Neighborhood Vital Signs

Inclusive Neighborhoods, Important Outcomes

Neighborhood Summit June 2007

Nuts and bolts workshops on public safety, neighborhood environmental issues, community gardens

Large group presentations and dialogues about diversity and desired neighborhood outcomes

Three Major Questions Emerged

Are we working on the issues that matter most?

How would we know if we’re making progress?

How can the work we do in neighborhoods become more inclusive of the many people who live and work there?

Who We Are (right now)

The Civic Canopy

Denver Foundation’s Strengthening Neighborhoods Program

Neighborhood Resource Center

City of Denver, Office of Economic Development (HANDS)

Support from CHUN and INC representatives

Neighborhood Vital Signs is an inclusive city-wide initiative to promote vibrant neighborhoods by defining key indicators that inform, motivate and measure the shared action of grassroots neighborhood groups and efforts.

Purpose

What’s an Indicator? What’s a Neighborhood Indicator?

A measurement that reflects the status of a broader system. Generally, an indicator focuses on a small, manageable, telling piece of a system to give people a bigger picture of a system.

In a neighborhood context, an indicator is a telling piece of data about a neighborhood quality of life issue which has been identified by a neighborhood.

Examples of indicators– Dow Jones– Dashboard – Vital Signs – pulse, respiration, temperature

How do we figure out our Neighborhood Vital Signs?

Neighborhood Vision

and Desired

Outcomes

Telling Pieces of Data at the Neighborhood

Level

Neighborhood Vital Sign

Neighborhood Vital SignsLong-term Outcomes

Be inclusive of all neighbors in defining desired outcomes and solutions

Set a proactive agenda for the future rather than waiting to react to someone else’s proposed change

Focus on the high-leverage issues that matter most Compel collaboration by concentrating the assets,

resources and strength of people, groups and agencies on the issues that matter most to your neighborhood

Build Power by strengthening neighborhood ties to the places and systems where decisions get made.

Hold grassroots and city efforts accountable by tracking the indicators that matter most.

Neighborhood Vital SignsProject Goals

Develop and implement an inclusive model for defining neighborhood outcomes.

Create a set of indicators (vital signs) based on the desired outcomes of Denver’s neighborhoods.

Identify and create access to the data that tells us the most about our desired outcomes

Provide training to neighborhood/community activists in the use of Vital Signs

Link neighborhood/community activists to people, organizations and resources that will help them achieve their desired outcomes through the Civic Canopy network.

Inclusiveness and Neighborhoods

Striving for inclusiveness means being a neighborhood that values the perspectives and contributions of all people, and strives to incorporate the needs and viewpoints of diverse people into neighborhood life.

Community Indicators - Examples

Current and Past Denver efforts– Denver Benchmarks– Piton Foundation’s Neighborhood Indicators

Jacksonville Community Council Inc. (JCCI)– http://www.jcci.org/statistics/qoldata.aspx

The Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Network– http://www.ubalt.edu/bnia/indicators/index.html

Role of the Stakeholder Committee

Attend 3 to 4 planning meetings through the winter and spring to develop the process and methods of engagement for Neighborhood Vital Signs;

Be a "connector" to your neighborhood and other communities of interest, assisting with the organization of meetings and/or other forms of outreach and neighborhood dialogue

Help the Vital Signs Team hone our list of “neighborhood desired outcomes”

Bring your authentic and unique voice to an important conversation about the future of Denver's neighborhoods.