Cooper Neighborhood Association

How to Develop a Neighborhood Organization

New Neighborhood Concept

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.

We are going to promote this concept and tell you about the pilot project that we now have going in one of our East Tulsa neighborhoods. The pilot project is the “Cooper Neighborhood Association” and that neighborhood area is defined by the boundaries of the feeder area for Cooper Elementary School. We will be telling you more about this project as we go through this outline.

NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATION
A New Concept

Why should neighborhoods be organized?
When should neighborhoods be organized?
What should the neighborhood include?
Where should the neighborhood be organized?
Who should organize the neighborhood?
How should the neighborhood be organized?

We will be discussing each of these questions during this presentation.

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.

Why should neighborhoods be organized?
You can think of many reasons why neighborhoods should be organized and they will probably include some of the following:
· To develop a vision for the neighborhood
· To provide communication
· To promote safety
· To promote the healthy and constructive development of ourchildren
· To protect property values
· To provide neighborhood identity
· To identify and prioritize neighborhood needs
· To develop neighborhood consensus on issues
· To identify and develop neighborhood assets
· To identify and prioritize neighborhood problems
· To develop power in problem solving
· To provide resources in time of crisis

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 was 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.

When should neighborhoods be organized?
The need for neighborhood organization is always present.

· When someone in the neighborhood recognizes the potential of organization
· When neighbors agree to unite
· Prior to chaos time

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

What should the neighborhood include?
To get started with an organization you must know who is involved.

· Neighbors – whoever they are
· Neighbors with a common identity that binds them together
· Neighbors with similar interests that gives them focus
· Neighbors with common needs that require joint effort
· Neighborhood schools
· Neighborhood businesses
· Neighborhood churches
· Neighborhood organizations
· Neighborhood services (Police, Fire, Health Care, etc.)

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.

Where should the neighborhood be organized?

· Within the neighborhood
· Start with a neighborhood that will support organization
· Community Center within the neighborhood area
· In the Elementary School building

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 Janet Bassett, the Principal at that time, 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.

Who should organize the neighborhood?

· The initiator – some one person has to get it started
· Others whom the initiator knows to be concerned about the neighborhood
· The Elementary School principal and/or PTA president
· Selected active neighborhood residents
· All neighborhood residents
· Representatives from churches, schools, businesses, organizations,etc.

For the Cooper Project, Eric Paschall, Bobby Gray and I 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.

How should the neighborhood be organized?

These are suggestions from our experience in forming the Cooper Neighborhood Association:

· Divide the boundary area into manageable sized zones
· Define a Board of Directors for the organization
· Schedule a meeting to develop support for an organization
· Schedule an organizational meeting for all residents
· Elect Officers and Zone Leaders
· Develop By-Laws for the organization
· Incorporate as a 501-C3 organization

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. Samples of the By-Laws and the Incorporation forms are available, if you are interested.

A Cooper Neighborhood Association website has been set up and this information will be available on that website.

The address is: www.neighborhoodlink.com/tulsa/cooperna.

If you are interested in forming a Neighborhood Association along these lines, we have a handout of suggested steps that you may follow to get you started. If you have questions about the concept, we will spend the remainder of this period discussing them with you. If we can be of any help in the future, please feel free to get in touch with one of us and we will do what we can to help.