Topic Areas for this Page:
Community Communications Problematique:
- The Communications Committee has begun charting out communications for the Coalition. This includes current multi-media programs and comprehensive communications strategies. Current work includes face to face, group process, broadcast, internet, print, and hybrid strategies. Plans are underway for identity and marketing, community dialogue and decision making, community simulations and modeling, information systems and databases.
What are the best ways for Louisville neighborhoods and community groups to communicate and collaborate in developing and sharing community information? This website is one beginning, but coalition members are already engaged in or considering many other forms of communication. First and foremost the Coalition is a form of community conversation, where immediate issues of concern to the community can be raised and actions taken, as well as a forum for consideration of longer term community sustainability and direction. One item identified in the Neighborhoods Congress was community ownership and control of communications. Neighborhood internet, databases, radio, television, print and face-to-face conversation? What stories do you want to tell or learn about? high school essay
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What's the most user friendly and cost effective way to reach each other and the community?
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What are the issues or debates which are not now part of the Louisville community dialogue that Coalition members can help communicate?
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Since local government and human services agencies have not developed or shared with the general public lists or databases of neighborhoods organizations, how do we go about creating our own?
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How do we use our already existing polling capability, issues forums and other resources to develop neighborhoods issues and advocacy?
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How do we support and cooperate with existing neighborhoods based media? How can the Coalition help improve neighborhood communications resources?
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How can we nurture the long Louisville tradition of study circles, public festivals, community conversation and community cafes at the neighborhood level, so that community conversation remains grassroots rather than bureaucratically driven?
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How do we set up and manage "sister neighborhoods" dialogues and exchanges in Louisville and in other communities?
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How can we use collaborative communications systems to develop program, policy and combined neighborhoods activities?
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How can the Coalition work through existing community media and develop our own?
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What issues should guide our information research and knowledge development, or "informatics"?
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How can neighborhoods model development choice with new media technologies, a "sim-neighborhoods" for Louisville?
- What do we need for each neighborhood to be able to produce and share it's own communications?
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"Neighbor-to-Neighbor:" Neighborhood Communications Collaboratives
"Neighbor-to-Neighbor" is what we are calling the collaborative communications work of the Coalition. We have a unique opportunity to team up and learn from each other as individuals and neighborhoods by combining face-to-face and media communications. The structure of the Coalition is still forming, but here are some of the ideas for collaboration that have been proposed so far:
Sister Neighborhoods to encourage diverse neighborhoods to learn from each other through visits and tours, inter-neighborhood dialogues, shared work and learning activities, common sustainable communities planning approaches, collaboration on issues organizing, and shared communications resources.
Green Neighborhoods developing and sharing sustainable neighborhood visions, indicators, inventory and planning tools and technology with each other so we have common ways of knowing who we are and choosing where we are going as a community.
Neighbor-to-Neighbor Planning and Development Collaboratives, teams of experienced and learning neighborhoods leaders who will lend a hand to share expertise and document history in neighborhood organizing and planning with new or re-forming neighborhood groups.
Neighborhoods federations: Compacts, agreements and contracts between adjacent neighborhoods or those with common interests, to support common development strategies and develop local democratic governance structures. Some examples of this communications approach have existed in this community for a long time, for instance the Highlands Connection, the Old Louisville Neighborhoods Council, the Anti-Redlining Neighborhoods Coalitions, the Citizens Alliance, and so on. Conceivably, in the current era of Metro reorganization, we can learn from this history of federation: How do we collaborate as neighborhoods and regionally? How do we explore the communications and legal bases for a variety of approaches to direct governance of neighborhoods, council districts and service area?
Neighborhoods Forums are being developed, sponsored by neighborhoods organizations in collaboration with appropriate local and national networks using communications technology and process tools to widen the circles of neighborhoods dialogue.
What topics and approaches would you suggest? Please feel free to join in the planning or send in suggestions by writing to louisville_neighborhoods@yahoo.com
An incomplete list of suggestions, drawn from some questions raised in committees and discussions so far include:
- Metro Government reorganization - What is the neighborhoods perspective on the role of the Neighborhoods Office, city service and tax districts, Council members, Mayoral authority, government agencies run by private greater louisville economic interests, etc.?
- Sustainable development - how do we plan and act now to create neighborhoods that will thrive through the many economic, environmental and technological challenges ahead of us, that really move us to a renewable and healthy resource base and organization as a community? What is Sustainable Housing? Transportation? Business? Agriculture? Government? Health care? Education? Art? Culture? Water? Energy? Waste ? Industrial Ecology?
- Neighborhood based economic, environmental, and social development. What is the role of the Neighborhoods Place concept, or social services approaches to neighborhood development? are such approaches sustainable and useful for neighborhoods?
- Forums with Council and Mayoral candidates - will they be willing to meet with us regularly during and after the campaigns to engage in dialogue on these and other issues?
