Articles

Bring Your Expertise to PCA’s Advocacy Committees in 2025

By Taylor Costello • January 16, 2025

You might be the missing puzzle piece in Phoenix Community Alliance’s (PCA) Advocacy Committees.

As Downtown Phoenix Inc.'s advocacy and membership affiliate, PCA strives to activate, advocate, and build Greater Downtown Phoenix through the united vision of our Members. These Members are vital in determining the organization's current focus and trajectory in shaping Downtown’s future.

Yet, PCA Committees will always only be as strong as the Members who regularly participate. With more than 330 Members, there’s no better time to join for one simple reason:

Advocacy Committees bring like-minded leaders together to connect, provide the platform to address concerns in a relevant setting, and affect change within our community.

If you want to discover where you can become involved as a Member in 2025, contact Patrick McDaniel, PCA’s Advocacy Director, at pmcdaniel@dtphx.org.

As a new year starts, these current topics and updates set a pathway for the future. But these Committees always need new voices from underrepresented communities and diverse demographics.

Education Partnerships (EP) Committee:

In October 2022, the Education Partnerships Committee, formerly the Education Committee, held a workshop to identify ways the business community could support Greater Downtown Phoenix education. (Photos: Taylor Costello)

What’s New: As we enter a new year, our Education Committee enters it with a rebranded name: the Education Partnerships Committee.

The Committee has always positioned itself as a platform for information sharing with a meeting time optimized to catch educators after class to incentivize participation. While educators attended, the Committee faced a perception issue of being just a landing place for teachers.

The name change articulates the inclusivity the Committee has always strived to provide. For any Members interested, the monthly meeting is more than a rally for support for school supplies; it is a place for mentorship and strategic connections.

Within Greater Downtown Phoenix’s high-performing schools, our medium and large Members offer great opportunities as a conduit to support the community through internships, career training, and other means.

Join Greg Falls and new Vice Chair Kristin Gubser as they seek ways to support our education partners.

Arts, Culture, & Public Life (ACPL) Committee:

In November 2024, PCA and Artlink Phoenix held their annual Creative City Symposium at the FOUND:RE Hotel, touching upon many relevant local art and culture topics in Greater Downtown Phoenix. (Photos: Taylor Costello)

What’s New: In December, the Committee achieved a major public policy accomplishment when the Phoenix City Council updated Chapter 12 of the Downtown Code, which resulted from different Committee Members and stakeholder coordination.

The passage of the text amendment not only articulates a guide for the evolution of Downtown’s urban fabric but offers ideas for developers to integrate public art components into new developments and much more.

As ACPL restarts, the “public life” part of the Committee comes more into focus as Downtown continues a gradual transformation. All these changes would’ve been unthinkable almost two decades ago when ASU’s Downtown Phoenix Campus first opened. But now, a plentiful inventory of creative businesses and arts organizations means the Committee will continue identifying methods to support these unique places.

To that point, a Guest Experience Working Group (GEWG, pronounced GOO-g), consisting of ACPL Committee Members, has assembled to gather best practices for curating the best Downtown guest experience for visitors. This includes sharing information about activities, navigation, and parking options. The group’s ultimate goal is to promote all that Downtown has to offer beyond the scope of what a visitor traveled here to visit in the first place.

Multi-Modal Connectivity (MMCC) Committee:

In November 2024, PCA's Multi-Modal Connectivity Committee toured the Ability 360 facility to learn about their facility. (Photos: Taylor Costello)

What’s New: As each Committee becomes more granular and thoughtful in anticipating a future Downtown landscape, there are increased efforts to include the voices of other unique Members to support that goal.

Last November, the Multi-Modal Connectivity Committee explored the Ability 360 campus. The tour deepened the Committee Members’ understanding of strengthening safety within the public realm and transportation network by showing how Ability 360 practices these ideals. In the months ahead, we anticipate making these Committee tours of Member facilities a regular feature to inspire.

The group wants to understand the role of colors, fonts, infrastructure, and other everyday elements in pedestrian accessibility by inviting strategic voices, such as David Steinmetz of the Arizona Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired.

With the passage of Prop 479, the Committee will continue to cover updates on investments to Downtown’s growing multi-modal infrastructure and realm.

