Redefining ‘renters vs. owners’ to ‘neighbors’

By Pam Bailey, NeighborWorks America blogger

Surveys show wide disparities between perceptions of renters vs. homeowners – some based on reality, and others that are not. Many of the problems could be alleviated, however, if more programs encouraged neighbor-to-neighbor social connections, rather than owners to renters.

That’s the aim of programs like NeighborCircles, sponsored by Lawrence (MA) CommunityWorks. The concept is simple: Residents recruited as “circle hosts” invite five to 10 neighbors – ideally from homes they can see from their own yards – to a series of three dinners over the course of a month, designed to both connect them to each other and unite them in a common project to improve their community.

“In 2008, about 75 percent of the houses in our neighborhoods were at some point in the foreclosure process. A lot of people left the community,” explains Spencer Buchholz, director of network organizing for Lawrence CommunityWorks. “I’d say that today, about 80 percent are renters, mixed in with the original homeowners.”

At one NeighborCircles, participants trace on a
map their families' journey to Lawrence, MA.

The first dinner, led by two facilitators trained by Buchholz’ team, is designed to build common bonds. The facilitators lead the group in an ice-breaker in which each person literally traces on a world map their family’s journey to Lawrence, MA. More than 70 percent of residents come from Latino immigrant families, originally from places as far flung as the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. “They tell each other how and why they got to Lawrence and what keeps them here,” explains Buchholz.

In the second and third meetings, circle participants discuss the quality of life in their neighborhood, the improvements they’d like to see and how they could join together in a project to accomplish one of those goals – whether it be a street clean-up, a petition to the city council to repair sidewalks or a meeting with the police department on neighborhood crime prevention.

“Our goal is to build social capital,” says Buchholz, adding that his team coordinates an average of about 12 circles a year – approximately 130 to date. “Now participants know who is across the street, and they can watch each other’s houses when someone is gone. It’s all about connection...finding common interests across the divide.”

The NeighborCircle concept is easy to adapt to other locales and situations, and Buchholz’ team has trained groups in states from Massachusetts to Arizona to implement their own.

Block club members work to improve neighborhood
conditions for children.

Taking a similar approach is Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, which works with community leaders (some of whom serve on the organization’s advisory council) to form block clubs, with leaders specifically trained to engage renters. One recent survey, for instance, found that while 61 percent of homeowners know their neighbors’ names, that’s true for only 39 percent of renters.

“Renters are usually not there permanently, and fixing up the property is the owner’s or manager’s responsibility. And they’re often not really encouraged to feel involved in any case,” explains Janece Simmons, neighborhood director for NHS of Chicago. “It’s the job of local organizations and our block club leaders to take a holistic approach in their outreach; after all, the neighborhood is where renters’ children walk and play too. They need to be included in planning activities like planning block club parties and improvement projects. Plus, for us, outreach is a great way to connect renters to the information and resources that can help prepare them to become homeowners someday.”

NHS of Chicago has been helping organize block clubs since 1975, and there are currently about 100 active groups in the Auburn-Gresham community, says Simmons -- many of which have been active for years. Representatives from each of the clubs meet monthly, giving new members the opportunity to learn from the “veterans,” as well as hear about grant opportunities, etc.

“Through the block clubs, homeowners have come to welcome renters’ involvement,” says Simmons. “And renters soon come to see that their participation makes a difference, for them and the community.”

Finding a Purpose: How Vacant Buildings Can Support Neighborhood Marketing

Reposted from the Stable Communities blog

Finding new uses for vacant buildings is something many nonprofit housing organizations are getting good at, but some properties — like an abandoned movie theater — are harder to rework. With creative thinking, however, empty buildings can be used to spark new interest in old neighborhoods.

Last year, after looking closely at the prominent features of an old, vacant movie theater, NeighborWorks Waco (TX) decided that its brick interior and artistic vibe made the perfect setting for a “pop up” art exhibit. Now in its second year, Art on Elm Avenue puts this otherwise empty space to good use, and is helping the neighborhood to rebrand itself as an arts district.

Art on Elm Avenue is a one-day event featuring 14 local artists and more than 10 local student artists. In addition to the exhibit, local bands provide live music, food and craft vendors sell food and handmade goods, and a local performance artist creates paintings with his bare hands and a spinning canvas (think Jimi Hendrix and Elvis). Kids’ activities include a bounce house, crafts, snowcones and popcorn, plus an 18-foot canvas mural project where kids develop the plan and create the mural with a touch of advice from volunteer art supervisors.