- Equity between neighborhoods - how do we assure that we act as one caring community with many diverse neighborhoods? How do we prevent the new "service tax districts" from becoming a means for wealthy neighborhoods to break union contracts and create well funded, separate and unequal "gated communities"? How can the "service district' provisions be used to increase equitable, sustainable local self-reliance services produced and accountable at the grassroots?
- Anti-racist neighborhood organizing: How do we move beyond the segregation and "tolerance" of this community to supporting neighborhoods which are explicitly anti-racist?
- Green and healthy household, family, block and neighborhood teams: How do we undertake the neighborhood organizing and inventory work necessary to creating healthy neighborhoods throughout the region? What can we do as neighborhoods to advocate for universal health care and prevention access and coverage for every resident? How do we eliminate and replace toxic and unhealthy infrastructure and practices in our neighborhoods?
- Information and Community Communications: Neighborhood and individual ownership and access to community information. What can neighborhoods do to identify, gather, share and best use information and communications resources within and between communities?
- Sustainable neighborhoods agriculture: Healthy and sustainable food and green space - neighborhoods partner with farmers and consumers developing sustainable food systems, neighborhood markets, cooperatives, tobacco settlement funds use, neighborhood vacant lands management for community gardens, eco-parks, open space, green infill construction, etc? What are the prospects for urban growth boundaries, construction moratoriums, land trusts, development rights acquisition and other strategies for preserving open space?
- Neighborhoods Preservation: What resources are available to neighborhoods and individuals to preserve historic and valuable resources and infrastructure? How can "historic" status be gained, and how can lower income and non-traditional users and neighborhoods use historic preservation resources and status?
- Development Moratoriums: Most neighborhoods activists regard the current neighborhoods moratorium powers as "too little and too late". What are alternative approaches to moratoriums on particular projects and broader neighborhood and community development moratoriums?
- Sustainable Development Districts: What forms and powers should sustainable development districts have? How can neighborhoods develop participatory sustainable development planning capacity? What are or should be the legal powers of SDD's? Under what circumstances should they exercise veto power? How can they encourage the creation of sustainable community development corporations? How can they influence the planning and zoning process to create sustainable renewable resource based planning in this community?
- Power and possibility: Who runs Louisville? How and why should neighborhoods and allies follow the suggestions of Brookings and other researchers to "create our own table" in the face of the agendas and concentrations of power in local institutions?
- Neighborhood democracy: What does neighborhood democracy look like? What are "lateral" neighborhood networks, in contrast to traditional neighborhood, business or government "hierarchical" organizations? When and how can organizations use direct neighborhood assemblies, internet based democratic polling, decision-making and management, and consensus or other alternative and inclusive processes?
- Neighborhood Cafes and Conversations: Free Association, Free Assembly, Free Speech. How do we go about building circles of conversation at the neighborhood and community level that result in real democratic changes, but whose agendas are not "moderated," mediated or controlled by social service, government or other agencies or businesses in the community?
- And many many more. What would you suggest? Please feel free to join in the planning or send in suggestions by writing to louisville_neighborhoods@yahoo.com
Community Communications Production Groups already exist in some forms (in the development of this web site, the Renew Louisville Radio forums, independent media collaborative and other areas). By sharing technical and storytelling resources, neighborhoods can go about not only documenting their history and current condition but their futures. Community arts work and creative storytelling can proceed through a variety of media: the internet, video, radio, murals, surveys, photography, journals, chapbooks, newsletters, GIS maps and metadata, polls, forums, circles of dialogue...Much of the work plan for current and developing neighborhood collaborations is already being used and documented for newer neighborhoods initiatives and other community consortia if they are interested. A few elements of this work are summarized in the Community Communications
Proposals, but of course the more substantive work is being done already by informal networks.
...and many other areas have been discussed - what would you suggest?
Click here to send us an email with your collaboration and forum suggestions!
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Working Group Documents and Reports
In addition to the information links on this page, The Community Communications Working Group is archiving communications documents and reports to the LCON. Click here to look at these Communications documents.
Other LCON working Group Documents can be found by following the links to their pages:
Governance and Democracy
Advocacy and Issues
Outreach and Membership
Neighborly Conversation
Louisville has a long history of study circles, community dialogues, cafe societies and other ways for neighbors and networks of interest to talk with each other about what matters in our lives and in growing healthy communities.
Some of us have worked for many years with a variety of face to face electronic group and community dialogues.
You're invited to join in these conversations, here in Louisville and around the world.
Click here to join in the conversations.
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Community Conversations on the Air!!
The Renew Louisville Radio Forums on Louisville's Neighborhood Revitalization are examples of a community based dialogue process that has been going on with Louisville neighborhood and community organizations here for several years. While it has not received a penny or any attention from foundations or agencies here, it does enjoy widespread community participation, listenership and cutting edge relevance to community issues.
