Neighborhood Connections
Working with others we want to create a new community that is seamlessly connected to the surrounding communities.
Community Building
We have learned that vibrant communities are built and sustained by effective neighborhood organizations that rely on leadership from within their communities. In the past, we have worked with five neighborhoods (now referred to as our “focus neighborhoods”) in and around Stapleton to help create and improve those organizations. Those organizations are: Stapleton United Neighbors (SUN), Northeast Park Hill Coalition, Greater Park Hill, East Montclair and North Aurora. All five now have very active organizations, but they need resources to sustain their effectiveness, so the Foundation helps them with financial resources, technical resources and new partnerships.
Seamless Connections
In an effort to create seamless connections among the neighborhoods at and around Stapleton, the Foundation hosts quarterly Community Roundtable meetings to address inter-community issues that may benefit all five communities. This past year the group pulled together to develop a unified agreement on transportation in the northeast corridor. After several meetings, and a significant amount of compromise, the group developed a “white paper” on traffic and pedestrian recommendations for Quebec, Roslyn, Syracuse, Montview, 11th, 6th and a few other streets. The City has yet to act, so the group will need to stay vigilant.
Finally, the Foundation accepted the position of facilitating an ad-hoc committee of the Community Advisory Board (CAB) called the Communication’s Focus Group. This group was organized to develop recommendations for improving communication among the several stakeholders within and around the new Stapleton development. The work of the group is unfinished as of this report, however several significant interim recommendations are already improving communications for CAB sub committees, and community forums. The participation from community members was impressive, so we would like to thank all attendees for a lot of hard work.