Each artist featured in the exhibit is allowed to bring up to three approved artworks, which may be two-dimensional pieces such as paintings, drawings, prints or photography, or three-dimensional works such as sculpture and ceramics. Artists are provided with a name plate next to their pieces and can list items for sale.

Art on Elm Avenue is free for both artists and guests. It’s a celebration of art and community that fits nicely into NeighborWorks Waco’s neighborhood marketing strategy. The event draws businesses, entrepreneurs and residents who may not otherwise visit this area, and also celebrates local culture and supports the neighborhood’s plan to become an arts district. It builds community relationships and puts vacant space to positive use. “This event brings everyone together from all parts of Waco,” says Honey Jenkins, NW Waco’s director of marketing. “It draws people of all ages and from all walks of life to Elm Avenue, and helps them to see what it used to be and what it can become.”

This year, Art on Elm Avenue took place on the same weekend as one of the city’s monthly musical events — an Eddie Money concert — so the two groups decided to co-market their events as part of a larger celebration called "Weekend in Waco.” Linking the two events in marketing helped boost attendance; more than 2,500 people attended this year as compared to about 500 last year.

To learn more, visit the Art on Elm Avenue Facebook page or follow events on its Twitter feed.

NeighborWorks Rochester Expands Healthy Blocks Approach

By Ascala Sisk, Senior Manager
Neighborhood Stabilization
NeighborWorks America

Reposted from StableCommunities.org

NeighborWorks Rochester has partnered with residents in three neighborhoods to make exterior home improvements, address quality of life issues, and attract new residents and investment. Through this targeted “Healthy Blocks” approach, homeowners, tenants and landlords work together to create neighborhoods of value and choice.

After eight years of sponsoring “Makeover Madness” home beautification campaigns, organizing social events, planting gardens, sponsoring neighborhood clean-ups, and promoting new neighborhood branding, the Healthy Blocks approach has proven to be successful in improving physical conditions, creating pride, and fostering a community identity. For example, in “The Pocket,” a 7-block neighborhood of 750 residents in the East Main–Atlantic area, NeighborWorks Rochester has observed that physical conditions are improving, the average sales price is up 20 percent since 2008, and homes on the market sell in an average of 18 days as compared to 27 days in 2008 — all signs of a rebounding housing market.

Building on this success, NeighborWorks Rochester is considering candidates for its next two Healthy Blocks initiatives. To help with the selection and to train new staff members on the core components of this approach, NeighborWorks Rochester CEO Kim Brumber turned to David Boehlke, the nation’s leading Healthy Neighborhoods strategist. Joining them over the course of two rainy days in January 2013 were representatives from NeighborWorks Western Vermont who wanted to learn how they might apply this thinking to their own newly selected target neighborhood in the town of Rutland.

With a healthy dose of offbeat humor, Boehlke stressed the need for strategies that are grounded in market realities and build confidence among existing residents. “Markets need to be built,” he said, “not just houses.” This is especially true in cities with stagnant or declining populations where potential homebuyers have many homes and neighborhoods to choose from. In order to compete, you need to reposition your neighborhood in the marketplace. Building confidence in the future of the neighborhood validates people’s choice to live there, creates pride, and encourages investment because it makes economic sense.

So, how do you build confidence? A lot of it has to do with image and physical conditions. Neighborhoods with houses that are reasonably well-maintained and have tidy gardens and litter-free streets instantly convey that this is a neighborhood where current residents succeed, and where future homeowners would want to buy. But according to Boehlke, the key to building confidence is engaging residents and building their capacity to manage day-to-day neighborhood issues. Ultimately, people are more likely to invest in areas where residents work together to improve the quality of life.

As NeighborWorks Rochester considers its next Healthy Blocks, it will select neighborhoods where resident engagement activities and modest investments in home repairs are likely to leverage additional investment. As the team from NeighborWorks Western Vermont also learned, Healthy Blocks’s focus on building markets, improving image and physical conditions, and fostering resident leadership offers lessons for other organizations that are designing place-based revitalization strategies.

To learn more about the Healthy Neighborhoods approach that David Boehlke created and teaches, take a look at his monograph, Great Neighborhoods, Great Cities, written about the Healthy Neighborhoods approach in Baltimore for the Goldseker Foundation.
 

