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Permalink Reply by Margy Meath on November 1, 2011 at 10:03pm

Hi Laura-

Our club started informally by simply organizing neighbors. Sallie Schafer and I invited neighbors to Sallie's home the Fall after we experienced a shooting on our street.  About 10 neighbors showed up and enjoyed an evening of getting to know one another. As a group, we decided to reach out to other neighbors and agreed to meet regularly.  This occurred via personal invitations and flyers. Judi Baker taught us about Court Watch and we sent several letters to the Courts re: the incident that occurred on our street.

Along the way we started planning 'events' - block parties, MLK luminary events, education events (we sponsored a presentation on gangs in the 19th ward), safety/burglary training, christmas caroling, planting daffodils, Cat group,  planters on street corners, porch watch, clean sweep, ravenwood garden clean up, etc. Our group has also attempted to work with the NET/NSC office about various property/code issues - that's a huge challenge and major headache!

At some point, some neighbors wanted the group to become more 'formal' (i.e. by-laws and election of  officers). A few people worked on establishing the by-laws and we 'elected' officers. This occurs annually  - people can nominate themselves for an office and/or be nominated by neighbors. The 'officers' are charged with organizing meetings but most of our current activities/events are organized by anyone who wants to take the lead with something. We have some awesome, regular people who take the lead with various activities and events.

Early on, we had regular (Monthly) meetings but finding adequate space to have them was a challenge as more people started attending meeting.  Several years ago,  the 19WCA turned down our request to use their space ( our group was viewed as being 'difficult' by some of the leadership during that time). During nice weather, we have used people's yards but most of our homes were not able to comfortably hold more than 8 people. We also used Boulder for a while but that presented some challenges. 

In terms of communication, we established a "Yahoo" group where information can be shared. We also have gone door to door for some things - i.e. delivering flyers re: special events.

 

We had some money from a Neighborhood grant 4 years ago - we used that for flower pots, a block party and something else (I can't remember). Pat Jackson at SWAN agreed to be the fiduciary for that money. We spent that money and didn't apply for another grant (yet) so now financing comes from donations. We have some generous people on the street who have contributed to various events.

Some of my neighbors get a little disappointed that it tends to be the 'same people' that do things and/or take the lead but i tend to think that this is typical in life and that most people contribute what they can/when they can. That said, it's important to keep reaching out and not give up on what we know works for community - relationships, communication, being open to new ideas and using one another for support when we want to give up!

 

Hope this helps!