Cooper Neighborhood Association

Cooper Neighborhood Association History

Developing a new concept for neighborhood organization

Good neighborhoods start with you and the neighbor next door.

Welcome to a new "neighborhood Concept.”

All Inclusive – No one left out.

Neighborhoods should be little communities where no one is left out or made to feel excluded. The little community must include not only the residents, but the businesses, schools, churches and other organizations that influence their lives. Responsible people must work together to preserve the safety and security of the people and their property and to provide the resources to help the young people grow into healthy, happy and productive citizens.

Defining neighborhood boundaries as the supply area for the neighborhood elementary school provides not only an all-inclusive concept for organization, but gives the organization the powerful focus and identity it needs to succeed. Families, schools, businesses, churches and social service organizations must cooperate to provide support for early childhood education if our young people are to succeed as they mature through their school years and into adulthood.

For the neighborhood to function as an organization, the defined area should be divided into manageable sized zones with responsible leadership over each zone. Each zone should then be divided into small areas with Block Captains representing each small area to provide communication between the residents and the organization. The Block Captains become the eyes and ears of the organization. Everyone in the area must be included if the organization is to represent the consensus of the neighborhood.

WHY is probably the most important question we can ever ask because it opens our mind to UNDERSTANDING, which leads to COMMITMENT and that is extremely important when working in community building.

The most obvious display of being good neighbors happens during times of crisis or catastrophe, yet this is normally the time of greatest chaos when organization is most needed.

South and East Alliance of Tulsa (S.E.A.T.) was an umbrella organization that represented all organized neighborhoods in City Council Districts 5 and 6 which is basically all of East Tulsa. We found that this area was so fragmented that only a small percent of the residents were represented by a neighborhood organization. There was no common identity for the residents so they had no sense of belonging. Most of the problems in a neighborhood come from those who feel EXCLUDED.

Don’t wait until a crisis has developed before organizing your neighborhood, because it is ten times worse than if preventive measures are in place to anticipate community needs.

We looked for boundaries that defined common interest and included everyone. We looked for something that the people could identify with and create a focus for the people in the area. Something that people could look to and say “Yes, that touched my family”. That led us to the local Elementary Schools and the defined boundaries of their feeder areas. Each Elementary School has defined feeder area boundaries and the total includes everyone in East Tulsa.

When we started to select a location for the pilot project of this new concept, the Cooper Elementary School gymnasium became the first option because the Principal, Janet Bassett, was very active in other community organizations and very supportive of the concept. In addition, the Councilman for District 6 and two Board members from S.E.A.T. lived within the feeder area boundaries of the Cooper Elementary School.

For the Cooper Project, Eric Paschall, Bobby Gray and Tom McBay were the committee that initiated the action. We sat down with the Cooper Elementary School Principal, Janet Bassett, and developed a list of families who were active in the school. We added to that list other families known to be active in the life of the community. A special printed invitation was mailed to each of the families on our list asking them to come to a meeting to discuss the possibilities of organizing the neighborhood. They came and we presented the concept of organizing a neighborhood where everyone is included, no one is left out, using the Elementary School feeder area boundaries as the neighborhood boundaries. The agenda was full of speakers who talked about the benefits of organized neighborhoods. They approved the concept and voted to support the idea.

A general meeting of all neighborhood residents was scheduled and a notice of the meeting was delivered to every house and apartment within the boundaries of the Cooper Elementary School feeder area. At that meeting, the Cooper Neighborhood Association was born.

Some one, or a group of people, must do a lot of work to get ready for an organizational meeting. Proposals must be prepared on how the area will be divided, how the leadership will be nominated and elected, who will direct the activities of the organization, what will be the name of the organization. The agenda for the meeting must include presentations on the purpose for organizing as well as the concepts on which the organization is formed. The residents must take ownership of the organization for it to be successful.

At the Cooper organizational meeting we were prepared to propose that the two square mile area be divided into eight zones with a Zone Leader for each zone. The Board of Directors would be composed of a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, the Newsletter Editor and the eight Zone Leaders. At the next meeting we incorporated the organization with the President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer and the Officers of the Corporation. The Board of Directors also drafted By-Laws for the organization and they were adopted at the second meeting. The members of the first Board of Directors were:

President, Tom McBay, 1636 S. 117 E. Ave., 74128

Vice-President, Pat Kendall, 12312 E.15 Street, 74128

Secretary, Janell Meyers, 2020 S. 120 E. Ave., 74128

Treasurer, Eric Paschall, 12420 E. 14 Place, 74128

ZONE LEADERS

Zone 1: Dora Cooper, 11703 E. 16th Street, 74128

Zone 2: Rose Higdon, 1848 S. 123 E. Ave., 74128

Zone 3: Rod Couey,12466 E. 13 Street, 74128

Zone 4: James Grace, 1401 S. 117 E. Ave.,74128

Zone 5: Kevin Corlew, 1835 S. 129 E. Ave.,74108

Zone 6: Dennis Mariani,1710 S. 141 E. Ave., 74108

Zone 7: Jennifer Weaver, 14343 E. 12 Street,74108

Zone 8: James Madsen, 1224 S. 131 E. Ave., 74128

Newsletter Editor: Sue Lawrence, 1730 S. 117 E. Ave., 74128

The new Cooper Neighborhood boundary includes several of the fragmented neighborhoods that existed prior to the new organization. The only active Association within the group was the Cherokee Village Neighborhood Association. The members of CVNA met and voted to transfer its membership and treasury into the new Cooper Neighborhood Association and to disband its organization to become a part of the new organization. The CVNA Treasury paid membership dues for 66 families into the new Cooper Neighborhood Association.

A Cooper Neighborhood Association website has been set up with the address: www.neighborhoodlink.com/tulsa/cooperna.