Believing in the People We Help

 This blog entry is reposted from our Leaders for Communities website.

By Sara Varela 
NeighborWorks America
Community Building and Organizing
communications specialist

The other day I told my nine-year-old he was in charge of preparing lunch for the family, since we were all very busy and hungry. I told him to prepare tuna sandwiches, and gave him all the ingredients he needed. He was more than thrilled to take on a major responsibility like that one. He has seen his dad, his older sister and I take turns at preparing and serving meals all his life, but he seldom gets to do it. I told him to prepare the sandwiches, serve them, set the table and call us when lunch was ready. He did a fantastic job; yes, the sandwiches weren’t as perfect as they’d been if I had done them, but my son accomplished the main goal of feeding us himself.

Trusting others to perform important tasks themselves is a critical part of helping them grow, and this concept is highly applicable in the nonprofit world.

Compost Cadet at work

My employer, NeighborWorks America, is a grant-maker which means we rely on our grantees to use our funds responsibly on projects that help the community directly and also inspire residents to help themselves.  Recently, I saw pictures from a NeighborWorks project with affiliate Chinatown Community Development Center (Chinatown CDC) in San Francisco. The photos give a visual example of how Chinatown CDC has used a $10,000 Deep Green Community Building and Organizing (CB&O) Impact grant to empower resident leaders and youth to educate the community on waste reduction through proper composting and recycling.

One of Chinatown CDC's main goals was to focus on leadership and ownership by residents for a more sustainable green community. The approach Chinatown CDC took creating this ownership and leadership among residents was comprehensive and ultimately quite successful. Some activities supported by the grant were:

• Lunch Program: Twenty-four youth volunteers educated other youth (and even some parents) to properly sort items into compost, recycling, and trash bins. The 12 volunteers alternated shifts each day, making sure that there were three people teaching the kids at all times. By the end of summer, the volunteers were just a presence because the kids were automatically doing it correctly.

• Arts & Crafts: Led by a resident volunteer, a group of five youth made wind chimes entirely from recycled items and learned about the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling.

• Compost Cadets: Eleven youth eagerly volunteered to be Compost Cadets (or Compost Cops, as they called themselves). These young leaders were trained to monitor residents at community events to make sure they were properly sorting their garbage. The Compost Cadets created their own badges and ticket booklets. They rewarded good behavior with environmentally-friendly stickers and they educated people they caught throwing food items or recyclables into the wrong bins.

Compost Cadet at work

The pride that my son felt at being handed an important responsibility and trusting him to getting it done well is the same pride I see in the photos of the children who were given the role of Compost Cadet. As I see the pictures of these young leaders, and the pride, ownership and responsibility that is reflected in them, I realized they embody what CB&O is all about: providing opportunities for skill building, giving residents leadership roles they might not have considered before and ultimately supporting resident-led improvements in their own communities.

There is nothing worse than setting up the stage for leadership development, and then not allowing space, or not trusting the people to take charge. Had I told my son he was responsible for lunch, and then taken over and made the sandwiches myself, or helped him because I didn’t trust he could do a good job, it wouldn’t have been the same. As practitioners I think it is important to walk our talk and really believe the people we want to help have the answers to their own problems. Our role is to enable them to find those answers, and then trust that their decisions were the best ones.

What Does Quality of Life Mean to a Neighborhood?

This entry is reposted, with permission, from our Kansas City affiliate Community Housing of Wyandotte County's blog:  http://chwckck.org/blogs/blog.

By Steve Curtis
Community Housing of Wyandotte County

Youth volunteers participating in our Community
Alley Restoration (C.A.R) program.

It can mean everything or it can mean nothing depending on who has defined what it means for your neighborhood. If you ask your neighbors what they want they will undoubtedly produce a list of things – like better sidewalks and curbs, faster police and fire response, less vandalism and fewer stray dogs and feral cats. Others want coffee shops, retail stores, bike trails, community gardens, or entertainment and recreational centers, even wireless Internet. It's true these things can make life in the neighborhood more enjoyable, more convenient and even healthier but what these things really do is create a sense of place.

