First, it’s important to remember that most people in your neighborhood are, in one way or another, already organized. Which is a good thing: it’s not very effective to try to organize one person at a time. So a good first step is to map the groups that the residents of your area already belong to. A good brainstorming session with the members of your steering committee will give you a good start, but don’t stop there. You need to identify all the groups in your area that can help you make your plan a reality—and that will require some research and a lot of further conversation.

It will also require, at a very early stage, a physical map of your neighborhood that takes geographic realities into account. Some of these elements could include: