Garnering Support in the Community

I spent my 30s on the board of a neighborhood association, and became known locally as a neighborhood activist. Once I even had my name on a lawsuit the N.A. filed against the city (and won!) I edited their monthly, advertising-supported newsletter for 8-1/2 years. That's 100 issues. In fact, that's how I got to know Joe Nation. He was one of my regular columnists. (I had major talent working on that little publication.)

N.A.s thrive on controversy. They die during peacetime. They're all like that. Nobody ever has time for them unless they're threatened. Then they want a big, powerful, politically-connected, well-organized machine in place, and they don't want to hear any "where-were-you"s.

Now, there are two schools of thought about participation. The first says you should constantly fan the flames of even the smallest controversy in order to keep up interest and participation. The second approach says it's perfectly okay to go into dormancy when nothing's going on, and trust that people will show up when you need them.

(psst...We tried it both ways. Option #2 is much easier on your blood pressure.)

I've designed a newsletter and have volunteered to take photographs, lay it out every month and print it. I suggested today that it may be the vehicle to use to attract more participation and you've underscored that Eva. What I'm beginning to realize is that we have to go outside of our little neighborhood and focus on the town. There are many flames to fan there.

How many homes are in the association?

How many times do you meet each yea?

A newsletter is really effective for motivating your board to stay active. They tend to not like it when the publication has no news to print about its own area!

It's also effective for maintaining a core group of volunteer workers. Don't do it all yourself, or you'll miss out on the opportunity to develop a volunteer base. You'll need writers, distribution people, representatives to attend community meetings and report back, etc. The more the better. Of course, don't TELL them this! Just ask them for one article at a time, then put them on the masthead when they've submitted two.

The newsletter will actually drive the organization, not vice versa. Just don't tell anybody that. (EVER.)

Make it a better publication than they deserve, and publish it on a rigid deadline schedule. (The volunteers who expect you to push deadlines for them are not the kind you need, believe me.) The rest of the volunteers will be proud to have such a "professional" image, and it will pay off in ways you can't count. Advertisers will literally line up. (I had a 1-year waiting list.) Professionals will offer to submit material and help in other ways. Those "in the know" will ask to be placed on your mailing list, and pretty soon your organization will start to become influential. Even if you only have 4 people at regular meetings, you will soon be seen as a powerhouse N.A.

Go get 'em, girl!

I drew the line at laying it out and offering to take photos. I've made it clear that I'm not a writer. That's not exactly true but I didn't want to be solely responsible, thinking/hoping that we may have more writers around. But we do need representatives to attend the community meetings and we discussed that today too.

There are approximately 40-50 families in all.

The neighborhood association I was in that was effective on an immediate level was small - covered a city block of single family houses, with alley between, with outreach past that. That one was not so much a neigborhood association as such, but neighborhood watch association. People did tend to show up at the meetings, which didn't happen all that often.. more like 4x a year.

We were in a fairly active community as a whole - a lot of us were involved in meetings organizezd by the city to consider land use issues. A lot of us went to town council meetings.

Later, we had a larger association which covered a lot of square blocks, with a board that represented us at larger city decision making boards; my husband was on that board a bunch of years - I can't say if the smaller neighborhood watch meetings still happened... and don't know about other than my own block; we were a pretty stable block, and the meetings sort of petered out as we already pretty much knew each other and had phone numbers. The larger association general meetings didn't happen all that often but were pretty well attended, held at the local grammar school.. whereas the board met more often than that, at different houses.

Our N.A. had approx. 800 "doors." We counted apartments, churches, schools and neighboring businesses.

It made lots of sense. What affects one affects everyone. We had considerably more power as a "mediating" organization rather than advocating for one group against the other, and it got us a whole lot more respect at zoning & planning board hearings. Didn't hurt advertising sales, either. :wink: )

BBB
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I live in a condo association - and I do not participate. Why? I work full time and have two young children. I rather spend those couple of hours with my children. My husband used to attend regularly though to represent us, but when he opened his business, he longer had the time.

As a suggestion - food - food always brings people.

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the purpose of the association, esp if you have no troubles?

I can see neighbours banding together in an area riddled with drug users, prostitutes, etc., but in a good neighbourhood, I am not understanding the point.

Could you not just get together when there's an issue?

hmmmm. geez. I don't know. Those are good questions mame. I guess it's a way to get to know your neighbors, for one. There were always neighborhood associations, or block clubs as they were called when I was growing up and my mother remained active. That's what attracted me to this and apparently, there was a group formed in the area years ago, it fizzled out and now they want to bring it back to life.

Food eh, Linkat? That's not a bad idea.

Yeah - people love to get something for free - like food - we do it to entice people to attend meetings at work.