A place where people can gather, can meet, share ideas and get to know one another. These environments are essential for our socialization. In urban neighborhoods many of the things that used to bring us together – like downtown shopping districts, neighborhood schools, mom and pop stores, park and recreational centers have been shut down, moved on or are under funded. Citizens have to deal with aging infrastructure, higher taxes and now bear the responsibility of maintaining alleyways, sidewalks and curbs or bringing their 100 year old homes into code compliance of new home standards.

Quality of life means a lot of things. It involves almost everything that influences a neighborhood from government regulations and ordinances, variety of housing stock, ratio of rental property to home ownership, household incomes, type of schools, cultural diversity, park services, youth programs, leadership and resident accountability. If you don’t have the recipe – that can be a tough cake to bake.

Freshly painted bike lanes in Wichita, Kansas

New plants being installed during Arbor Day at Waterway Park in Kansas City, Kansas

Unfortunately, there isn’t a recipe that fits every neighborhood or maybe any neighborhood. You can have meetings and sounding sessions that may help exposure the most pressing issues, concerns or trends but any long term solutions come from neighbors getting to know one another. Developing lines of communication and trust with government, civic organizations and surrounding neighborhoods. It comes from creating a common sense of purpose about why we live here and why it is important that we learn to work together toward common goals. Its about believing in who we are and that what we do matters. 

Creating those gathering places is the first step in moving those types of conversations from small groups on our front porches to engaging the greater community. Sharing our ideas and cultures. Developing trust and friendships. Working on projects together, engaging our youth and our government and finding ways we can work together to make our communities better.

Community Leadership Institute Success: the Sabor Del Northside Community Festival

By Sara Varela 
NeighborWorks America
Community Building and Organizing
communications specialist

This entry is reposted from the Leaders for Community blog: http://ow.ly/cFdyb

The NeighborWorks America Community Leadership Institute (CLI) is coming up in October, an event where local leaders from throughout the country gather together to learn how to better serve their communities. I have been generating excitement online using a Facebook group and this week I decided to read through the outcomes tagged as CLI projects to share success stories with the group. CLI outcomes are one of my favorite topics to read about, because the ideas for the projects are generated by a team of resident volunteers who attend this national event, and then go home full of energy and make positive changes in their communities. It is resident empowerment at its best.  Avenue Community Development Corporation (Avenue CDC) in Houston, Texas submitted this text and photos. This story is great because it shows what can be accomplished when residents who care partner with organizations that are ready to support them.
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“Schools, businesses, artists, community organizations, and residents came together at “Sabor Del Northside” to celebrate the great things in the Northside. What began as a brainstorm from eight resident leaders became reality as more than 1,000 people flocked to Ketelsen Elementary for this vibrant community festival.

Image courtesy of Avenue CDC and Epic Shots Photography

Even before the festival day, the “Sabor Del Northside” planning committee considered the event a success, because the planning process truly brought the community together. More than 50 organizations and businesses signed up to have booths at the festival to showcase their work. Project GRAD hosted a student art show on the next block. Local bands signed up to play, and cheerleaders and dance groups eagerly asked to perform. Parent-teacher organizations sold tacos and drinks to support their schools. Lindale Civic Club brought out children’s games and prizes. Marshall Middle School created elaborate decorations. It seemed that the idea of a festival, located in the heart of the neighborhood, sparked the collective imagination of the community.

Image courtesy of Avenue CDC and Epic Shots Photography

At the festival, it was clear that there is so much to celebrate in the Northside. The festival was also the groundbreaking for the new Ketelsen SPARK Park, a beautiful new community playground and park that will be built this summer.

The festival was funded by a $2,000 NeighborWorks America CLI grant, and including volunteer hours and in-kind donations, leveraged more than $43,000 in resources.”
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For additional photos from the Northside neighborhood and the great work they are doing visit their Facebook Page. To stay in touch with Sara Varela, you can use @SaraVarelaCBO on Twitter.

Environmental Justice and Community Education at NOAH

By Sara Varela 
NeighborWorks America
Community Building and Organizing
communications specialist

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting Neighborhood of Affordable Housing (NOAH) in East Boston, MA. The visit was part of a Community Building and Organizing Peer to Peer connection, a program we run to encourage our network members to visit and learn from each other. I was there as an observer. The visiting organization was San Juan Neighborhood Housing Services (San Juan NHS) from Puerto Rico. It was wonderful to meet and reconnect with the staff from both organizations

The agenda was so packed with content that, in one day, I learned more than I ever thought possible. We started our day with an interactive process where Kim Foltz, director of Community Building and Environment demonstrated how to engage a group using popular education techniques.

