Town of Gilbert: Faith Summit

Today, the Town of Gilbert hosted its annual Faith Summit event. The purpose of the event was to encourage religious leaders to build new partnerships, understand the current needs and state of the Town of Gilbert, and coordinate outreach efforts to fulfill the human service gaps within the community.  Mayor John Lewis is a huge advocate for enlisting the help of religious organizations to fulfill and promote the needs of the community. My area of interest is community engagement and partnerships. I believe fostering and maintaining community partnerships is the perfect way to advocate social change while meeting the needs of the community. While attending this function I couldn't help but remember the words of nonprofit advocate and author, Peter Frumkin.

In his book, On being Nonprofit, Frumkin states, “Nonprofit and voluntary organization respond to the deeply rooted need of individual to be of something bigger than themselves. As an antidote to atomistic individualism, nonprofit and voluntary activity…brings people out of their isolation and puts them in touch with others who share their concerns interests. The connections…can be used to respond to community concerns, needs, and demands" (Frumpkin, 2005). 

Priest from Sri Venkat Kshetra Dham

Therefore, by engaging religious organizations, citizens are able to express their faith into action, while delivering services to those in need that the either the private or public sector cannot provide. This event was definitely frumkin's words being put into action. Here was a public entity engaging with nonprofit organizations to build trust, solidarity, and social capital, and then translating that trust and civic engagement directly into community action. 

The Mayor along with the Town of Gilbert Mayor Town Council, Chief of Police and Fire, and Town Manager presented a needs assessment and current state of the Town of Gilbert to religious organizations, so they might help in building a sustainable community for all the citizens of Gilbert.