The below information is derived from the City of Mesa website. If you would like to view the City of Mesa's website, click here.

Partnering with Mesa residents to develop mature and well-maintained neighborhoods is a primary goal of the City of Mesa's Neighborhood Services Department and its Neighborhood Outreach Office.

As Mesa continues to fill in and increase in density and diversity, a mechanism is needed to bring neighbors together for common purposes. In addition to concerns about physical decay and social problems in neighborhoods, there is a very real desire on the part of Mesa residents to connect with each other, their neighborhoods and the community at large.

What is an Opportunity Zone?

The City of Mesa’s Opportunity Zone program focuses City and community resources on mature neighborhoods where residents have expressed concern about decline in their areas. This program combines commitment from residents, businesses, faith communities, and non-profit organizations with intensive attention and resources from the City to actively plan for and carry out improvements in these specific neighborhoods.

Types of work which may be done in Opportunity Zones include planning, infrastructure improvements and amenities, housing rehabilitation, crime abatement and prevention, as well as neighborhood organization, registration and resident training and education.

The keys to success in these Opportunity Zones are neighborhood residents who are willing to organize and participate actively, in addition to well-defined, viable projects which will result in significant, documented, and sustained success over both the short and long term.

Residents in each Opportunity Zone will be asked to:

1. Assess neighborhood needs 
Neighborhood leaders/residents, partnering with City staff, will do a thorough photographic, demographic, statistical, physical and ‘human capital’ assessment of the area.

2. Work together to strengthen neighborhood ties and commitment
Residents will develop or strengthen neighborhood associations, Block Watches and other groups so they can and will commit to completing the planned work, and sustaining it once it is completed.

3. Create a neighborhood plan
Residents will create a written plan which contains both conceptual and specific improvements desired, and both short and long-range strategies and goals for achieving those improvements.

4. Develop a timeline and budget
Residents will include in the plan a timeline, with major milestones shown, for completing the improvements they have outlined. They also will estimate costs fro those improvements, as well as identify potential funding sources/resources available to complete them.

For additional information regardign the Opportunity Zone Program, please contact the Neighborhood Outreach Office at (480) 644-5700.