Members of the Chelsea Creek Action Group Youth crew
helped residents of all ages build new raised-bed gardens,
increasing access to affordable, healthy food in East Boston.

Popular education is a process which aims to empower people who feel marginalized socially and politically to take control of their own learning and to effect social change. Popular education indicates a collective effort in which a high degree of participation is expected from everybody. It was great to learn about this training tool as we actually saw it in action. Then Kim went on to engage the group in talking about environmental justice.

According to the EPA, environmental justice is “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” NOAH, takes this to heart. Their website states: "Community Building and Environment Department (CBE) works with community members to improve the environment, enhance the quality of life, and develop the leadership skills of residents in East Boston and beyond."

Staff from NOAH and San Juan NHS work together in a
hands-on activity prior to visiting the local neighborhood.

As I participated in this interactive session I couldn’t help thinking I was lucky to work in a place where I get to learn about these concepts, meet people who work making our world a better place, and see the results first hand.

Our morning sessions were followed by a walk around the neighborhood and lunch in a local restaurant. After lunch we had a tour of the different places where NOAH engages community residents and youth. This organization really puts the concept of popular education and environmental justice to work; they engage residents to identify and become part of the solution for their environmental topics. We met a youth leader who encourages youth and neighborhood children to engage in the local community garden, and involves children in summer activities; we visited the Chelsea Creek, and learned about the community’s effort to improve environmental conditions in this part of the neighborhood, and we learned about all the great youth activities this organization supports.

It was an excellent day to be outside, visiting the neighborhood and seeing how a group from East Boston exchanges ideas with a group from Puerto Rico. And, as if that weren’t enough, the whole day was ran in Spanish! The staffs at NOAH are bilingual, and bicultural and excellent at their job of engaging people.

I am a fan of social media and online tools, but there is nothing better than meeting the people I work with in person. Three cheers for the community building and organizing peer to peer visits! Read about them or share your stories via Twitter @SaraVarelaCBO #peertopeer.

Building Grassroots Leadership in South Carolina

By Hillary Rowe Wiley,
NeighborWorks America
public affairs and communications
advisor, Southern District

NeighborWorks America began in 1968 as a result of resident leaders who took up a charge to improve their neighborhoods (history here), so it makes sense that resident empowerment is still a crucial component of what we do.  One of the best ways we have found to promote resident leadership is to strengthen ties between local groups so they can develop their own networks, share and build best practices, and ultimately work toward solutions for complex challenges.

Last weekend NeighborWorks America’s Southern District, in collaboration with South Carolina Associations of Community Development Corporations (SCACDC) sponsored a Grassroots Leadership Institute (GLI) in Greenville, South Carolina. In keeping with our goal of engaging a variety of public and private partners, our partner SCACDC attracted the support of the City of Greenville, Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, TD Bank, GCRA and Homes of Hope.

The GLI attracted around 150 diverse grassroots leaders, ranging in age from young adults to retired citizens, all banding together to experience “Empowering Your Community from the Ground Up – with Real Solutions for Real People in Real Neighborhoods.”

Classes taught residents a variety of skills, including how to build safer communities, promote healthy living, develop political clout and strengthen personal leadership skills. Panelists included Southern District Director Donald Phoenix, South Carolina State Representative Chandra Dillard, and SCACDC President and CEO Bernie Mazyck. “Connecting with the community - being in conversations with emerging leaders to retired residents, sharing best practices and learning from folks at the grassroots level is the foundational work necessary to stabilizing and transforming communities,” said Phoenix.

Donald Phoenix with Rep. Chandra Dillard and Bernie Mazyck

During the event, I spoke of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale’s leadership principle: “looking for the gold” or positive in every situation. I chose this theme because I know community development can focus on everything that isn’t working – blight, drugs, poverty, all the things that can undermine a neighborhood’s stability and success. As a result, sometimes we forget to look at community assets. All too often we get into what is known as the failure habit – which is focusing on and complaining about everything and anything that’s not working. This can lead to feeling overwhelmed or burnt out, so it’s important to celebrate successes and focus on the positive.