Mame has a good point, though. What's the purpose? Figure it out and then capitalize on it.

Socializing opportunities? Plan a block party or some other regular social event.

Fund-raising for improvements to the neighborhood? Plan a fund-raiser, or work on that newsletter and watch the ad $$ come rolling in (Eva has some great ideas there.)

Maybe start with a questionnaire, or just going around door-to-door and asking people? See what they're interested in, what they'd want from the NA. That automatically gets them invested, too -- if they suggest a monthly coffee and then you start a monthly coffee, they're going to be happy that you used their idea, and they're going to try to get other people to come so that it's proven to be a good idea.

Thought:

Turn your meeting nights into a Trash/Treasure Occasion.

I've been going through cupboards--again--and am trying to get rid of some wind chimes, an Avon men's cologne, a stack of partially completed crossword puzzle books, a bag of cookie tins...

I don't want these things--but someone else would. I'd gladly go to a meeting with Trash/Treasure as part of the social hour.

These are great ideas. Thanks. I'll bounce them off of the president.

We found that people are much too busy these days to attend gatherings that are purely "get-to-know-you" socials. They will only make time if the meeting/event has a practical purpose.

So. Here are a couple of needs, and the events we held to accomplish them.

We had a small lake with a large waterfowl collection in the middle of the neighborhood. The City budget eliminated funding for food for the waterfowl, so we needed to raise funds. We held a HUGE neighborhood-wide garage sale at the lake on the Sunday before Labor Day. This was so successful it became an annual event. (Time required: weekly organizational meetings for 1 month prior, then a large crew the weekend of the event. Cost: minimal...publicized through neighbor kids' handmade posters, yard signs, and one newspaper ad. Assistance: local nature groups.)

After a particularly contentious and controversial redevelopment issue, we needed a way to get businesses and residents talking (about good things, not just zoning & development issues.) We held a big Holiday Party at one of the most popular neighborhood restaurants and invited everyone in the area...residents, business owners AND their employees. You just had to show proof of address or employment to get in. Several restaurants provided free food, and most of the other businesses provided door prizes. Almost everyone went home with something. What business doesn't want to cultivate neighbors as customers? And who's going to turn down a party with free (great!) food?! During the party, the N.A. officers informally surveyed the crowd for ideas for future projects. (Time required: organizational details handled at officers' meetings, officers spent 2 weeks before event gathering prizes, thank-you letters sent afterward. Cost: none...event publicized solely through N.A. newsletter and word-of-mouth to avoid outside party crashers. Assistance: local businesses.)

Feel free to ask me if you want more details.

The purpose of the neighborhood association is to know your neighbors and to address issues. The first is probably more important than the latter. Even if the neighborhood is made up of mostly families busy with "life," there are compelling reasons for building neighborhood relationships.

In knowing your neighbors, you also know who has a daughter that can babysit, who has a son that can do yardwork, who has a buzz saw you can borrow and who is a notary in case you ever need one. You also know who has an infant or elderly person in their home in case of fire, who owns the black lab that escapes on ocassion, and who needs help bringing their trash can to the curb on Wednesday morning.

Once those relationships are built, you also feel better about going on vacation. Your neighbors know who lives in your home, what cars should be in the driveway and if something isn't right, they will know it and respond. They know you, but with a relationship they also care about you, your family and your property.

We have over 1600 homes in our HOA and only get around 200-300 in attendance at the annual meeting. We have over a million dollar budget to approve and larger issues than associations with 100 homes, and still get less than 20% turnout since many of those that come are same home couples.

By far the biggest draw is food. Depending on your budget, you can plan to have the meeting followed by an association sponsored BBQ with a moon bounce for the kids. Or, a pot luck where each family contributes a dish. You can also do this as "Just Desserts" if it is an evening meeting and you expect everyone to have eaten beforehand.

Homes with children often find it difficult to find a sitter. Having the moonbounce and a couple of neighborhood teens or local high schoolers to watch the kids during the meeting would remove that obstacle to attending.

You can also add programming. Let the neighborhood know through the newsletter that a firetruck will be there for the kids and the Chief will talk after the meeting about fire safety, will check your household extinguishers, or discuss planning your families escape route in case of fire. You can also contact the Red Cross about offering a mini CPR class or having a neighborhood blood drive. You can follow the meeting with a Christmas tree disposal / recycle and have a couple of the members with trucks (and neighbors to help) gather live tree's that need to be disposed of in an environmentally friendly way.

I'm sure I'll think of more...

Here's a link to the bi-monthly newsletter I do. This one was a rush job - so don't expect great prose. I have to write it two months ahead of time to get it published and mailed.

That's terrific! Thanks.