In yesterday’s post, we shared some tips for overcoming some of the challenges you might face when you’re starting a neighboring program. Today, we wanted to share some more.

Getting residents involved in the planning proccess

• Engage residents in the planning, decision making, and evaluation.
• Help participants understand the assets and experience they bring to the planning process.
• Provide food and child care.

Building community engagement

• Incorporate social gatherings to build rapport and trust among residents. Make it fun!
• Help residents understand the power of both individual and collective efforts.
• Help residents see benefits of their involvement for themselves and their community.
• Offer incentives to encourage resident involvement.
• Mobilize residents around issues that interest them and impact them directly.
• Find ways for youth to get involved in the community to encourage parents and families to become engaged.
• Help communities resolve conflict that may prevent resident involvement.

Working with outside groups that might have different goals

• Allow residents to identify and assess their own community challenges, prioritize them, and develop solutions.
• Listen to the issues and concerns from the community.
• Enter the community without a predetermined agenda.
• Create a partnership that has a shared vision with the community.
• Address and help resolve conflict among groups and members.

Keeping partner organizations engaged

• Make a commitment to work with the community on a continuous basis even in the absence of funding.
• Build sustaining relationships with residents.
• Assign a project manager who has the passion and desire to work with low-income communities. Picking the right person is critical.
• Make working with low-income communities a priority in your organization.
• Find ways to sustain project efforts beyond the initial partnership and without funding.

Encouraging community support

• Encourage existing leaders to train and mentor other residents to become leaders.
• Offer and encourage residents to take leadership development training and/or volunteer management training.
• Encourage residents to lead community projects.
• Help create volunteer opportunities in the community.
• Cultivate volunteer leaders as future personnel.

Neighboring programs are a great way for engaging community residents in making positive changes to their neighborhoods. If you have a success story with a neighboring program, let us know in the comments!

 

 

Related articles

• Tips for Overcoming Challenges in Neighboring Programs
• Seven Essential Principles of Neighboring
• Won’t You Be My Neighbor? A Place-Based Approach to Volunteering