Making friends, making change: How one group brings downtown Phoenix residents together

The Downtown Core Community provides an easy way for neighbors to not only become friends, but also band together to make change. 

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Lynette Guzman moved from California to downtown Phoenix a few years ago after her husband took a job with Arizona State University. She wanted to live in a vibrant, dense area—a place where it always felt like there was something happening. 

Downtown delivered the energy she wanted. But working from home and living far from family made it harder to find the kind of close-knit community she was craving. When she heard about the Downtown Core Community (DCC), a neighborhood group bringing residents (both homeowners and renters) together, she was intrigued. 

“I really wanted to basically make friends,” Guzman told me over coffee at Songbird Coffee & Tea House, one of her go-to downtown spots. “And having a neighborhood group is just a very quick and scaffolded way to make friends, similar to when you go to college and you have your dorms, or you have these built-in spaces where people can more easily connect than just walking up to someone at a coffee shop and being like, ‘Hey, want to be friends?’”

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Jamie Trufin, DCC president, started the group about a year ago. It includes people who live in the area of Fillmore Street to the north, Seventh Street to the east, Buchanan Street to the south, and Third Avenue to the west. 

Guzman, now the group’s vice president, first learned about DCC through a social media post for an event called Park(ing) Day, when the group partnered with Urban Phoenix Project to raise awareness for safer and greener streets by transforming a parking space into a temporary community space—the kind of environment Guzman envisioned where it’d be easier to make connections. 

“It’s important to have relationships with people,” she said. “Part of my professional work is a lot of digital media stuff, and I’ve been trying to steer away from being chronically online and having those interactions only be through digital means.”

Downtown Core Community gathers for Neighborsgiving in 2024. (Photo courtesy of Lynette Guzman)

After Guzman joined DCC, she began sharing event posts with Trufin, who eventually asked her to take over the group’s social media. She also started collaborating with surrounding businesses on events—for example, a free community day at Urban Edge, a neighborhood group fitness center. 

“I think that joining the neighborhood group has been very helpful to get connected, and also more up to speed with what’s going on downtown and who the local business owners are,” Guzman said. 

Every Friday, DCC members meet up at Cactus Cloud Cafe to hang out a bit before work, and every other Sunday, members take turns hosting dinners. Starting this month, the group is hosting a happy hour every third Tuesday at Welcome Diner that’s open to all neighborhoods. 

Other events have included a video game competition at Cactus Cloud, trivia at Formation Brewing, and mixers with other nearby neighborhoods. On March 7, DCC is partnering with the Phoenix Farmers Market to hold a neighborhood yard sale, where residents can sign up to sell their items for free. 

There’s also a Discord server that residents and “friends of the Downtown Core” can join to share events and connect with neighbors online. 

Not just social connection

While DCC helps neighbors make friends, it’s also become a way for residents to organize and build collective power. 

The group meets on the first Sunday of every month to discuss neighborhood issues and vote on actions. 

“One thing that a lot of us on the board and in the neighborhood have been pushing for is, we all have thoughts about how we want our neighborhood to be, but how do we actually get things done?” Guzman said. 

For example, the city of Phoenix last year asked for public comment on a plan to get rid of medians on a stretch of road in the Downtown Core. Because of the safety medians provide, Guzman said, DCC voted to collectively send a letter in opposition. The city decided not to move forward with the project. 

“We are building relationships … with the different city departments to let them know we are an organized neighborhood,” Guzman said. “We’re here, so when there’s major proposals on the table that involve our neighborhood, we want to be part of that stakeholder process.”

The Downtown Core Community hears from Phoenix’s Final Four Host Committee at one of their monthly meetings. (Photo courtesy of Lynette Guzman)

DCC is also creating connections with nearby neighborhoods and the city councilmembers who represent downtown to strengthen the voices of people who live in the area.

The group is currently advocating for a traffic light at Second and Roosevelt streets, a busy pedestrian intersection that currently has a crosswalk with no light. With more apartments being built nearby, the group is concerned about safety as foot traffic increases. 

“We love having more people being downtown, but we just want to make sure that it’s safe for people who are living here,” Guzman said. 

For Guzman and other residents, DCC has become more than a social outlet. It’s the connective tissue that not only helps neighbors get to know one another—but also show up for the community they share. 

If you’re interested in learning more about DCC, check out their website or Instagram, or sign up for their email newsletter.