July 25, 2012 Leave a comment
CFA Executive Director, Jay Van Groningen discusses the importance of neighbor ownership and community engagement. The conversation was part of a Q & A session at the 2012 CFA gathering with John McKnight. Is this an obstacle (or opportunity?) in your community engagement work?
May 10, 2012 3 Comments
Brianna Menning, CFA Director of Community Based Learning
May 2012, Brianna Menning Community built online can be a false sense of community. This is not to say that it doesn’t have a role, but that it’s difficult to build authenticity in relationships with something like Facebook if there isn’t also an in-person relationship.
There are a number of new sites and tools coming out recently that are working to build community through online networking, some of which we have previously mentioned here (nextdoor.com, for example). There are more tools (which I will mention below) that I get excited about as a way to help build community, but cannot be the only attempt we make at community, or they will never lead to anything.
These are sites like Neighborland, which is now open in a few cities across the country (including Minneapolis, where I am), and allows neighborhood members to list things that they would like to see in their neighborhood, and allows other people to agree, creating movement around an idea that might not have previously connected these people together. But unless these people make their voices heard to neighborhood groups to get more people involved, or ask to speak to groups like the city council, these sites will only get so far. In person organizing and connecting must happen in order to create the change they wish to see. I am excited by the possibility for sites like this to partner with in-person connecting, and also as a way to connect people who care about issues that we might not otherwise be aware of.
How can we use these tools to connect people who primarily build community online through social media and websites to people who have little internet access, and might not be aware of movement around an issue that they too care about? What role can community connectors play in bridging this gap? This is what I care about– and these are the steps we must take in our efforts to move below the red line.
Other sites doing cool things:
NeighborGoods– where you can create a list of goods you have available to lend to others in your neighborhood, and can check their lists to borrow from them when you need to
Do you have any other ideas of sites worth checking out? Let us know in the comments!
Contact Brianna at: [email protected]
March 8, 2012 10 Comments
Time spent building community results in unity, ownership, and action. Watch this video to see how neighbors can work together to make their community better for all.
Building Community: Unity. Ownership. Action. from CFA Videos on Vimeo.
February 23, 2012 Leave a comment
Judy Van Dyke–Good Samaritan Ministries
Antonio has lived in Holland, MI for seven years and lives in the Westcore Neighborhood with his 11 year-old son, Marvin.
This fall, Antonio was wrongfully evicted from his apartment when the house in which he was a tenant went into foreclosure. This caused a great deal of turmoil in Antonio’s life as he had to scramble to pack up his and his son’s possessions and find a new place to live, while keeping the rest of his life in balance. When the foreclosing bank was notified that Antonio had been wrongfully evicted, they offered financial compensation to Antonio with the condition that he remove all the personal property on the premises in less than 5 days! He had neither the time nor the means to do this huge task but was willing to do whatever it took to get those funds into the neighborhood. So with his cooperation, and help from a local pastor and realtor, a group of neighbors and friends, 2 trips to the dump were made with all the debris. Within a few days Antonio had a check from the bank. ALL OF THIS WAS DONE BY THE COMMUNITY IN A WEEK, WORKING TOGETHER!
What did he do with the money? He gave most of it ($1,200) to Nuestra Casa!!!
Why would he do this!?! Antonio recalled a very difficult time of his life. He had recently been divorced, and was going through an emotional roller coaster ride. He was brought to his knees. When he looked up, Antonio realized that God had waited until he was crying out in anguish before showing up in his life.
Since that moment, Antonio has grown in his love of God, his neighbors and many friends. This unexpected windfall to him was one way he could give back to the community, and he is happy to do it.
(Excerpts taken from the Nuestra Casa blog)
http://nuestracasathegatheringplace.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/antonio-teran-giving-back-to-the-community/
Good Samaritan Ministries works with the Westcore Neighborhood group to do community transformation in the center city of Holland. We had the privilege of hearing Antonio’s story when he came to GSM with a neighbor and their Community Connector to give us his donation. Nuestra Casa is a vacant house that the neighbors are renovating into a community center. Antonio’s compassion and generosity is a great example of how neighbors in the Westcore area value their community and care for each other.
February 20, 2012 Leave a comment
Rebecca Lujan Loveless–POLIS Institute
The Community Center at The Palms Trailer Park bustled with life on a recent cool Saturday morning. This was unusual because up until that week the trailer that housed the Community Center was only open Monday through Friday. This Saturday, the neighborhood residents came in and out, using the computers, sitting to chat with a neighbor over a cup of coffee and I felt a deep sense of gratitude for the spirit of “togetherness” that was in this overlooked but much under-rated community.
The Palms Trailer Park is located between two highways on Orange Blossom Trail – “OBT” as it is affectionately referred to. OBT is notorious for the business of buying and selling women. So whenever I tell people where my office is located – in a trailer park on OBT- I am generally met with some kind of a joke about “working the Trail.” And while my work involves befriending women who do, in fact, “work the Trail,” it involves listening to the hopes and concerns of other people too: the former inmate who is unemployable because of his past, the older woman who has never worked a day in her life because of her crippling disabilities, and the young single mom who is passionate about her children having a chance to succeed in ways she never was given.
