. The Environmental Quality Commission finds out about environmental problems in the city and gives the City Council advice on how the city government can get involved in solving those problems. The Neighborhood Block Watch Fund Oversight Committee reads letters from Block Watch groups and makes suggestions about which groups should get money from a special crime-prevention fund.

The city even has a special commission for issues that affect young people, which is called the Phoenix Youth and Education Commission. This commission has youth representatives and develops programs for youth such as Budget Forum for Youth, Outstanding Young Man and Young Woman of the Year Awards, and Youth Town Hall.

Through the Municipal Volunteer Program, more than 20,000 Phoenix citizens each year provide such services as shelving books at the library, delivering food to senior citizens, and fixing old bicycles for kids who need them. Citizens volunteer to help make their community a better place to live, work and play.

Last modified on 07/11/2008 09:44:03