Community Building

1. Community Building Creating Sustainability

2. Principles of Sustainability: • IF YOU HAVE LIMITLESS FUNDING AND ARE IMMORTAL, THESE PRINCIPLES DO NOT APPLY. • If someone else can do it, you shouldn’t. Your job is to recruit, support and encourage. • If others could do it and won’t, it is not yet a priority. • If no one else can do it, you should do it with one or more persons. Your job is to build capacity, train and model. • If no one else will do it with you, it is not yet a priority. • WARNING: If you do something by yourself, even if it is wonderful, it is not sustainable.

3. Traditional Community Development Cycle

4. Issues with the traditional model

5. Lessons: • Strategic planning is time consuming work and can burn people out. • Those involved in the planning are most likely to implement, but not everyone will move from planning to implementation. • Within a few months of implementation, every plan becomes obsolete. • Most plans are initially successful because we focus on low hanging fruit. • When the work gets difficult, we are always tempted to skip evaluation and move back into planning. • Most traditional planning ignores past failures. Being asset based doesn’t mean being failure adverse.

6. A Sustainable Model

7. The Components of a Sustainable Process • A Broad, Inclusive and Open Planning Process • Committed Partners with Capacity and Resource • A Fair and Balanced Relationship Between Residents and Partners • Shared History, Training and Terminology • A Transparent, Dynamic and Accountable Sustainability Structure • Periodic Public Vetting of the Plan • Exit and Entrance Ramps for People, Ideas and Organizations • Positive Mechanisms for Addressing Failure • Neighborhood Pride in the Process and Plan *Based on conversations with the Indianapolis Community Builders Working Group

8. A Broad, Inclusive and Open Planning Process • A sustainable process requires the participation of a broad spectrum of neighborhood stakeholders – residents, business owners, neighborhood employers, service providers and organizational leaders in the planning. • This process must include significant participation by individuals representing the varied economic, social, ethnic and racial demographics of the neighborhood. • The initial version of the plan must be vetted by process participants AND those who did not participate in the planning. • Result: A plan with broad ownership and support. • Strategy Examples: Appreciative Listening, Strategic Doing, Open Space, Neighborland, Better Blocks, Focus groups, Door to door interviews, Neighborhood Association presentations.

9. Committed Partners with Capacity and Resource • Though resident ownership is vital to a successful plan, much of the implementation capacity and resource resides in neighborhood groups and institutions. Without the buy-in and tangible commitment of these institutions, a plan cannot succeed. Neighborhood businesses, institutions and organizations are the conduits of funding, staffing and organizational power. • A successful plan requires committed partners at the table who intentionally incorporate the goals and strategies of the plan in their institutional plans. • Result: A plan with the funding and resource necessary to implement ambitious goals. Neighborhood organizations incorporating plan goals into their respective strategic plans. • Strategy Examples: Neighborhood roundtables, Focus area task forces, Advisory board

10. A Fair and Balanced Relationship Between Residents and Partners • Both residents and neighborhood partners (businesses, institutions and organizations) are necessary to sustain a plan. When residents or partners have unequal power or responsibility, the plan will fail. • Since businesses, institutions and organizations usually have more capacity and skill – and therefore power - the genuine participation of residents must be carefully nurtured and guarded. • A plan needs to have both residents and partners enthusiastically at the table. • Result: The varied priorities of residents and neighborhood partners are heard, valued and given attention. • Strategy Examples: Community Building Team, Steering Committee, Wisdom Team

11. Shared History, Training and Terminology • The success of a plan requires that residents and partners share a common language, training and vision. When residents and partners train and work together, they develop both trust and technique. They are able to communicate with each other based on shared priorities and approaches. They share the same history, understanding the rationale for developing the plan, the history of its development and its continued evolution. • Without these shared experiences and story, the plan becomes the responsibility of a few rather than the vision of the many. • This story needs to be written and easily shared with others. • Result: Residents and partners can speak with and understand each other. • Strategy Examples: Leadership University, ICBI, Neighbor Power, Annual Neighborhood Leadership Retreat, NeighborWorksconferences, Websites, e-mail newsletter.

12. A Transparent, Dynamic and Accountable Sustainability Structure • A plan must have a structure designed to monitor implementation, evaluate progress, celebrate successes, address failures and respond to emerging issues and concerns. • Without this structure, a plan will quickly become static and eventually become obsolete. • The sustainability structure must be transparent, allowing all participants to view or participate in adjustments. It must be dynamic, allowing goals and strategies to shift. It must be accountable, holding both residents and partners to their promises. • Without a structure, the success of a plan will be limited to low hanging fruit and personal or institutional agendas. • With a clearly articulated structure, all participants will feel informed, included and responsible. With a dynamic process, planning, implementation and evaluation happen continually and simultaneously. • Result: The plan will be an living representation of the current concerns, desires and efforts of a neighborhood. No single person or group can highjack or derail the process. • Strategy Examples: Neighborhood Congress/Summit.