Recently, I have become friends with a young, single mom who has taught me so much about determination and a quiet patience. LaDeitra is curious and funny. She is hopeful yet cautious. She leads people with ease and yet is hesitant about being called a “leader.” She cares about her neighborhood and wants to be a part of creating a place where her kids can play safely, where she knows her neighbors well enough to understand their needs.
When I first met her at the Community Center she was shy and quiet. She would come in to use the computers and then leave as quietly as she came in. But over time she began to pick up on some of the conversations that were happening around her. As people would come in to the Community Center we would talk about their ideas about how to improve the neighborhood. She began to be curious. Eventually LaDeitra started contributing to these informal conversations. Finally, after several months of listening and observing she asked if she could come to the weekly meeting for our volunteer Hosts of the Community Center. Once LaDeitra was trained as a Community Center Host there was no stopping her. She began talking to her neighbors and listening to them dream about “what could be” in the neighborhood. She convenes people for Neighborhood Meetings and it was her organization and determination that allowed the center to start opening on Saturdays. 
The work of Asset Based Community Development can be very lonely. Am I the only one that thinks this neighborhood is great? Does everyone [including the residents that live here] think this place is a joke? These are admittedly my dismal thoughts on days when I feel heavy-laden with the reality of generational poverty. But LaDeitra reminds me, “Things take time.” She reminds me that there are others that care about this forgotten part of our city. She confirms my deep suspicion that when the talents of the poor are properly engaged, well-being improves. She engages my talents of leadership and organization and in turn allows me, even invites me, to engage her talents to influence her neighbors towards change.
Each Saturday, if you stop by The Palms Trailer Park, you will see LaDeitra with her notebook open, listening to the dreams of her neighbors. She writes them down, showing that what her neighbors have to say is important. She talks to others about these ideas and invites people to find ways to empower them. LaDeitra is hesitant to be called a “leader” and yet, each week she leads me to believe that change –even in the most unlikely place- is possible.
February 17, 2012 Leave a comment
Eric Smith–Think Tank, Inc. and Springfield Promise Neighborhood
The neighborhood work in the Lincoln area began with the planning for the launch of the Springfield Promise Neighborhood (SPN) initiative. It was decided that there should be an event held on the grounds of the partner school, Lincoln Elementary, that would get children, youth, and families out and being “community” together while connecting with the local school. The planning for the event was done in partnership with neighborhood residents. The event was successful, drawing 300 people for a festive day of food, games, and family activities. Later, the event would come to be called PromiseFest.
The group of residents, feeling empowered by the success of their first venture working together, continued to meet and plan other community events, such as a Christmas Banquet, a Spaghetti Dinner, and a Spring Fling Cookout. In the course of their journey together, the group decided to take steps toward becoming an official Neighborhood Association.
Once school was back in session, the Neighborhood Association began to plan for a second annual PromiseFest. The second annual PromiseFest proved to be an even greater success than the first, and drew out 13 community organizations to provide educational and support services to the families that attended the event.
Importantly, holding a second annual event proved to the residents that they had the staying power necessary to inspire change over the long haul. It was also a significant event because it was held in front of the school garden, which was another program of the residents in the community that had been developed in the preceding year.
February 15, 2012 1 Comment
Eric Smith–Think Tank, Inc. and Springfield Promise Neighborhood
I met George Young at the Springfield Promise Neighborhood Kickoff and Community Celebration, the first community event planned alongside residents, nearly one year ago. It turns out that George is a long-time resident of the Lincoln Neighborhood. As part of the listening process, I met with George for a one-on-one learning conversation.
It quickly became evident that George was interested in seeing the ethic of responsible fatherhood integrated into the fabric of his neighborhood. He also had a clear passion for developing the character of the youth of his community. However, George did not have an opportunity to exercise his gifts and passions.
I therefore invited George to attend a leadership training series on the principles of Asset-Based Community Development. Through the training, George’s vision crystalized. Another of the attendees, as it turned out, had a similar interest. So following the training, George invited a select group of his neighbors, also long-time residents of the neighborhood, as well as his colleague from the training, to a meeting.
The neighbors quickly decided that they could accomplish the corporate desire that they all had to impact others if they formed into an organized group. The initial meeting has led to the birth of the Lincoln Neighborhood POPS Club. The Club has been connected to Urban Light Ministries, the responsible fatherhood initiative in Springfield, to provide stability as needed.
As their first project, the Club leaders have worked to establish a safety patrol program at Lincoln Elementary. Though very much needed, Lincoln Elementary has not had a safety patrol program for many years.
What is inspiring and transformational about this story is the fact that now a core group of neighbors is more alive because they are able to give of their gifts and experience to influence the next generation. Even as they are becoming more alive and aware, they are instilling pride in the 16 youth that are part of the safety patrol. The patrol is quickly becoming an opportunity to nurture good character, self-regulation, and aspirational thinking in the lives of a select group of youth.
What was lacking before was merely the vision to see the gifts and dreams that connected the neighbors to each other and the Club to the youth. Imagine now what other opportunities exist just around the corner in a neighborhood of over 4,500 neighbors and youth!
