Maxwell Park Neighborhood News

by Sarah Hipolito

All Talk and No Action? Over the years our Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council has struggled with how to make our monthly meetings more productive. Members expressed frustration that all we did was talk, repeating old themes, but there was no action. Neighborhood Crime Prevention councils were originally set up to be a clearing house for the Neighborhood Watch Groups, to streamline and coordinate how they solved problems. It was difficult to connect with all of the Neighborhood Watch groups, so last year, we printed up our own brochures and hand-delivered them to homes in Maxwell Park. Membership Growth Brings Added Energy This year, membership of our council grew. This was a result of several factors new homeowners, our brochure distribution, a new Yahoo e-mail group, and some highly visible crimes in our neighborhood. We needed to create an atmosphere that fostered cooperation, energy, creativeness and problem solving. We started by setting aside networking time after the general meeting to talk in smaller groups. We still often ran over schedule, listening to all of the issues presented in the meeting and not getting a lot of work done. We didn't want to lose the wonderful energy expressed during meetings. Problem with Meetings Leads to Neighborhood Action Teams During the next weeks, I came up with a simple plan to organize the members into Neighborhood Action Teams (NATs). I promised that I could organize the group (of 40+ neighbors) in 30 minutes. Here's how we did it: We broke into smaller groups to brainstorm critical issues in our neighborhood. We came up with seven issues. We put the named issues on seven tables. The group then stood up and voted with their feet. There were those who protested that they were interested in more than one area, but you can't be in two places at the same time. They were asked to sit at the table that was the most compelling to them. Four tables were filled. For the rest of our meeting time, the teams discussed their goals and ideas, exchanged contact information, selected team leaders, and planned their next meetings. The four Neighborhood Action Teams and their leaders are Traffic, Pat Kelly, scoopnhaul\@cs.co; Crime, Susan Scolnick, scolnick\@earthlink.net; Beautification, Nommi Alouf, nommiX\@yahoo.com; and Community Outreach, Helen daSilva, hds2288\@aol.com. The NATs meet regularly during the month, give progress reports to the general membership, and get input during the networking segment of each monthly meeting. We still hold our regular meetings but have the added punch of the teams' homework. We will hear more about the teams and their activities in the next Maxwell Park Neighbors article. If your group needs its own NATs, e-mail shipolito\@sbcglobal.net for further information. To join the Maxwell Park Yahoo group, e-mail jan\@moves-to-improve.com.