I hope that as a result of the institute, many community leaders will return to their neighborhoods with new connections and new knowledge that can support their projects, and with expanded sense of possibility for what their communities could become. So far, what we heard at the conference supports this goal. One local pastor who had just returned to Greenville after a four-year stint in England, was initially unsure of the GLI saying he knew few people in Greenville and did not yet feel part of the community. However, by the conclusion of the institute he was fired up saying, “This was great! Now I’m connected to so many people, and I now know what to do to help create and change community on a level that’s very different from my traditional pastor role. Thanks so much. This was really great!”

I am proud what we’ve achieved already and I look forward to the stories and photos we’ll be gathering from all the local successes.

Department of Education's Place-Based Strategy

Reposted from the "Stabilize" blog of the NeighborWorks America Stable Communities program.
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This progress report, "Impact in Place: A Progress Report on the Department of Education's Place-Based Strategy," presents outcomes to date on efforts at a case study of San Francisco on efforts by the Department of Education to strengthen the role of schools in their communities. According to the report, "Communities that face underperforming schools, rundown housing, neighborhood violence, and poor health know that these are interconnected challenges and that they perpetuate each other....In the education world, the focus on place is particularly important, as it gives the Department a mechanism to see how its investments focused on 'in-school' levers of change interact with 'out of school' conditions for learning and the interventions meant to address them."

Elements of the theory of action include:

• Engage the Community Through Asset Mapping and a Needs Assessment
• Focus on Clear Results and Develop Shared Data Tools
• Integrate Programs From Cradle to Career
• Build Core Capacities Within Organizations and Communities
• Break Down Silos
• Capture and Share Learning

San Francisco put these elements into action to refocus citywide strategies into place-based ones, using a report from its Human Services Agency that indicated that many families accessed multiple services: mental health, juvenile justice, and foster care. It retargeted some of the $100 million flowing into two zip code areas to focus on 2,600 families with 5,800 children.

The Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation (i3) program supports the development and expansion of innovative practices that can serve as models for improving student and school outcomes. The program also identifies and documents best practices that can be shared and taken to scale based on demonstrated success. As part of the Obama Administration's Open Data Initiative, a large focus of the place-based focus has been on improving data reporting and use for effective programming.

Have any of these efforts trickled down to the places you work?

On the Road with Chuck: Part II

Chuck Wehrwein
NeighborWorks America COO

When I arrive in DC, I know I’ll be getting lots of questions about why I left the beautiful Rocky Mountains for the city life, so I want to explain my reasons here. The truth is that it was no easy decision. I’ve been living in Colorado for over 11 years and my children have grown up there, so I would not be headed east if I weren’t strongly motivated to join the NeighborWorks team.

In fact, my enthusiasm is already high enough for others to take notice. The day before I left Denver, my wife and I were meeting with LeeAnne, our realtor. When LeeAnne asked me to explain what NeighborWorks is about and why I was leaving, I spent several minutes describing the organization, its members and the great work that takes place in communities across the nation. LeeAnne was immediately struck by the passion in my voice, and commented that she, too, felt inspired by our vision of building strong, vibrant communities.

Pagedale Senior Housing was built across from
a Save-a-Lot grocery as part of the 24:1 initiative

I found a great example of this work in St. Louis last Friday. I met with Beyond Housing’s leader, Chris Krehmeyer. We talked a little bit about his experiences as a NeighborWorks organization and he showed me a small sample of the economic development projects and housing they’ve been building in the inner ring suburbs of St. Louis as part of a program called 24:1. This initiative has three main goals: strong communities, engaged families and successful children and it is addresses each goal by really integrating the various elements of community – from district schools to housing for the elderly to a new grocery store making fresh produce more available to residents.

Great work like this is inspiring and is indicative of why I am so pleased to be taking on my new role as COO. I’m looking forward to meeting with and hearing from more of our members in the coming weeks as we begin to formulate, together, how we can better develop responses to the myriad needs and opportunities in our communities across the country.

On the Road with Chuck: Part I

Chuck Wehrwein
NeighborWorks America COO

My name is Chuck Werhwein and I’m looking forward to being the next Chief Operating Officer for NeighborWorks America. In my new position, I will be overseeing activities in communities all over the US, so I’ve decided to make my journey to DC reflect that; I’m making a road trip from Denver, Colorado to Washington, D.C., and stopping to meet NeighborWorks staff and network members along the way.

