Intergovernmental Public Outreach Neighborhood Organizations

Neighbors Throw a Block Party

  • Improve publications
  • Improve TV Channel
  • Reorganize Council of Neighborhoods to identify boundaries, be more neighborhood driven, include business, expand neighborhood watch, improve neighborhood preparedness
  • Establish Citizen Advisory Committees
  • Citizen input

    • Some thoughts about how to improve neighborhood meetings and the Council of Neighborhoods

    At the Meeting Level

    Meet where there are tables that allow everyone to take notes and arrange handouts etc. Make sure everyone will be able to hear (without fans, refrigerators or other motors running. Start each meeting with a graphic demonstration of how a meeting flows. It might even be helpful to make a mini mailist note taking format as a handout; introductions, meeting notes, minutes from last meeting, budget report, old business, new business, action items. State the mission statement of the Council of Neighborhoods and the Goal of your neighborhood.

    At the Council of Neighborhoods Level

    Start with lessons learned from those with successfully working Neighborhood Meetings and compare to those struggling or without meetings. Consider a more organic way to defining and naming neighborhoods. Determine an overarching ?mission statement? for the council.

    Establish a standardized means for each neighborhood to report their ongoing issues, news, events to the council. I think it would to have that could be used for the blog as well. I don't mean a highly structured form, but something more like a format with several sections to inform the council with what they need to know ? everything else could go into the blog, I think. Then it would seem that steps toward defining neighborhoods should begin. It seems logical to begin with those that are functioning well. Do they want to merge, divide it different ways, etc. After they have tested their newly defined/existing neighborhood, it would be good to have them test any new concepts, formats, etc.

    I think only after these kinds of things are up and working well should the council reach out to the remaining areas that need to be organized. At this point it time it would be cool to set-up mentoring where one of leading (chair/co-chair) of an existing neighborhood pair-up with a new neighborhood to help them with meetings for a quarter or so.

    How to organize the neighborhoods.

    Briarcrest as a model of what can be done citywide.

    Briarcrest was organized with one block contact / twenty homes hand delivering the newsletter because the direct person to person contact is essential for increasing participation and building relationships with neighbors. The problem is the cost of $100 to $150 for printing 1100 copies. It is also difficult to find write up and edit interesting news

    What if we find one person on each block to be the block contact. They would need to have internet access and a printer. They would collect information from their 20 neighbors in their block ( Both sides of one street block ) and type up their own newsletter. They would send via email a copy to Sustainable Shoreline Webmaster who would edit and add it to the Sustainable Shoreline Website. ( This website is available to the public. But block contacts have the advantage of seeing news one week or two weeks before the public does). The block contact could also download content from the web that they wanted to add to their block newsletter. We would act as a news service for the block based newsletters.

    Details

    Block contacts print their monthly newsletter with a combination of their block news and "local news " from surrounding block or from city wide issues. The block contact is empowered. They could be the emergency preparedness person for their block, block watch captain. Empowerment means we give them a voice to City Council and City staff.

    Can you find a person on each block? No bank account. or constitution is required. Meetings, garage sales and social gatherings encouraged but optional. Political action is at the discretion of the block contact. Permission is not required.

    Step 1

    Ask people on each block who is the person on this block you trust? Any block that doesn't want to do this it doesn't stop the other blocks from doing it. Eventually they will realize that they need to do it in order to have their issues addressed.

    Neighborhood Associations

    How to organize your neighborhood

    Join the Intergovernmental, Public Outreach and Neighborhood Organizations Committee

    Sustainable Shoreline (c)2006

    Modified 7/21/2006