How Can Community Organizations Stay Vital?
Urban, suburban, and rural areas all form community organizations when the need arises. Usually the idea of a neighborhood association comes up when someone wants to socialize more with neighbors or when there are problems to resolve. Or you may have have become a homeowners association member when you bought a condo or home in a development that owns common ground. Sometimes community organizations are important even if not many folks in the neighborhood seem interested. When social justice is lacking, people sometimes don't have the self-esteem necessary to act for themselves. An excellent site on this subject is called self-esteem and community organizing. In keeping with the informality of the Useful Community Development website, we think that a low degree of formality works best in most community organizing. Define your reasons for forming a group clearly, and only later grow into complexities such as incorporating and having an office.
In many cases a temporary community organization is all that you will be able to sustain. To avoid frustration and burnout yourself, it is healthy to recognize that reality. Americans are not as interested in committing to voluntary associations as when the Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville wrote about that subject in the 1830s. A temporary alliance may fit your needs just fine. Having said that: 1. Small cities and towns almost always need community organizations and will benefit from a few small area associations 2. Sub-areas of cities should almost always define their boundaries and form neighborhood associations, starting small and informal 3. Many suburban neighborhoods now are old enough or obsolete enough to experience the ongoing flow of issues that call for an organization, and 4. Rural neighborhoods also can improve their appearance and functioning through boundary definition and shared problem-solving. Keep your organization as light and fun as the circumstances allow. Remember to incorporate community building, by which we mean people growing a firmer sense of being a unified community and a greater loyalty to community goals. Social and celebration experiences are part of increasing trust and are important to building a sense of community, the idea that this place is special and deserves our support, and that we all are relating to each other about this shared sense of place. Much more about whether to and how to start a neighborhood association is discussed here. Organizing for Results from GovernmentRather than investing effort in officers and rules in the early stages of your organization, you will be better served by building up your local government relations, if government can assist you in resolving the issues that bring you together. Invite officials to all your meetings, send them newsletters, and give them ample opportunities to speak, grandstand, and receive awards.Even if you oppose an elected official, keep the relationship as civil as possible. Depending on the culture where you are, your local government may be threatened by the fact that you have formed a community organization, so anticipate their defensiveness. Expect that the city or town government won't automatically see the importance of what you are doing. Develop one or more effective spokespersons for your organization. It's also worth learning about writing a petition as a simple way to show neighborhood solidarity about an issue. Sometimes numbers count more than eloquence. >> Back to Top Advocacy with OthersEverything you do to make your point about what you want others to do in or for your neighborhood or community can be described as advocacy. However, advocacy also might include pleading with a large institution in your area, such as a place of worship or a hospital. So we've included a separate page for neighborhood advocacy, but suggestions overlap with local government relations.Getting Your Messages AcrossThe second valuable activity for your community organization is communicating your message, both internally and externally as needed. Media relations are critical to your success. Again, even if you really think your local media give you a raw deal, be quiet and be nice to them. They have the power to make you look really good or really bad.For your internal audience, that is, your members, don’t leave it to the media. Have your own medium, whether that is a conventional neighborhood newsletter, a website, an electronic newsletter, or a combination. Unless you have a neighborhood that is 100% Internet-savvy, don’t rely on a website for all communication. You need to learn about writing a neighborhood newsletter. Your newsletter can be distributed monthly or every other month, by postal mail to members only or to every address. Directories, your local government, or property ownership databases on the Internet might give you every address, or you might find it easier to drive or walk around and note every address. Check to see if you can meet the requirements and hassle of a bulk mailing permit, which saves significant money on postage. The other option is to use volunteers to distribute newsletters by walking through the neighborhood. Do not place them in the U.S. mailboxes, as that is illegal. Depending on your architecture, that could mean slipping them into screendoor handles, onto porches, or into plastic doorhangers before hanging on doorknobs. Private delivery services are cost-effective in some cities. >> Back to Top Growing Your Own LeadersIn some areas, where the population is not highly educated, leadership development and board training will be a major challenge for your community organization. In almost every area of the U.S. an extension service from the state university or some similar organization that may be able to provide individualized training in leadership or point you to other groups that offer that service.You should not have to pay for expensive business leadership training. And don’t overlook the free training that comes by networking with other community associations in your area or state. As your neighborhood association grow more sophisticated, opportunities to attend statewide or even national conferences will arise. Later Steps: Money, Planning, and Expert HelpSooner or later, community organizations need some money. In areas where income is level and adequate, such as subdivisions or planned communities, you might simply charge each household for participation in each event. However, in most urban and rural settings, that is not practical. Before you organize your bake sale, car wash, or raffle, consider how to fundraise from a more comprehensive point of view.If you envision yourself as a permanent community organization, after a year or so you may want to engage in some strategic planning for your association. In strategic planning, you will look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) to your organization. You might do that on your own or with assistance from a trained facilitator or one of your members who has experience in the business or non-profit world with such planning. Strategic planning is separate from community planning, an entire section of useful-community-development.org. In fact, here's a link to tips about hiring community planning consultants. Whether you are planning or fundraising, or simply addressing the issue that caused you to come together, you may need what is broadly called technical assistance. This umbrella term describes help from an outside person with training or education pertinent to your issue. Look for help when you don't know what to do next, disagree internally, or observe that your results are not as good as hoped. The university extension offices or various large community groups may provide technical assistance. But if you want detailed, prolonged, and personalized attention, you will have to learn about consultants. The term consultant usually means a person or business that you pay for services. So a consultant is not for you until you have a significant amount of cash, or receive a grant. At useful-community-development.org, you can learn from each other as you share your stories and photos with us. We will incorporate stories about community development that seem beneficial to our users. The first step in sharing your work is to send us a description of your project or organizational hint on the form. And then we will contact you if we need more information. A final suggestion is to work your way deeply into this site, as it includes many resources. Community organizations, neighborhood associations, and homeowner associations (HOA) will find many applicable topics. >> Back to Top Return from Community Organizations
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