Denver Convention Center’s
Blue Bear (Creative Commons)

Although I’ve been in the community development field for over 20 years (bio here), there is always more to learn. My goal is to make my first few months a time for listening. Right now, I’m most interested in answering one big question: “How can we accelerate community change in times of constrained resources?”

I jump-started my trip in Denver at the Rocky Mountain District office, followed by a visit many miles later with Midwest Regional Director John Santner and his team in Kansas City over delicious local BBQ.

Kansas City BBQ (Creative Commons)

In both places, I was struck by the breadth of our staff’s experience and their deep commitment to residents and members. Their diverse backgrounds and extensive knowledge are extremely valuable resources, critical to our corporation’s ability to deliver much-needed community services with limited staff and budgets. I left Kansas City with a real sense of optimism about our ability to work as partners while tackling the challenges that lie ahead.

My next stop is St. Louis, Missouri, where I’ll meet with Beyond Housing’s Executive Director Chris Krehemyer and gain the perspective of a network member. In the meantime, I’ll be reflecting on what I’ve learned and brainstorming ideas for the future.

Inspiration from New Orleans

By Alexandra Chaikin,
Online Media Project Manager

For the past four days I’ve been very lucky. I have been working in the vibrant, complex city of New Orleans at the NeighborWorks Training Institute, meeting many of the people who make positive social and economic change possible in communities across this country.

Every day I’ve heard new stories of success and transformation – turning superfund sites into urban gardens, empowering residents to build anew after Katrina, partnering with banks to stem foreclosures, the list could go on. What’s been most striking to me is the accumulated knowledge of the conference attendees and their willingness to share that knowledge, and receive knowledge from others, in service of the greater good.

I also saw with clarity the importance of NeighborWorks training division staff in making this exchange of ideas possible. I believe passionately in the value of online media (hence my title!), but it is the in-person conversations that often inspire new or improved courses of action. I applaud our staff for their work behind the scenes organizing the classes and meetings in a way that enabled these discussions.

For those of you who could not attend, or who want a quick reference for inspiration, here were some of my favorite quotes and photos:

Photo by Chad Klawetter via Instagram

“Our city is not in a rebuilding phase; it is in an opportunity phase.”
–Brian Lawlor, director of housing policy, City of New Orleans at resident leadership symposium

 “The Community Building and Organizing program has already surpassed its goal of developing 7000 resident leaders.”
–Eileen Fitzgerald, CEO of NeighborWorksAmerica at CB&O dinner

“The challenge is to constantly expand ordinary people's self confidence.”
–Marie Kennedy, keynote speaker at resident leadership symposium

The photo and quotes were submitted via Twitter. You can see more on our Storify page. You can also visit the Leaders for Communities site for materials and discussion related to the May 9 symposium on resident leadership. To learn about all of NeighborWorks' efforts in the Gulf, visit our website.

Getting Out the Vote for Starbucks' Vote.Give.Grow.

By Alexandra Chaikin,
Online Media Project Manager

As you may have seen on our NeighborWorks Twitter and Facebook pages, we are pretty excited about the results of the Starbucks Foundation Vote.Give.Grow. contest. Nine NeighborWorks organizations participated, and they raised a combined total of $125,000. Not too shabby.

First, a little background. Vote.Give.Grow. is a new initiative which allowed Starbucks cardholders to vote every week on how the foundation should allocate funds among 124 nonprofits nationwide. The best part? Every nonprofit selected for the contest is guaranteed to win at least $5000! That said, the object is to get the most votes, because more votes could mean thousands more dollars – up to $50,000 to be exact.

To find out how our network members succeeded in getting out the vote, I interviewed Matt Miller, communications and marketing director of Community Housing Initiatives (CHI) in Iowa. Matt explained that Starbucks first contacted them in March about the April contest. At first, they thought it was too good to be true, but, after doing their due diligence, they realized the magnitude of this opportunity. However, there was a big challenge, namely a competing nonprofit in Iowa with more than eight times the number of employees.

Matt, being the entrepreneur he is, went straight to the local Starbucks and worked with the store managers to hand out the Vote.Give.Grow. coasters he’d received from Starbucks Foundation (see image at right). Next, he did the same thing at libraries and the local hospitals. Then he jumped into digital media with a weekly email campaign and a big sign on CHI’s website.  His favorite marketing tool though? Social media. Twitter and Facebook allowed him to easily spread the word to local government and other nonprofits. CHI even made their main Facebook image include information about the contest.

