IGNITE October 2021

When neighborhood work feels lonely

You can find help in transforming where you live

One of the things we hear the most when helping people transform their neighborhoods is how overwhelming it feels to try to change something so big. And it’s true. When you think about how big a neighborhood can be, it is intimidating and overwhelming.

So how do you change that? How do you make something that seems impossible, possible? Simple. We encourage people by 1) not going into the work alone and 2) helping them focus on what they can change, like completing a smaller project.

Our organization, Great Neighborhoods, exists so that people do not have to do the work alone. We walk beside a neighborhood to help them accomplish what they want done. We do not push an ideology or an agenda. Our agenda is what the neighborhood wants. We also help neighborhoods take, what seems like overwhelming work, and organize it into a process that helps identify goals and projects and execute plans to complete their goals successfully.

Below are a few of the steps that Great Neighborhoods use to help our neighborhoods around the region:

1. Asset Mapping. A strategy that focuses on the existing assets (strengths) of a neighborhood and then leveraging those strengths to solve a problem, address a need, or seek a new opportunity. It helps us focus the neighborhood on seeing the positive aspects of each neighborhood and seeing the neighborhood from a positive, strengths-based perspective.

2. Strategic Doing. A process that teaches people how to create collaborations, move them to measurable outcomes quickly, and make adjustments along the way. It is not a top-down approach. It is a strategy that is agile and quick. Putting a strategic plan together takes too long to make and much longer to execute. Strategic Doing allows neighborhoods to get to work now.

3. Marketing, Storytelling and Branding. A process in which we help bring together the assets, goals and action planning into neighborhood marketing, storytelling and branding. This process is especially important because it helps build a positive, lasting image, it unifies and captures neighborhood cultures, and it helps inspire neighborhoods and showcase their strengths.

If you are looking for an organization that can help you transform where you live, Great Neighborhoods is a great place to start. Great Neighborhoods is a grassroots program available to help residents understand their neighborhoods and what they have to offer. We transform neighborhoods into what the residents want. Together, we co-create action plans with our neighborhoods, and help connect all the dots and utilize networks and resources to move projects forward.

Connect and get involved with Great Neighborhoods to impact the neighborhoods around you by emailing cira@transformrockford.org. You can also visit greatneighborhoods.info and link to the Facebook and Instagram accounts too.

Cira Richardson is program director at Transform Rockford-Great Neighborhoods and a member of IGNITE.

The views expressed are those of Richardson’s and do not necessarily represent those of the Rockford Chamber of Commerce.