| Once you’ve identified all of the influential
groups in your neighborhood, it’s time for the real work to
begin. It will be important for someone on your steering
committee to go out and meet with each of these groups for two
important reasons. First, you want to begin building a
relationship with the leaders of each group. Second, you will
gain insight into the passions and interests of each group—and
so have a better idea of where their talents, interests, and
energies can fit into the big picture of your neighborhood
quality-of-life plan. Fortunately, you don’t have to start in a vacuum: you already have an
idea of your groups’ interests and abilities. For example, if
you go out and meet with the local youth soccer league, it makes
sense to start the discussion with recreation or youth issues.
But don’t stop there. The best part about meeting with
neighborhood groups is that you never know how they’ll overlap.
One of the soccer league board members may be a teacher at the
local elementary school—which may give you a connection to the
school that you didn’t have before.
This is a great example of the intertwined and ongoing nature
of building great neighborhoods. You never finish community
building. There are always groups forming that could help you
make your neighborhood vision a reality. Every project or
program undertaken in your community should have a
community-building component, and there are always opportunities
for skilled leaders to get involved. |