13. Periodic Public Vetting of the Plan • While neighborhood sub groups implement specific strategies within a plan, there must be periodic opportunities for a public vetting of the plan. These gatherings must include real opportunities for residents and partners to address failures and identify new concerns. They also serve as avenues for gathering support for lagging efforts or reenergizing stalled initiatives. • Without this periodic public vetting, the plan risks becoming the well-intended, but sometimes mistaken, vision of a few for the many. • Result: Continued neighborhood ownership and support. • Strategy Examples: Community Day, Neighborhood Congress/Summit

14. Exit and Entrance Ramps for People, Ideas and Organizations • The world changes swiftly. People come and go. Organizations gain or lose capacity. There must be a clearly identified set of exit and entrance ramps for people, ideas and organizations. • Those without continued passion, energy or resource to implement strategy must have a gracious way to bow out. • Those with new passion, energy or resource must have an easy way to break in. • If a new resident or partner must pass through multiple gatekeepers or systemic barriers to contributeor participate, the plan will eventually become insular and irrelevant. • Result: New vitality, vision and energy continually flow into the plan. • Strategy Examples: Neighborhood Congress/summit, Street Team, Task Forces, Leadership University.

15. Positive Mechanisms for Addressing Failure • No plan is perfect. Some of its goals and objectives – for a variety of reasons – will fail. Acknowledging, learning from and addressing these failures in an open and positive way will not only assure the vitality of the plan, but keep it honest. • It is not enough to celebrate successes. Acknowledging failure allows for adjustments. In some instances, failures simply need to be acknowledged. In most cases, failures are opportunities to reengage and develop better strategies. • Result: The plan becomes a continually revised roadmap for neighborhood development rather than a public relations piece.

16. Neighborhood Pride in the Plan • The true sign of a successful plan is not how much you accomplish, but whether neighborhood residents and partners defend and protect the integrity of the plan. • Outside entities are expected to respect both the goals of the plan and the process by which the plan is adjusted. • Neighborhood residents and partners expect each other to honor the planning, structure and process. • Result: Residents and partners will sustain and guard the plan, assuring its maintenance and vitality.

17. Community Building A Neighborhood Congress Model

18. What Is A Congress? • A periodic gathering of neighborhood stakeholders to monitor and adjust the neighborhood plan. SE Neighborhood Congress Specifics: • Sessions in March, July and October • New meeting location for each session • New moderators for each session • Anyone who attends has voice and vote. • Open floor to any attendee wishing to speak for up to three minutes. • Dedicated recording secretary and time keeper to document the actions of congress and update the Southeast Quality-of-Life Plan • No discussion unless there is opposition to an concern, recommendation or action. • Additions and amendments cannot be made to the Southeast Quality-of-Life Plan without 75% approval.

19. Congress Agenda • Celebrate accomplishments. • Acknowledge failures • Identify emerging concerns • Adopt new actions and support new projects • Monitor the implementation of the plan.

20. Celebrate Accomplishments • Stakeholders learn to trust, value and own the plan as they celebrate its accomplishments. • Celebrate… 1. Completed goals 2. Significant progress 3. Individual commitment and hard work 4. Institutional contributions • Celebrate with… 1. Video, news clips 2. Slide shows 3. Awards

21. Acknowledge Failures • Stakeholders honestly address failures and determine lessons learned. • Determine if the failure was a result of… 1. Unrealistic dreams 2. Shifting context 3. Inadequate resources 4. Poor implementation 5. Apathy – it isn’t that important. • Responses 1. Removal from plan 2. Development of new strategy 3. Assignment to new driver

22. Identify Emerging Concerns • Stakeholders bring emerging concerns for consideration and possible inclusion in the plan. • Steps: 1. Issue submitted to moderator at least two weeks prior to congress session. Concern broadcast to neighborhood. 2. Issue presented to attendees of congress to validate or dispute. (Key question: Is this an individual, neighborhood specific, or universal concern?) 3. Congress decides if the issue is to be addressed as a universal concern, based on a 75% majority vote 4. An institution, standing group, or ad hoc committee is asked to research the issue and prepare a recommendation for the following session of congress See Congress Flow Chart

23. Adopt New Actions and Projects • Stakeholders add new goals and strategies to the plan, supporting new passions and projects. • Steps 1. The institution, standing group, or ad hoc committee reports findings on an issue to congress with action plan recommendations 2. Recommendations are discussed by the attendees of congress 3. Congress votes on the recommendations with a 75% majority needed for implementation 4. Action or project is added to the Southeast Quality-of-Life Plan and assigned to an institution, standing group, or task force for implementation

24. Conclusions • The Congress model is merely one approach to sustainability. Replicating the model is not nearly as important as creating something that includes the key components of sustainability. • Your goal is to escape the traditional planning –implementation-evaluation- planning carousel. • Some staffing may always be necessary, but make certain your dollars are building capacity rather than managing projects. • Even if you’re funding is secure and you are immortal, building the capacity of other people and neighborhoods is good practice.