Art Madrid: East County Cities Should Follow La Mesa Lead on Collaborating with Churches

La Mesa could be a model for East County cities on how to partner with churches to tackle persistent problems such as homelessness and crime, Mayor Art Madrid said last week after his second meeting with local clergy.

Madrid held a private “brainstorming” meeting Jan. 27 with church representatives after inviting what he thought were all 33 churches in the city.

But Thursday, when nearly two dozen ministers and others met with Madrid in a luncheon meeting at the La Mesa Community Center, the mayor said he’d learned that La Mesa has 41 churches.

Also attending the St. Patrick’s Day meeting were two representatives of Skyline Wesleyan Church in Rancho San Diego, including pastor Bob Lenz.

“The original intent,” Madrid said, “was and is to have all the churches in La Mesa embrace [this initiative].” He said Lenz was present because his church is working on efforts to team with El Cajon and “he asked: ‘Can I attend [the La Mesa effort]?’ ”

Madrid confirmed after the luncheon meeting, also attended by two city staffers and two members of the media, that he and Lenz had met at City Hall during last December’s rains.

Lenz said Thursday that he had encouraged Madrid in that City Hall visit to pursue a church-city relationship to attack social problems, one that the mayor had been mulling for some time.

“I don’t see this as a La Mesa problem,” Lenz said. “I see this as an East County problem. It’s going to take a partnership. … I’m right in the middle of this El Cajon thing, too.”

Madrid, who is Roman Catholic, said El Cajon, Lemon Grove and Santee could someday replicate La Mesa’s effort, since “every problem exists in every other city.”

He acknowledged that he’s received messages that Muslims in La Mesa could feel excluded, although they have no mosque within the city limits.

“They will be included,” Madrid said. “It’s a matter of walking very softly.”

For now, Madrid said, he wants to make sure that La Mesa can provide a “successful model” for other local cities.

Toward that end, the clergy meeting Thursday over box lunches paid for by Madrid used pushpins on a map to indicate the congregations they represented and covered a half-dozen issues of interest to them. Madrid encouraged the group to pick “low-hanging fruit” that would yield easier success.

Among other things, they talked about:

• Finding a way to help the homeless, either through shelters or training programs that—in a “teach a man to fish” way—helps people escape the streets.  
• Sharing knowledge on how to preserve foods through canning—as a way to prepare for disasters like Japan’s, which was fresh in their minds. “When your pantry's full,” said Bishop Lane Smith of the local Mormon Church, “it's easier to sleep at night.”
• Declaring La Mesa a “fair trade town,” seeking a minimum of 12 stores that sell “certified” products such as tea and coffee from growers in other countries working to escape poverty and pursue environmental goals. “It’s all about social justice,” Nancy Ryan of St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church said of the effort. People should be “aware of the good that can be accomplished.”
• Improving public safety by growing the Neighborhood Watch program and working toward a safer Collier Park, where the homeless congregate.

Lidia Simms, secretary to City Manager David Witt, attended Thursday’s meeting along with Bill Chopyk, community development director—with Simms providing the results of a questionnaire filled out by local churches and Chopyk asking the clergy to take part in an April 7 community workshop on the 2012 General Plan update.

The church survey (attached to this story) asked “churches in La Mesa” what social services they provide, who they team with and “What social services are needed that do not currently exist?”

Eleven faith-based groups took part in the survey, including Military Outreach Ministries on Harbinson Avenue north of University Avenue in west La Mesa.

Skyline Wesleyan Church of Campo Road—which has a La Mesa mailing address but is five miles southeast of  city limits—wrote: “It is very important that we also invite local nonchurch [organizations] that relate to any of these items. To work closer with local resources to make a greater impact. We would like to see a time set for fellowship that would promote growing relationships. This is very important.”

Other churches answering the questionnaire were Central Congregational Church on Lemon Avenue, Christ Lutheran Church on La Mesa Boulevard, First Church of Christ Scientist on Allison Avenue, Journey Community Church on Center Drive, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church on Glenn Street, St. Luke’s Lutheran Church on Wilson Street, St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church on El Cajon Boulevard, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Aztec Drive and Windsor Hills Community Church on Orien Avenue.

Asked his expectations of the group, Sam Calhoun of Windsor Hills Community Church wrote: “Churches working together to assist the city of La Mesa fill in the gap due to financial restrictions.”

At the end of Thursday’s gathering, Madrid urged the ministers to “break out” into four or five smaller groups—and report back on concrete actions that could be taken.

“You have the most credibility and respect in the community,” he told them. “And somehow if you express an interest, we could gain some traction.”