Santiago de Cali, Colombia’s third-most populous city, suffered from high rate of violence, poor relationships between neighbors, and a deep mistrust of public officials. Mayor Maurice Armitage and the city’s Peace and Civic Culture Secretariat sought to address this social breakdown by helping the city’s most socioeconomically challenged neighborhoods to develop mesas de cultura ciudadana (civic culture councils). The city has successfully incubated 15 councils, in which neighbors work together on initiatives such as park revitalization or youth arts programs in order to build trust between neighbors and inspire confidence in civic institutions. This is their story.