| East
Montclair/ Lowry Neighborhood Academy Administering
Organization
The Institute of Cultural
Affairs (ICA)
Program Objectives and Unique
Needs Addressed
The Neighborhood Academy
trains community members to become actively engaged in creating
issue-specific solutions in their communities. The East Montclair/Lowry
Neighborhood Academy of Denver, Colorado, followed the national
program’s objectives, which are to:
- Train a group of
at least seven youth and seven adults in a curriculum grounded
in ICA's ToP® (Technology of Participation®) group facilitation
methods and participatory strategies for community development.
- Use the methods
learned to plan and implement one project of the participants'
own design and planning.
- Apply the philosophy
of Community Youth Development to build strong, long-lasting
youth-adult partnerships.
- Catalyze or
strengthen a series of paradigm shifts:
- from the need for hierarchical leadership to the need
for facilitative leadership
- from the need for a visionary leader who defines a path
of change to the need for participatory community planning
and action implementation
- from reliance on outside resources to self-reliance and
confidence that the best tools for change are already within
one's own community
- Put in place a
system of on-going one-on-one mentoring and support of Neighborhood
Academy alumni with the staff of community-based partner organizations
Program Description
The Neighborhood Academy
is an ongoing program offered by the Institute of Cultural Affairs,
comprised of an intensive leadership and skill-development program
for youth and adults. The typical Neighborhood Academy consists
of six to eight full day sessions or 12 to 14 half-day sessions.
Session leaders model facilitative leadership and share approaches
that work in community development. Core approaches to learning
include demonstration, practice, and supportive feedback on group
facilitation methods, and the design and implementation of a practical
project to improve their community. Participants practice “up-front”
facilitation skills by working on real-life community needs.
The East Montclair/Lowry
Neighborhood Academy was co-sponsored by the Denver Office of
the Institute of Cultural Affairs and the Rocky Mountain Mutual
Housing Association. This Neighborhood Academy brought together
individuals between the ages of 16 and 60, from diverse cultural
backgrounds, including immigrants and refugees from Ethiopia,
Somalia and Mexico, as well as native Denverites. The East Montclair/Lowry
group chose to address a traffic safety issue at a busy and dangerous
intersection situated between the two neighborhoods. Academy participants
facilitated a community meeting to review the traffic situation
and suggest improvements. They followed up with local officials,
including city council members and traffic engineers, to take
the next steps toward implementing a solution.
Resource Materials Used in Program
ICA's Technology of Participation® group facilitation methods
and participatory strategies for community development include
three effective yet simple methods that can be used by anyone.
They include a focused conversation method, a consensus workshop
method, and an action planning method.
Groups Served by Program
The Neighborhood Academy
promotes community integration for all members of the community.
The Neighborhood Academy is for youth and adults who want to make
positive, permanent changes where they live. One third of the
participants in the East Montclair/Lowry Neighborhood Academy
were refugees. The leadership sessions included potluck dinners,
where community residents identified issues in the community and
how to address or resolve those issues.
Program Funding
Typically, program costs
are paid by ICA’s local community partner organizations.
The ICA will work with local partners to secure funding.
Program Staffing and Required
Staff Training
Neighborhood Academies
are led by the staff of the Institute of Cultural Affairs, but
may also include local paid facilitators with advanced training
and demonstrated skills in ICA’s Technology of Participation
methods. Local volunteers often help with program set up and management.
Program Evaluation
Methods used to
evaluate a Neighborhood Academy may include surveys and interviews,
feedback from participants and the staff of partner organizations,
documentation of the results of the participant project, and pre-
and post-assessments of participants’ leadership skills
and confidence.
Defining Program Success
Program success is defined
in terms of the skill level of participants in the program’s
facilitation methods, participants’ confidence in “up-front”
leadership roles, the increase in community engagement, practical
impact on a community need, and the overall satisfaction of the
local partner organization’s objectives.
Program Additional Comments
The East
Montclair/Lowry Neighborhood Academy partnered with the Rocky
Mountain Mutual Housing in Denver for this particular project.
Community partnerships are an essential component of the national
ICA Neighborhood Academy project. Additional partnerships have
included: Jacobs Center for Nonprofit Innovation, San Diego, CA;
Machan Elementary School, Phoenix, AZ; and the Community Toolbox,
Adelanto, CA.
Program Outcomes
Upon graduating from the program, participants in a Neighborhood
Academy are equipped to:
- Map their neighborhood and utilize its resources
- Develop a Vision for their community
- Build effective youth-adult partnerships
- Move people toward action by expanding participation in
local activities
- Plan and implement strategic community projects
- Hold productive and participatory neighborhood meetings
Graduates have integrated themselves into a variety of leadership
roles within their local schools, Parent-Teacher Organizations,
Neighborhood Associations, church tutoring programs, and youth
groups. They have gone on to work as Neighborhood Organizers,
to plan and implement community events, to facilitate neighborhood
action planning processes and conferences, and to train additional
Neighborhood Academies.
Other Key Elements
The Neighborhood Academy
can be offered in English and/or Spanish. Program
Contact
John Oyler
4220 N 25th Street, Suite 4
Phoenix, AZ 85016
joyler@ica-usa.org
or phone: 800-742-4032
Kynan Langenbeck
4750 N Sheridan Road
Chicago, IL 60640
klangenbeck@ica-usa.org
or phone: 773-769-6363, Ext 284
Program Dates
This program began in
1996; it is still operating. |
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