| Last
night (August 11th, 2004) at our Maxwell Park Neighborhood
Council, a longtime dream was realized. For years we
have struggled to form working committees to carry out
the Mission of the group -- community improvement. Well,
we finally made it! After brainstorming critical issues
in our neighborhood, 7 were selected for consideration:
Traffic / Speeding / Pedestrian Safety, Drugs / Crime,
Beautification / Litter / Blight, Business Improvement,
Community Building / Education / Advocacy, and Youth
Involvement.
Tables
were identified for each or the 7 issues, and the group
voted with its feet! Everyone got up and took a seat
at the table that most drew their interest. Since a
person couldn’t sit at more than one table, participants
had to decide which issue was the most important for
them. When the dust settled, four teams were formed:
-
Traffic ~ Speeding ~ Pedestrian Safety
- Drugs
~ Crime
- Beautification
~ Litter ~ Blight
- Community
Building ~ Education ~ Advocacy
The
new Neighborhood Action Teams sat at their tables to
discuss their goals and ideas, exchange contact information,
and plan their next meeting. They will come up with
further definition of their team name, choose goals,
and plan their next task.
We
will be getting reports from the Team chairs at the
monthly meetings. They will tell us about their progress,
achievements, and request guidance or information that
can be shared during the Networking portion of our monthly
meetings.
For
those who were not present, we encourage you to select
a N.A.T. with which you wish to work. If you can’t
find the NAT you want, create one of your own and recruit
neighbors to lend a hand with your project. Our Council
works on issues that affect our community. Organized
into NATs, we can work together in small, compatible
groups according to our interests and expertise. We
can share our successes with the Council, and look to
the Council for suggestions and support.
It
was very exciting and rewarding to be a part of this
process, which reflected the individuality of each member
and the energy of the group. "Together we make
a difference in the life of our community by utilizing
our diversity to create success."
Thanks
to all of you for your participation. We look forward
to hearing about each NAT’s progress next month!
Sarah
Hipolito.
|