Social & Housing Advancement (SHA) Committee:

In July 2024, the PCA Team visited St. Vincent de Paul's Downtown Phoenix campus as part of a larger effort to interact with its nonprofit Members. The Downtown facility includes an urban garden, kitchen, dining hall, and dental clinic. (Photos: Taylor Costello)

What’s New: Similar to the Education Partnerships Committee, SHA is coordinating efforts between various service providers to maximize impact within Greater Downtown Phoenix, and the strategy is already beginning to yield results.

For their first Committee Meeting, Axiom Community Recovery, which offers services to support those with substance abuse problems and mental health disorders, added to the legislative update of the January SHA meeting and connected with numerous Members, as well as Rep. Sarah Ligouri.

They join new Members, such as Arizona Liver Health’s VEN Centers, who similarly add to the conversation. Each of the Members share differing missions, from removing obstacles for hepatitis testing and treatment to preventing recidivism in vulnerable communities, yet they can find shared common goals.

As they and other new Committee Members join the fray, the results of this connectivity from coordinated mobile outreach teams are unlimited.

Central City Planning & Development (CCPD) Committee:

In June 2024, PCA's Central City Planning & Development Committee staged a conversation among top real estate experts from JLL, RED Development and Western Alliance Bank about their daily experiences enticing tenants and the workforce to the office in Downtown Phoenix. (Photos: Taylor Costello)

What’s New: As the oldest Committee, the Central City Planning & Development Committee brings together a robust collection of professionals in the development community and related industries.

When the amendments to Chapter 12 of the Downtown Code passed, CCPD Committee Members utilized their collective decades of development expertise, in conjunction with other Committees and stakeholders, to assist.

Despite occurring every other month, these Committee meetings consistently draw a crowd that fills a conference room, including special one-off events. In the months ahead, look out for similar multifaceted discussions, such as ones on the future state of retail. This is similar to the successful conversation with real estate experts PCA hosted on the state of office last June, where local office space is well below the national vacancy rate.

Another area represented by related industries is the local historic preservation community, including the City of Phoenix’s Historic Preservation Office.

CCPD offers invaluable input in adaptively reusing historic structures for future generations. In the past, numerous presentations from Members have offered potential case studies on new designs mingling with historic structures, such as the Center City Motel development.

In the Spring, expect this evergreen connection with development to become more tangible as our Advocacy Director, Patrick McDaniel, will lead Historic Preservation tours in coordination with the city’s HP office and other stakeholders for the 2025 Arizona Historic Preservation Conference.

Hance Park Fundraising Committee:

At the dawn Super Bowl LVII festivities in Downtown, the City of Phoenix and community leaders celebrated the unveiling of the Republic Services Garden at Margaret T. Hance Park, the result of a $2 million sponsorship deal with the Hance Park Partner Coalition. (Photos: James Ritter)

What’s New: To quote Hance Park Fundraising Committee’s Co-Chair Larry Lazarus, “Every major city has a great downtown park.” The board-appointed Committee is re-doubling its efforts to bring in diversified investors to invest in green spaces, but it also articulates the necessity of such environments.

During the Pandemic, the necessity of public spaces became apparent because of their function in serving the community’s mental health. Future additions, such as a restaurant concept inside former Phoenix Fire Station No. 4, hint at how the park will increase its value as a public good, as visiting people and their families provide more exposure to surrounding organizations, businesses, and nonprofits.

Think of each of our Committee Members as puzzle pieces, which, when assembled, create a unified voice that addresses every concern within the Greater Downtown Community.

Within this structure, multiple ways exist to use your advocacy benefits as a Member outside of the monthly Committee meetings. Our advocacy director acts as a conduit to Members and a resource for pending or current policy changes.

The methods for getting involved are limitless, and the future is up to you.

A Full List of PCA’s Advocacy Committees: Arts, Culture & Public Life (ACPL), Central City Planning & Development (CCPD), Education Partnerships (EP), Membership Engagement (MEC), Multi-Modal Connectivity (MMCC), Social & Housing Advancement (SHA), Hance Park Fundraising (HPF), and Public Affairs (PA).