Visit Mesa: Amplifying the Commitment to Welcoming and Belonging 

Social Impact Framework: Welcoming & Belonging 

What is the issue you were trying to address?

We were already doing well at incorporating many DEI(A) initiatives into our work. We had an independent audit by TDM last year, and one of the findings was that although we do a lot, we do a poor job of communicating. We realized we needed to develop pages on our website dedicated to inclusion.

What were the stated objectives of this initiative?

To showcase DEIA as a destination by featuring our partners, diverse activities, culture/history, sports inclusivity and more via a dedicated section of our website.

What were the specific metrics you used to measure the success of your efforts?

We published these pages and tracked metrics on our "accessibility and inclusion" dashboard which we created with Tourism Economics (Symphony) to track page views, video views, time on pages, bookings to Ripe, bookings to Wheel the World (WTW), etc. As WTW's first verified city, it was important to incorporate this in the dashboard.  

What were the specific outcomes and results of your efforts?

We are rolling out an "accessibility champion" program, which will help us further educate our partners about accessibility and inclusion moving forward. As a result of this program, we hope to uncover "success stories" that we will be able to capture and share on our website and social channels. 

Is there any other information you'd like to share, including any best practices or key lessons learned?

We now have 8 videos that we produced spotlighting different partners from the DEIA perspective. Those videos are so great to have for content on our website, amd breaking them down for social media has really helped tell the story of how diverse and welcoming our city is.  

The partners really appreciated being able to share their stories and enjoyed the extra exposure they received.