How Neighborhood organizations improve the social and physical environment of the neighborhood

In October, 2016, NCR requested approval from the City Council to develop Neighborhoods 2020 recommendations in partnership with NCEC and neighborhood organizations around the City. NCR committed to answer seven specific questions in its recommendations to City Council, the first of which is "What are the unique services provided by neighborhood organizations to residents and the City?"

There will be a lot of follow up posts to fully elaborate on all of this. Sorry, can't be helped. But the honest truth is that neighborhood organizations do a lot of work, and a lot of different kinds of work. It is impossible to effectively summarize all of the incredible work that neighborhood organizations do.

"What are the unique services provided by neighborhood organizations to residents and the City?"

As I mentioned in a previous post, there are three independent, large and robust sets of data available:

• PlanNet. The PlanNet database has been used to monitor and report on NRP expenditures from the beginning of the NRP in 1991. PlanNet reflects how neighborhood organizations, through resident based planning, have chosen to prioritize use of NRP funds. While most funds were required by law to go to housing, neighborhood organizations had a lot of latitude to determine how to allocate and direct use of funds.
• CPP Annual Reports. For several years, NCR has required neighborhood organizations to provide annual reports on their activities, and the information from these reports were consolidated into consolidated annual reports that were mailed to neighborhood organizations and posted online.
• The Summary of Findings from the 2017 Neighborhood Cafe's, hosted by neighborhood organizations in parternship with the NCEC and NCR last year, specifically with the intent of answering this very question. More than 500 people participated in these meetings, using a small group discussion format, to discuss their hopes and expectations for neighborhood organizations in the future.

I will follow to some degree the outline of the Neighborhoods 2020 Summary of Findings, but the data from this source is also well supported by the PlanNet and CPP Annual Report data as well.

Improving social and physical environment of neighborhood:

Participants at the Neighborhoods 2020 Cafe's in 2017 identified a number of neighborhood programs that were important to them, including neighborhood safety, youth services, responding to local development and housing issues, community beautification and immigrant services.

For many years, this was the core of the City's Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP), and neighborhood organizations have had a significant impact on the physical and social environments of their community.

They organize community cleanups, block clubs and block patrols. They respond to development proposals by organizing hearings and providing input. For decades, neighborhood organizations invested NRP funds into housing programs, ranging from basic "fix and paint" programs to major rehabs. Neighborhood organizations invested in and encouraged commercial corridor renewals, such as Eat Street along Nicollet Avenue.

Neighborhood organizations have also organized and provided numerous services for people in their communities. The PlanNet database shows that they have invested in youth and senior programming, safety initiatives, and recreational programs. During the hey day of NRP activity in the 1990s, some neighborhood organizations invested NRP funds in block nurse programs and community clinics, as well as economic development programs such as investing in business associations and economic development projects.

Example: Citizens for a Loring Park Community Board Members

In their 2016 annual report, Citizens for a Loring Park Community reported on the multiple ways their board members volunteer time in the community to improve the social and physical environment of the neighborhood:

"Board members have taken on individual outreach projects like: Neighborhood Memory Project, Loring 365, Abate Graffiti Project, Neighborhood Tree Project/Ash Tree Inoculation, and Remove Cattails from Loring Pond, and Outreach to individual buildings."

The CLPC report highlights an often overlooked role of Board members. In addition to the time they spend at neighborhood organization board meetings, these board members also are very active in the community: serving on committees, organizing community cleanups, working with residents. While they spend lots of time in meetings, sometimes their most important role is in the form of the conversation with neighbors over the backyard fence.

Example: Concerned Citizens of Marshall Terrace rain gardens

Concerned Citizens of Marshall Terrace reported in 2017 on their work to install more rain gardens in the neighborhood:

"Marshall Terrace Marshall Terrace partners with Metro Blooms Organization to install rain-gardens in Marshall Terrace. In April of 2016 Marshall Terrace utilized $2,500.00 of the NRP Phase II Environmental contract dollars with Metro Blooms Organization to install 5 rain gardens throughout Marshall Terrace. Residents signed up to have a raingarden installed on their property. In August of 2016, raingardens were installed on 5 properties. Each project included an onsite consultation, a 200 sq. ft. maximum plot, garden materials, and a plant design. The Conservation Corps of Minnesota performed the excavation of the gardens, mixed in compost, applied mulch, and disposed of sod/soil with Metro Blooms’ oversight. Marshall Terrace will contract with Metro Blooms in spring 2017 for the installation of 5 more raingardens throughout Marshall Terrace."

Example: Midtown Phillips Neighborhood Association New Americans

Midtown Phillips Neighborhood Association reported on its work with immigrant organizations to improve life for New Americans in their neighborhood:

"We work with New Americans Youth Soccer Club in order to conduct outreach to new Somali and East African families in the area. We also work with Somali-American radio, the first of its kind, to provide outreach and news about neighborhood events and pertinent city news to the Somali speaking residents of the Midtown Phillips area. MPNAI also hosted a ‘Know Your Rights’ forum in order to raise awareness about immigrant rights in the area. Through this, we partnered with MIRAC, the Mexican Consulate, as well as St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. MPNAI also partners with Banyan Community, an organization dedicated to creating a sense of community on blocks where there previously may have been none. These block clubs aid in the creation of relationships between neighbors and create a sense of safety and belonging for new residents to the area."

These are just a few of the many examples reported by neighborhood organizations that demonstrates the wide variety of ways the they help improve the social and physical environment of their neighborhood.