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2017 Neighborhood Leadership Academy Info

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Do you want to become more involved in your South Bend neighborhood? Find out how, and take a look at some NRC programs like Neighborhood Leadership Academy.

The Far Northwest Neighborhood Association shows off their 2016 achievements.

The September 2017 session of the Neighborhood Leadership Academy (NLA) is the next available chance for South Bend residents to complete this interactive session on community building.

The new project-based Academy, offered in collaboration with South Bend Heritage Foundation, reflects a different approach than the citywide classes that NRC has offered in the past.

We’ve built on the strengths of the eight-week classroom programs – and the observations of more than 80 participants to date – and designed a new experience that’s tailored for specific neighbors living in the same community instead.

By targeting a specific neighborhood and assembling a group with shared interests around a common project, NRC plans to empower each association to take action in their neighborhoods.

The resulting projects, supported with an award from the Pokagon Fund, provide a specific and tangible way for participants to apply knowledge gained from the NLA curriculum, and to assist them with the engagement and recruitment of additional neighbors to help grow their neighborhood associations.

“There’s a strong correlation between public safety, community health, and sustainability in organized neighborhoods when neighbors are empowered to effect change,” said NRC Executive Director Diana Hess. “That’s why we are focusing our leadership program on helping neighborhoods discover and use their power.”

Two neighborhood associations participated in a pilot of the targeted NLA in 2016, which culminates in the community-based project that’s decided on, and led by, the people who live in the neighborhood.

The groups selected for the challenge were the Far Northwest Neighborhood Association and SOAR (Southeast Organized Area Residents).

The curriculum included leadership training modules, such as running good meetings, recruitment and group dynamics, along with Photovoice, which is a visual method used to analyze and reflect on their neighborhood’s strengths and challenges.  The resulting large and small group discussions around the photographs taken by the NLA participants promote critical dialogue and knowledge about both personal and community issues.

The groups used their photos and the training to help identify neighborhood projects which they presented at a broad-based neighborhood association meeting that they organized and ran.

In August, SOAR hosted a “Get to Know Your Neighbors” festival to bring neighbors together for a positive experience. They connected with each other, with community resources, and with the newly launched SOAR neighborhood association. It was an especially important step ahead of organizational work – establishing bylaws, electing officers – that SOAR was ready for beginning in September.

In the Far Northwest, neighbors already held a neighborhood cleanup in July and an August “Stop the Violence/ Back to School Block Party.”  Neighborhood association T-shirts were available for current and new members, and Far Northwest launched a vision to provide small scholarships to young people.

Photovoice was made possible through a University of Notre Dame Ganey Seed Grant awarded in 2013 and the participation of graduate students from the Notre Dame Eck Institute of Global Health.

In addition to the Pokagon Fund and the Ganey grant, support for this program came through CDBG funds awarded by the City of South Bend and through the South Bend Brew Werks Community Partners program

The program is free to South Bend residents. The program goals are:

  • To develop more empowered neighborhood leaders
  • To establish a valuable resource network among neighborhoods, city and community leaders and local institutions
  • To provide a forum for fostering collaboration, learning and sharing among diverse neighbors throughout the city
  • To develop understanding of how to engage people at the grassroots level
  • To understand the importance of focusing on assets, both inside and outside the neighborhood

There are many leaders in South Bend waiting to be identified and given the tools to create positive change in their neighborhoods. Neighbors interested in applying for Fall 2017 should contact Diana at NRC for more information at 574.287.0425. Email: nrcneighbors@gmail.com.

 


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