Community Caring Conference

The organizational mission of NUSA has, since its inception in 1975, has been to build and strengthen neighborhood associations and to promote productive communications and collaborations between those associations and both the public and private sectors. The organization has, for over thirty years, served these broad objectives in part through the conduct of an annual conference. This provides an opportunity for people from all locations, sectors and levels of society to discuss the pressing issues of the times, share experiences and offer encouragement or assistance.

This year over four hundred people from twenty-five states plus new NUSA members from Japan attended the Neighborhood USA event that was held in Spokane, Washington. 

On more personal note, I was not sure what to expect.  In essence my perception of several days full of numerous meetings and four days out of my normal schedule, made me a bit anxious.  However, as we boarded our flight from Minneapolis to Spokane, several NUSA travelers from various places were excitedly welcoming NUSA attendees and shouting long awaited hellos to old friends they had made during previous years attending the NUSA conferences.  I figured then that there might be more to this event than just meetings and workshops.  Boy was I right!

As we arrived at Spokane I could not help to notice the beautiful green scenery and the overall cleanliness of the city.  The conference was held in downtown Spokane, where over the past decade the Partnership for Downtown Spokane has revitalized the area to the tune of 3.7 million dollars.  Over 800 projects overseen by the Downtown Renaissance has transformed downtown Spokane into a “Twenty-four hour City” which has made downtown Spokane the cities focal point with amenities for every age visitor.

Spokane’s biggest tourist destination is the Spokane River and with the river as its mark the city has built an array of attractions to get families, visitors, developers, and businesses owners to the downtown area.  Downtown Spokane puts to mind the possibilities of downtown Rock Island.  In fact we already have in place the essential assets to a vibrant downtown such as the Mississippi river, arts district, dining, businesses, neighborhoods, history, the bike/walk paths and vision.

The NUSA conference brought out a diverse group of neighbors.  Attendees included everyone form the everyday neighborhood to city mayors and everyone in between.  Every age, race, religion, and social status was represented at this convention all working together and sharing ways to address issues within our communities.

Although our cities are miles and miles apart, our challenges were quite the same and the Neighborhoods, USA conference is a wonderful way to learn how to revitalize antiquated ways of addressing issues and share new ideas for making our communities safer, healthier, and more vibrant.

 I attended numerous workshops related to my position at Community Caring Conference. I attended sessions on Neighborhood Watch Programs, Collaborating Efforts to Suppress Violence, Simplifying the Community Organizing Process and Empowering Youth as Neighborhood Partners.  

The first workshop I attended was Revitalizing Neighborhood Watch.  The presenters for this workshop were the National Sheriffs Association and the National Neighborhood Watch Program. 

Neighborhood Watch is one of the oldest and most well known ways of preventing crime.

This workshop gave new ideas and helpful resources about keeping neighborhood watch groups going after the excitement of the first meeting.  Although neighborhood watch was traditionally formed to keep a watch out for crime in your neighborhoods, new age

ways if watching out for your neighborhood is by Building and Strengthening Disaster Readiness Among Neighbors.

For instance if there is a disaster in our area that is so large that it effects a large portion of our community, it could be hours or days before professional help or emergency services can get to some areas.  Training neighbors in disaster readiness would add a second level of support for neighborhoods during a disaster.  Another way of keeping neighbors fresh and involved in neighborhood watch is through Community Oriented Policing Services or COPS programs or through special events like National Night Out Against Crime and monthly block club or neighborhood association meetings.

Community Collaborating Efforts to Suppress Violence in communities was a workshop designed to help us look at violence and specifically gang violence from a larger perspective.  The presenter Tim Burns Neighborhood Preservation Division Manager in Visalia California helped organize a multi-agency collaboration that resulted in a program identified as Step UP.  One of the many hands extended from this program to help neighborhood children “step up” from a life involved in gang activity, violence, and drugs is called LOOP Bus. 

Step Up conducted a survey of children in the Visalia school district asking them how the community could help them resist gangs and violence.  The children responded by saying if they had access to recreational facilities and fun programs to keep them busy after school, it would keep them from hanging out in the neighborhood where gangs recruit members and encourage them to participate in criminal activity.

The community collaboration raised the money to purchase a bus that runs a loop every hour through underserved neighborhoods and transports children free of charge to different structured activities that are out of walking distance.  The children who ride LOOP bus participate in monthly anti gang and violence workshops provided by Step UP volunteers who have been involved and counseled out of gang life.

 The LOOP Bus has been operating for over seven years with the support of the community based Step Up collaboration, city bus drivers, volunteers, and private donations.

I also attended a training workshop for Community Organizers.  Simplifying the Community Organizing Process.  This workshop informed participants of the who, what, when, where, and how of community organizers.

 Over 150 community organizers added valuable personal experiences to the information that was provided in this training. The instructor, Dr. Elton Gatewood, has been organizing communities for over 30 years. Dr. Gatewood provided a strategy for taking a simple process for organizing and making a big impact towards a well organized community.

The approaches to community organizing was displayed to us in specific steps from Assessing the Issue, Gathering Information, Setting Goals and Priorities, Discussing Solutions, Choosing the Best Solution, Developing Action Steps, Arranging Funding, and Carrying Out Activities.

One of the added components to the Community Organizing workshop was how to organize and effective meeting.  The Effective Meeting workshop for community organizers explained how to hold a productive meeting, keep the meeting focused, and gave examples of how to keep the fire burning after the initial gathering.  It also gave ideas on how to keep volunteers motivated and how to keep non-profit staff from burning out.

 Neighborhood Self-Help Projects is a new spin on neighborhood block club activities.  After the most pressing issues in a neighborhood have been favorably resolved or not, block clubs sometimes (often) lose momentum.  If a group wants to stay active, it is usually necessary to begin addressing some ongoing neighborhood concerns.

A steady stream of projects that address the physical, recreational, and social needs of a neighborhood group can provide a rallying point for a group’s effort as well as build the credibility of the group as a moving force in the community.

Empowering Youth as Neighborhood Partners was the last of the workshops that I attended.  This workshop described youth as being powerful, untapped resources for neighborhoods.  Americas Promise is the national initiative that was the focus of this training and the basis for the Chase Youth Commission that was formed in Spokane.

A partnership with the City of Spokane, Spokane County, and Spokane’s Promise Alliance formed the Chase Youth Commission, which is funded by an endowment fund from previous Mayor Jim Chase.  The Youth Commission became a City/County agency in 1998 and consists of eight youth and eight adult mentors.

The Chase Youth Commission advises both the Spokane City Council and Spokane County Board on youth issues related to their community and pursues its own agenda of

programs and community activities.  For over two decades the Commission has developed infrastructures for youth involvement in local government, community investment in youth and their communities.

Because of Spokane’s commitment to the Americas Promise, the development of the and activities of the Chase Youth Commission, Spokane County has been named one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People for the last three years.

It was a privilege to attend the 2009 Neighborhoods, USA Conference. I look forward to sharing the things that I learned, practicing the training I received, and possibly implementing some of the projects that where shared at this conference in our community.  This experience will help me to more effectively perform my job as an organizer, collaborate more successfully with project partners, build better business relationships, and be an asset to my community.

Submitted by,

Angela Richardson

Community Caring Conference