One of the great things about the Forum is that it uses some very simple but sophisticated group process approaches to ensure that Forum participants engage each other in thoughtful discussion and learning from each other. Not only does the forum broadcast discussions on critical neighborhood topics, but the forum process itself is broadcast on the air and documented and shared through technology appropriate to world cafes, caucus-type web software and other applications. As a result, it is the only neighborhoods oriented participatory media forum in Louisville, and it is heard by many thousands of people in the Metro area every two weeks.
We hope that we will be able to continue and strengthen this and other already existing community dialogue processes as part of the Neighborly Conversations collaborative work of the Louisville Coalition of Neighborhoods.
To learn more about the Renew Louisville Radio Forums schedule, group process proposals, air times and more, click here.
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Community Communications Resources and Links
We've compiled a working list of research and partner resources for neighborhoods communications. Click here for a first look.
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Community Contacts and Communications Inventory
Please send us an email at Louisville_Neighborhoods@yahoo.com with your name and information if you wish to be on our contact list.
Or please join our email group discussion list if you'd like to be a part of the discussion.
Beyond contact information, it is important that we get an inventory of the interests and the resources of neighborhoods organizations and individuals who would like to work with the coalition.
Please take a few moments to fill out our
Neighborhoods Contact Sheet.
This way neighborhoods and the Coalition will be able to communicate and collaborate more effectively.
This is the first step in creating an inventory of neighborhood communications and knowledge resources. If you want, we will add you or your organization to our ongoing "world cafe" discussion and working groups, community email services, mailing list and other outreach.
Why do an Inventory?
Having established the Louisville Neighborhoods Website and Listserv, the next step for the Community Communications Working Group is to directly contact every neighborhood organization in order to:
- update contact information
- establish working relationships
- encourage information flow to and from each neighborhood
- inventory the communications and knowledge resources and needs of each neighborhood
- archive and facilitate access to community knowledge and communications resources
- support existing information channels
- implement desired new channels of communication
- critique current and proposed initiatives
This information will be available to the Coalition so members can communicate with each other directly.
Community Contacts Note: Part of the work of the Community Communications Working Group is to connect neighborhoods with each other and with community information and communications resources. Unfortunately, neither the City of Louisville Neighborhoods Office or the Metro United Way and related agencies have current information on neighborhood organizations or individual contacts (See the limited information and comments on the current list.)
Where possible we have tried to work with existing organizations in the development of this site so far. For instance, the Louisville Courier Journal Neighborhoods section is a good and fairly current source of neighborhoods information.
Other sources are more problematic. For instance we had hoped to work with the Neighborhood Link system, which the City of Louisville has spent enormous amounts of money on to provide as a "free" service in Louisville. But their national office and technical staff have not responded to our emails (2) or phone calls (3) over a six week period (Spring 2002), and appear to be in some sort of dot.com crisis, unable to respond to customers. They also have what we understand to be an exclusive copyright policy (under the Neighborhood Link Terms of Service, they own all content, not the neighborhoods organizations). We had hoped to clarify this, but since they have not responded and for other largely technical reasons, we aren't likely to work directly with them at this time. Briefly, these problems include a top-down administrative and posting structure, lack of software transparency and documentation, required cookies (resident on computers for
10 years or more) despite privacy claims, blocking access of Louisville citizens and organizations who use local ISP's, notably Iglou.com, and other issues. The City of Louisville contact, Marsha Moorman, has helped with a non-technical response in conversation (May 2002), regarding the Louisville Neighborhoods Office support for Neighborhood Link, and has indicated she will get back to us with more information and perhaps better access to NL nationwide. As of September, 2002 we have not received a response from Ms. Moorman or neighborhoodlink. We have posted a general referral link on the neighborhoodlink site pointing to louisvilleneighborhoods.org. Several other organizations have simply not responded to this point, but we hope that will change.
In order to function effectively, neighbors and neighborhood organizations need to be able to communicate directly with each other and with community organizations and governmental entities. The breakdown of "lateral" communications among neighborhoods in recent years (in contrast with "hierarchical" communications through larger organizations or governement) is one of the major reasons for the formation of the Coalition. We are helping to re-build those links which encourage direct communication between neighbors for dialogue and coalition building.
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Neighborhood Volunteers
We've identified a number of initial volunteer opportunities with the Louisville Coalition of Neighborhoods. Take a look at the list below, and let us know what you'd like to do.
This list largely reflects the Communications Working Group needs, but we'll have items from the whole Coalition soon, and the list will be greatly expanded in the weeks to come. Make a suggestion if there's something else you'd like to do, or something that you see needs doing:.
