Neighborhoods Planning Network, New Orleans

ACORN protest in DC, 2/2006.

From Melissa Schigoda:

The Neighborhoods Planning Network is a grass roots neighborhood support network that is doing some very exciting work with neighborhoods in New Orleans. The mission of the Neighborhoods Planning Network is to provide an inclusive and collaboratie city-wide framework to empower neighborhood groups in the New Orleans planning process.

1. We hold meetings every Wednesday from 6 to 8 PM that bring together neighborhood associations for forums and discussions. Often, we have different organizations make presentations about their work or present as part of a panel on a particular topic.

2. Our website serves as a community bulletin board and we send out a weekly newsletter of events of interest.

3. We are organizing a series of festivals to showcase the work of neighborhood advocates and neighborhood associations. Our first event attracted more than 2,500 attendees and 75 community groups and was held at the botanical gardens in City Park.

4. We run workshops that empower community members. We are doing a series of workshops right now that will serve as our planning committee meetings for our next Festival of Neighborhoods, as well as learning opportunities for community members interested in learning how to create their own neighborhood festivals.
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The Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans is doing great work too. With financial support from tthe Louisiana State Historic Preservation Office, they are publishing probably the best local preservation "newletter" in the country. But it's not a newsletter, it's more like a magazine.

The University of New Orleans had a pretty good urban planning and urban studies program that provided lots of support to community organizations in the city. Yet in the post-Katrina funding environment, the program was eviscerated by the Lousiana State University system, of which UNO is a unit.

ACORN (Association of Commnity Organizations for Reform Now) is also very active in New Orleans.
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This is the kind of stuff I want to do with a relaunched Citizens Planning Coalition in DC, and a way to link similar groups across the country through a national Citizens Planning Alliance.

Index Keywords: civic-engagement