Resident Leadership Program: Part Two
By NHS Staff
Last Tuesday evening,
we kicked off our second Resident Leadership class with Lee Cruz, Community
Outreach Director at the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. Lee led us in a discussion of “Mapping
Community Assets”. Participants engaged in a series of discussions and
activities centered on leveraging community resources and forging lasting connections.
The group discussed strategies for effectively combating the negativity that often dominates discussions of
Participants spoke in
small groups about what motivates them personally, and how they can begin to
use these ideas to motivate others. These discussions were used to help inform community
organizing strategies and provide inspiration for resident-led initiatives.
Lee emphasized the power of rituals, and how that plays into effective
community organizing. Once an activity is established as a routine and people
being to expect and rely on those activities, it can be a powerful tool to
unite a community. For example, if a group establishes regular street clean-ups
in a particular neighborhood, residents will soon begin to anticipate street
clean-ups and accept them as a part of life in their neighborhood. Lee suggested that participants view the clean-ups as “a means to an end”, meaning that in the process of organizing and leading
these activities neighbors will connect, share, and build relationships with
each other, which ultimately leads to an interconnected, healthy neighborhood.
These interactions and connections are key to successful community building,
and can be surprisingly easy to initiate.
Lee also pointed out
that taking notice of the little efforts that our neighbors make, such as a new
plant or decoration, we can take comfort in knowing that pride of place exists and express that to our neighbors. To make big improvements, we
must acknowledge the small steps and opportunities that happen along the way.
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