New ENA Officers Attend SLACO Regional Neighborhood Conference
On Saturday, November 14, two officers of the Ellendale Neighborhood Association (ENA) attended the 20th annual Regional Neighborhood Conference: The Power of Neighborhoods hosted by the St. Louis Association of Community Organizations. Founded in 1978, SLACO serves as an umbrella and coalition for neighborhood associations in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
The annual conference serves as a platform to bring together neighborhoods and community organization leaders to network, discuss, and learn about successful ways to form, lead, and build strong organizations.
This year’s conference provided over two dozen informative sessions with topics ranging from effective neighborhood organizations and local governments to vacant lands to community buildings. It also touched on lessons learned from the events in Ferguson.
Matt Sisul, ENA President, and Angela Sebben, ENA Communications Officer, attended the conference representing the Ellendale Neighborhood.
“My overall impression is that we are on the right track,” Angela said. “Most of the organizations and speakers I heard during the sessions I attended were from well-established associations and community groups — many who have been active for more than 20 years, and much longer. Based on what they were recounting of their own experiences, for us just restarting, I think we are doing well.”
Together, Matt and Angela attended a session entitled Starting, Managing, and Sustaining a Neighborhood Association. The details of the session proved very informative and confirmed Ellendale has given itself a good foundation to build upon.
Matt also attended the session Fundraising for Your Neighborhood Association in which a panel of experienced leaders presented a diverse range of activities that can improve an association's visibility and raise money. Setting goals and budgets as well as recruiting volunteers and resources is also important. “The goal [of fundraising] shouldn’t just be to have money, but to have a plan to utilize those resources for the benefit of the community,” Matt summarized.
As Communications Officer, a new position in the Association, Angela attended the session Getting the Word Out in Your Neighborhood. The new digital avenues of communication available today are taking hold as the top used routes among many neighborhoods and organizations, but Angela noted that the session panelists reminded the audience to maintain ways to communicate to those who do not have access to digital streams of information. This includes flyers, signs, and good old-fashioned word of mouth.
Angela also attended the Building Inclusive and Trusting Neighborhoods session. “I wanted to attend this session because I am concerned about how to make sure the Knox Avenue area doesn’t feel excluded,” she explained. The session discussed many ways exclusion can apply, physical boundaries being one of them. “Many of the issues recently discussed at meetings and on our social media sites — such as the Wilkinson School, the Great Rivers Greenway Project, the construction on Southwest, and the traffic light at Arsenal and McCausland — are physically removed from the residents in the Knox area.” The panelist’s discussion provided several solutions, but overall emphasized communication, socialization beyond official meetings, and representation as tools to ensure everyone feels their input is valid and welcome.
Matt concluded his afternoon by attending the Aldermen/women & Neighborhoods: How Can They Work Better Together? session. Focused more on “macro” City efforts rather than “micro” neighborhood issues the session format allowed for an engaging discussion between panel and audience. “While more specific to the larger picture, the session gave a glimpse into better understanding of the needs and wants of some nearby wards and neighborhoods,” Matt said. Considering one of Ellendale’s major boundaries is adjacent to St. Louis County, Matt recommended for a future conference the topic of interaction between City and neighboring County municipalities.
Both Matt and Angela found the conference highly informative and look forward to future SLACO conferences and presentations.
The conference was held at Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis. Nancy Thompson, SLACO Executive Director, was the conference’s Master of Ceremonies and played a substantial role in assisting the Ellendale Neighborhood Association to re-organize and rebuild itself after declining membership and interest over the years led to its dissolution earlier this year. You can read further about Ellendale’s rebirth here and on the ENA’s website blog: www.ellendalena.wix.com/ellendale.
More information about SLACO and the conference can be found on their website: www.slaco-mo.org.