The Historic Glenwood-Brooklyn Neighborhood Association
elected Council and Committee Leaders on Wednesday, November
7th, 2002. The officers, Committee Leaders, and Committee Members
are:
OFFICERS:
President: Chris Ernst
Vice President: Jan Johnston
At Large: Jill Averitt
COMMITTEES:
Communications:
Christina Sanchez - Chair
David Johnston
Jill Averitt
Annette Byrd
Rachel Turner
Social:
Jennifer Attride - Chair
Roy Attride
Don Sharp
LeAnne Sharp
Cathy Camann
Finance:
Mary Ann Turner - Chair
Community Affairs:
Phil Poe - Chair
Marcea Barringer
Community Outreach:
Elizabeth Stephenson - Chair
Sissy Bodenstine
Josh McIntyre
Community Improvements:
Jennifer Almekinder- Chair
Martin Stankus
Jim Ward
THOUGHTS SHARED FOLLOWING THE FIRST ELECTION
OF THE HISTORIC GLENWOOD-BROOKLYN NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
HGBNA Meeting - November 6, 2002
By Chris Ernst
Listening to acceptance speeches last night following
the mid-term elections, I started to think that each of the newly
elected Committee Chairs should stand up to say a few words.
I quickly dropped the idea. But in thinking about it some more,
I came to the conclusion that it is important to mark the occasion
of our first official election for the Historic Glenwood-Brooklyn
Neighborhood Association. We've come a long way in a year and
a half.
As such, I've have three thoughts I'd like to share
with you. I say they are thoughts, but they are really thoughts
in the form of questions. And to be honest, they are rhetorical
questions, because I've got an answer for each of them! I hope
to challenge this group to address each of these issues this
year. This is as close to a speech as you will ever see me make,
I promise. Please bear with me!
The three questions are: How do we want to measure
our success? Where does our work take place? Where do we want
to set our sights?
How do we want to measure our success?
I would like for us to stop hitting ourselves over the head with
the notion that our success somehow equals attendance figures!
For instance, the number of people sitting in this room right
now does not provide a full picture of the extent of support
that exists in our neighborhood for this association. We each
know any number of people who are not here tonight, but who very
much support our efforts and who are willing to make contributions
in other ways.
Instead, I would like to encourage us to begin
viewing our success more broadly in terms of progress. What progress
have we made in the past year and half since we merged the two
associations? We need to be looking for the impact we are making.
Jeff's work on the by-laws and getting us recognized as a legal
North Carolina organization. David's work on creating a neighborhood
website. Jan's efforts to get the block captains up and running.
Jennifer's efforts in pulling off not one, but two fun-filled
Fall Flings. Phil's capacity to bring a great group of City leaders
together to attend the 1st Annual Historic Glenwood-Brooklyn
Open House. These few examples, and there are many more, represent
the type of progress we need to be evaluating in determining
our success.
Someone told me a wonderful story last week that
addresses my point. This person was studying alcoholism in Native
American tribes as part of her graduate research. There was one
tribe in Montana where alcoholism was just rampant. One day,
a woman in the tribe decided she had enough and that she was
going to begin holding Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. One day
each month she went to a community building. She organized the
chairs in a circle and she sat, by herself, for an hour. For
two years, there she sat completely alone. She said to herself
that she was "speaking with her elders". In years three
through five, a handful of people started to attend the meetings.
And by year ten, the meetings were full and alcoholism was all
but cured in the tribe.
I tell you this story for the following reason
- If we were to evaluate this woman's success the first two years,
we would say her efforts failed miserably. No one showed up!
But the truth of the matter is that she made tremendous progress
those first two years. Those first two years were critical for
setting the stage in which positive change could transform the
tribe.
Where does our work take place?
We often think that where our work happens, however you want
to define "work" (with this group of neighbors work
more often feels like spirited play), is during the monthly meetings.
I want to encourage us to see our work happening not so much
in these meetings, but rather in our neighborhood, in our interactions
with one another, and within the City of Raleigh. I would like
for us to increasingly see these meetings as a set time on our
calendars to get together to coordinate, to update one another,
and to make neighborhood decisions.
Where progress really happens, though, is on our
website, through our list serve, at a neighborhood association
party, in a conversation between a block captain and a neighbor,
or when someone in the neighborhood represents Glenwood-Brooklyn
at a CAC meeting. In addition, I want to encourage us to build
on this idea this year through the creation of strong neighborhood
committees. Committees not only allow a small group of people
to get organized quickly and get things done, but they provide
a clear means in which people in our neighborhood can get involved
and can be brought into the fold.
I'm not suggesting that joining these committees
must represent a major undertaking - we are all volunteers here
and we are all very busy. I'm suggesting that each committee
identify a couple of goals they would like to achieve and then
work together to go after them.
So, the second point I'd like for us to keep in
mind this year is that our work does not take place primarily
in our monthly meetings. Our work takes place out there in the
neighborhood.
Where do we want to set our sights?
As many of you remember from last year, what we paid attention
to was the event or activity that was immediately in front of
us. It felt like we were always in scramble mood - holding formation
and organizing meetings in the summer, moving right into the
Fall Fling, and on to the Tour of Homes. Out of necessity, we
set our sights on the short-term, and the here and now. This
year, I want us to pay attention to immediate needs, but I also
want to encourage everyone to focus on the bigger picture and
our future as a neighborhood.
I truly believe that Glenwood-Brooklyn is a wonderfully
unique neighborhood. There are very few neighborhoods in Raleigh,
the Triangle, the state, and beyond that have all the building
blocks that we do - a great location, beautiful historic homes,
and most importantly, an active and community-oriented bunch
of neighbors.
Yet many people throughout the City have no idea
who we are. We lack an identity. We are known as the neighborhood
between Glenwood South and Five Points! I think this is unfortunate
for at least two reasons. First, as the City's first planned
sub-division, Glenwood-Brooklyn is ideally situated in the heart
of downtown Raleigh's established neighborhoods. We sit at the
very center, moving clockwise, amongst Five Points, Mordecai,
Oakwood, Boylan Heights, Cameron Park, and Hayes Barton. It is
important that we understand how Glenwood-Brooklyn relates to
(is similar to and different from) these other neighborhoods.
Second, we all know that Raleigh is going to continue to grow
by leaps and bounds in the years ahead. I believe that Glenwood-Brooklyn
can serve as model to Raleigh about what a livable, vibrant,
and diverse neighborhood is all about.
I think it will prove invaluable for us to spend
time this year to clearly articulate our shared identity - to
reach a common understanding as a neighborhood association of
what is our mission, what are our roles, and what is our vision
for Glenwood-Brooklyn. This is a task that we must all do together.
As such, I would like to suggest that we reserve some time, perhaps
at each of our upcoming meetings, to share our points of view
and discuss the important issues of mission, roles, and vision.
That's it! That's my speech for the year. It can
be summed up as follows. Success does not equal attendance, but
rather progress. Our work takes place not primarily within these
four walls, but rather out there in the neighborhood. And finally,
we must set our sights not only on the here and now, but on where
we are heading.
I look forward to the year ahead - with further
progress, throughout our neighborhood, with an eye toward today
and tomorrow.
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