In the end Matt helped CHI win first place in Iowa and a grant of $15,000, which they will use to fund an Eviction Prevention Program this summer. I haven’t had a chance to learn how all our other member organizations will use their funds, but I’m confident they will use them wisely, and I hope they will share their stories too. Feel free to send me an update at achaikin[at]nw.org or to post directly to the NeighborWorks America Facebook page.

A Recipe for Success: Creating Community Leaders from Scratch

By Sara Varela 
Community Building and Organizing communications specialist, NeighborWorks America

My blog on Leaders for Communities focuses on projects within the national Community Building and Organizing network. This post, on resident leadership development, highlights the activities of CB&O members offering training to promote and build community leaders across the country.

This Wednesday, January 25, Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida will be hosting a WebEX on how they put together their local Community Leadership Institute (CLI). A great article in the Miami Herald highlighted the CLI graduation ceremony recently. By developing resident leaders organizations like NHS of South Florida contribute to the overall stability of the communities they serve.

NHS of South Florida Community Leadership Institute
graduates celebrate.

Benji Power, NHS of South Florida’s director of Community Building and Organizing, said "Our overall goal is to help those residents make their neighborhood a place that they not only want to choose to stay in and live in, but hopefully other people will as well."

Finding the time to volunteer and be involved can be overwhelming. Resident leadership development programs help break down the enormous task of getting involved. I applaud the graduates of this leadership program and appreciate the efforts of NHS of South Florida for promoting resident leadership development.

NeighborWorks Lincoln, in Nebraska, also hosted a Community Engagement Initiative (CEI) using the “Building Leaders, Building Communities” curriculum created by NeighborWorks America. Residents in this program attend classes once a month for six months. NeighborWorks Lincoln provides a generous $2,500 to each team to complete their project.

And finally, Neighborhood Housing Services of Silicon Valley, in San Jose, California, held a Neighborhood Development Training conference (NDTC) that attracted 200 participants last fall. The NDTC featured free workshops taught by instructors who have experience improving local communities.

NHS of South Florida will be giving instruction how to build community leaders during this Wednesday’s WebEx  at 3 p.m. Participants will be encouraged to share experiences with resident leadership. Are you thinking of hosting or creating a leadership development program for residents in your community? Join NHS of South Florida this week and find out where to start.

NeighborWorks Member Homeport Brings ABC’s 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' to Ohio



The Rhodes family was surprised to learn they will
get a new home from ABC's Extreme Makeover.
WATCH THE VIDEO.
Tune in to ABC on Friday, Dec. 16 at
8pm, EST to see the transformation!

 

NeighborWorks member Homeport aka Columbus Housing Partnership assisted the ABC network program Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to bring attention to the Rhodes family and the forgotten Ohio neighborhood called American Addition, where they lived.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, the neighborhood has been singled out by Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman as “the most egregiously neglected urban neighborhood I have ever seen.” The mayor is investing $5 million to rebuild streets and alleys and install sidewalks, lights, curbs, waterlines and storm-sewer lines, while federal Neighborhood Stabilization Project money will help to pay for 150 new homes.

The city doesn’t have to worry about one of those homes, however. It has been rebuilt by the cast and crew of Extreme Makeover. The process started two years ago, when Homeport’s volunteers and staff went door to door talking to families and helping those interested in completing the lengthy application process. Homeport helped the families create videos to accompany their applications and helped shoot additional supporting video discussing the neglected neighborhood's history.

In August, the cast of Extreme Makeover knocked on the door of James and Jackie Rhodes and surprised them with the news that they had been chosen to receive a brand new home because of their family’s love and commitment to each other. The Dispatch reports that the Rhodes had taken in their daughter Mikia and her four children, after Mikia had emergency surgery to cure a brain tumor. She slept with her children — ages 7, 9, 15 and 18 — in the main sitting room on the first floor, while her parents occupied the only bedroom upstairs. The home was not only cramped, it was also in desperate need of repair.

Now thanks to Homeport and Extreme Makeover, the Rhodes have a brand new home for the holidays. The episode showing the whole process will air on Friday, December 16 at 8 p.m. Eastern time. Some members of the Homeport team made cameo appearances in the show as elves and others may appear talking about the organization's programs. Tune in!