Washington Park Neighborhood Preservation and Enhancement Dist.

" NUSA " 2004 in HOLLYWOOD FLORIDA

Feb 01, 2004

The City of Hollywood is proud to host the 29th Annual Neighborhoods USA Conference in Hollywood, Florida. The conference is scheduled from May 26th through the 29th, 2004 at the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa, 3555 South Ocean Drive, Hollywood, Florida 33019.
Theme: Bridging Cultures in Our Communities

As neighborhood representatives, many of our most successful ventures have been through collaborations and partnerships ?– the bringing together of people, ideas and resources from various agencies, backgrounds, etc. The theme of the 2004 NUSA Conference is to highlight those successes and share them with the conference participants. As your proposal is being developed, please organize your potential workshop with the above theme in mind.

The following tracks are being proposed with a potential listing of topics under each. The listing is not intended to be all inclusive but to serve as a guideline. We look forward to receiving your proposals.

We are looking for innovative, interactive and proactive workshops. If you have the knowledge, passion and experience in one of the topics listed below, please consider presenting at NUSA 2004 in Hollywood.



CONFERENCE PRESENTATION TOPICS

Neighborhood Revitalization:
Turning around a community requires the involvement of many entities to be successful ?– residents, owners, businesses, houses of worship, human services and government.

Suggested topics: Effective neighborhood planning efforts: Partnering businesses and residents; Bringing economic development to your neighborhood; Turning NIMBYs [Not in My Back Yard] into SUREs [Securing Underserved Residential Efforts]; Preserving your neighborhood?’s history; Parks, Bikeways and Neighborhoods Do Work; Effective Code Enforcement and dealing with chronic violations; Effective housing efforts; State Government in neighborhood revitalization.

Organizing and Operating Neighborhood Associations:
Getting started, and how to keep it going, is critical to the success of an organization. Find out some ways that other associations have been successful in keeping out the infighting and conflict while successfully addressing the needs of the community.

Suggested topics: Reaching out to all neighbors; Sustaining and increasing membership; Neighborhood Association 101; Neighborhood Leadership Programs; Getting the word out ?– effective marketing for neighborhood associations; Can?’t we all get along?

Neighborhood and Community Safety:
One of the most basic components in a neighborhood is safety. Learn how other communities address safety issues in their neighborhoods.

Suggested topics: Fighting drugs and prostitution on the street corners, What is CPTED and how to use it successfully in your neighborhood; Traffic calming ?– making it happen; Dealing with Slumlord properties; Successful Citizen on Patrol programs; Taking it to court [lawsuits and courtwatch]; Addressing Public Nuisances; Addressing Gang Activity; Disaster resistant neighborhoods; Weed & Seed-beyond the basics.

Faith-Based Initiative:
The faith-based community is an untapped resource in many communities. In a faith community where one?’s faith is shown through good deeds, learn how some houses of worship are reaching beyond their congregations to make a difference.

Suggested topics: Working on a neighborhood block by block; Putting the Faith in your Neighborhood; Faith and Government can work together; Youth faith-based efforts, Economic development and faith based efforts.

Funding and Resources:
Revitalization and redevelopment cannot happen on ?“sweat equity?” alone. Learn about the types of resources and funding programs that may be available to assist your efforts in the community.

Suggested topics: Community Development Block Grant; neighborhood grant programs; Police forfeiture funds; private foundations; Fundraising for a cause; Getting sponsorship; Effective grant writing 101 and 102.

Collaborations:
This Workshop Track is an invitation for any type of partnership whose foundation is for building community/neighborhood involvement, improvement.

Arts and Culture:
Public art is more than something to look at. It can be functional, a government mandate or an expression of history or culture. See how other communities include arts and culture in their neighborhoods.

Suggested topics: Public Art 101; Preserving one?’s culture through art expression; Graffiti as art; Functional art in neighborhoods; Murals and more.

Technology:
Technology is supposed to be a way to make life easier. Not sure how to get into the 21st century: Find out how technology can be used to get the word out, increase membership, reduce costs and find new partnerships.

Suggested topics: Soliciting input through a neighborhood listbot; Creating a webpage 101, Mapping on computer, Researching neighborhood data the easy way, Promoting your neighborhood through the internet.

Spanish:
In this Workshop Track we are looking for similar presentations on important issues for the Hispanic non-speaking English population.

Youth:
Today?’s youth is tomorrow?’s future. What greater way to plan for the future than to include youth in planning.

Suggested topics: Youth Advisory Councils; Youth Crime Watch; Teens giving back to the community; Youth and Faith-based initiatives; Youth panel on getting youth involved.



CONFERENCE REGISTRATION
The following documents are available for download. These documents are in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format. If you do not have the free Acrobat Reader, click here.

NUSA Registration Form
NUSA Conference Registration Book