Organization Building Volunteer Opportunities. Currently The Louisville Coalition of Neighborhoods has four Working Groups. Every member should participate in some way in at least one Working Group. Click on the links below to learn more:
Governance and Democracy Working Group
Advocacy and Issues Working Group
Outreach and Membership Working Group
Community Communications Working Group
Communications Contact person (s) with each neighborhood group. We urgently need at least one person in each neighborhood organization to act as a communications contact. Even if you can only do so until we work out the logistics of the coalition, we need someone who will agree to hold that position for the next few weeks. If you can't, please canvass your neighborhood organization now to find someone who will. Please let us know ASAP by sending an email with phone, email, mailing address and neighborhood affiliation of the person who will be your neighborhoods' short term communications contact to: louisville_neighborhoods@yahoo.com.
Archivist (s) to help us compile current and historic information, organize it and post it to web, video, and other media.
Web and information systems designers and programmers to work with us in upgrading the design and functionality of this site.
Telephone tree and alerts committee members.
Hosts and facilities (coffee shops, community centers, homes) for neighborhoods dialogue and study circle groups.
Writers who will share your neighborhoods stories, successes and failures on this web site and in other media.
Neighborhood citizen planners collaborative members, to share techniques, experience, critiques and proposals regarding neighborhood planning and development, working with agencies, and organizing neighborhoods inventories for sustainable development plans.
Neighborhoods Inventory Volunteers. Initially, we want to be sure to get a good sense of community communications and knowledge resources in the neighborhoods. But in the long term, the inventory process is the critical means to determine the health, wealth, resources and balance sheets of neighborhood environment, health, economy and social well being.
Volunteers producers and reporters, to write, speak, shoot, and help produce our existing and proposed radio, print, web, television, performance, events and other communications activities.
Sister Neighborhoods Speakers Bureau volunteers, who will go meet with other neighborhoods or host visitors and introduce them to your home neighborhood
Sister Neighborhoods Neighbor-to-Neighbor team members who will lend a hand to share your expertise in neighborhood organizing and planning with new or re-forming neighborhood groups.
Neighborhoods Forum organizers who will work to put together city wide events on issues of concern to neighborhoods.
A variety of professional services in these and other areas will be needed by the Coalition as it moves forward: Legal services, regional planners, socially responsible investment advisors, housing experts, sustainable development experts, events planners, geographic information systems facilitators, builders, teachers, health educators, and many others will be involved in the work of the coalition over time. What expertise would you share?
See something you'd like to volunteer for? Click here to sign up or make a suggestion!
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Community Communications Proposals Under Development
The Community Communications Working Group has developed two preliminary proposals for facilitating LCON communications.
The first proposal was submitted to the City of Louisville Neighborhoods Office in January 2002. The second was submitted to the City of Louisville Neighborhoods Office in March 2002. As of September 2002, we have received no written communication regarding the proposals. Since the timeframe for proposals implementation has passed, we are posting next versions of the proposals here on the site as we prepare drafts for distribution to local partners and national funders.
Louisville Neighborhoods Communications, January 2002 Proposal v.3.0.
Community Communications Operations and Planning Proposal, March, 2002 Proposal v. 3.0.
Please feel free to review and comment on these proposals. Your suggestions are welcome. We know they are preliminary, and reflect just the beginning of the work we envision.
Moreover, almost all of this community communications work so far has been done late at night by unpaid (and in some cases unemployed) volunteers, and therefore does not reflect the polish and functionality that might be added with even a few hundred dollars to work with. However, we have not yet had any direct communication or expressions of interest from the agencies and foundations involved in Louisville Neighborhoods work, so we are looking for non-traditional funding directly from neighborhoods and from outside sources. We will be submitting and refining these and other proposals as LCON develops a broader operating plan.
We've been very encouraged by the feedback and expressions of support we've received from a variety of individuals and neighborhood organizations. There is a clear need for the work of the Coalition. And it is also clear that many place great value in the directness and responsiveness of the social entrepreneurial approach we are taking, which is based in a pro-active grassroots approach to neighborhoods communications needs. In that spirit, we hope you'll tell us what you think, and feel free to make your own contributions to this work.
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Telling our Story: Organizational Development and Fundraising.
Organizational Development and Fundraising are premiere opportunities for clarifying purpose and discovering new opportunities for organizations and the individuals and communities they serve. By undertaking proposal writing, planning and a variety of organizational development processes, we engage in dialogue within and outside our organizations as to where we've been and where we're going. The Organizational Development and Fundraising project focuses on both specific financial planning strategies and the evaluation and assessment of our development so that we can learn from the challenges of working together. Sharing development resources and synthesizing neighborhood issues and goals is as much the aim of our OD work as the particulars of meetings facilitated, organizations structured, funds raised or resources matched. How do we write winning proposals? Here's one good resource. What are the outcomes of the LCON grants
development process so far? Here's a markup version of our draft Metro United Way Proposal. How do we work on finance and development committees? Feel free to add your comments and suggestions, or join us in this work.
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