Ogden City can’t do it all.

Ogden Mayor Ben Nadolski said that’s one of the main reasons the city is looking to strengthen its ties with local nonprofits and other entities.

“This is an effort to align ourselves as a city and a corporation with the broader community and to make sure that we are not a community, more broadly, that is wasting resources,” he said. “We’re not a city with enough wealth for us to have redundancies, for us to be competing for providing the same services to people and alignment is key in that. Misalignment can cost us greatly. It can create a lot of conflict — as we’ve seen with issues like Aspen Care — but it can also create a lot of harmony if we achieve alignment.”

He said achieving this alignment means partnering with area nonprofit partners and the outreach arms of other entities.

“This is to align the city with the nonprofit work and to bring full impact — what’s called collective impact — for the entire city,” he said. “Fundamentally, it helps us be more efficient in our service delivery as a city, but it helps us make sure that we’re focused on the right things and measurable impacts for the entire community beyond just what the city provides.”

Meggie Troili, director of the Office of Community Development at Weber State University, said part of their mission is to bring anchor partners together.

“We care deeply about our students and our faculty and the communities that surround Weber State University,” she said. “OgdenCAN (Ogden Civic Action Network) is an initiative under the Office of Community Development, and it’s a hyper-local initiative where we focus on the essential neighborhood, and our main focus is on the health and well-being of the community in the east-central neighborhood, which also has a lot of staff and students living there.”

Alexis Bucknam, executive director for community engagement at Weber State University, said the university as a whole also plays a role.

“Community, access and learning are our three core themes and we believe that Weber State is uniquely connected to the community,” she said. “We see that relationship with our residents here in Ogden as being really fundamental to our success.”

Julie Johnson, president and CEO of United Way of Northern Utah, said the groups main focus areas are on health, education and financial stability.

“When you think about the needs of any individual, family or even a neighborhood, all of those needs cross over one way or another,” she said. “Seeing how all of that interplays and comes together is what brings United Way to the table.”

Phillip Reese, senior director of Collective Impact with United Way of Northern Utah, also joined Wednesday’s conversation.

Bryce Sherwood, Community Health division director of the Weber-Morgan Health Department, said they have a very simple goal themselves.

“Our mission is to promote, protect and enhance the public health of citizens in Weber and Morgan counties,” he said. “Our core values are integrity, communication and partnership, and that’s where it should be.”