ANC: Strategic Plan  

Programs

Partners

2009-2011 Strategic Plan of Allen Neighborhood Center

Developed by the ANC Board and Staff January – November, 2008

Mission of Allen Neighborhood Center

Allen Neighborhood Center will serve as a hub for capacity building, neighborhood enhancement, and for activities that promote the health, safety, stability, and economic well-being of Eastside residents and other stakeholders.

• A ‘full cycle neighborhood’—home to all age groups, families, seniors, young professionals, renters and owners.
• Diverse in many ways—e.g., income, ethnicity, race, lifestyle, religion, abilities, sexual orientation and identity.
• Safe, where neighbors feel comfortable taking an evening stroll to visit a neighbor or a park.
• Well-marked and well-lit pedestrian and bicycle routes, along with affordable, convenient and thoroughly utilized mass transit in order to provide transportation options for all ages and abilities.
• A culture of health—as evidenced by well-maintained and utilized parks, playing fields, and public spaces; respect for bikers and walkers of all ages; easy access to wholesome, affordable, locally grown produce/food.
• Lots of school/educational/enrichment options in or near the neighborhood for children from birth to work.
• Affordable, high quality childcare options within the neighborhood.
• Well-maintained, diverse housing stock and options (single family, duplex, apartments, condos, lovingly preserved as well as new.)
• Yards well-kept and landscaped, with food and flower gardens and abundant native trees.
• Connected and well maintained parks and paths, as well as green, open, and public spaces.
• Access to a lively, walkable commercial district where people gather to shop and socialize all day and well into the evening.
• Easy access to recreation, arts, and entertainment.
• Variety of faith-based institutions.
• Work—jobs that pay a living wage.
• Job training opportunities.
• Independent, home-grown entrepreneurship thrives.
• Easy access to health and human services.
• Well-developed social infrastructure---neighborhood watches, associations, gardening groups, walking groups, etc. that contribute to a sense of connectivity, identity, and ownership.
• An engaged and empowered neighborhood, with a voice in neighborhood/community affairs.
• Sustainable, environmentally- friendly, and energy efficient neighborhood (‘energy preservation district’).

Goal: Increase the capacity of Allen Neighborhood Center to create and sustain the vision, inspire, model, prioritize, make decisions, provide direction and innovate.

Objectives:

• Recruit and orient additional ANC Board members with diverse experience until we reach a membership of between ten and fifteen people.
• Re-organize the committee structure and ensure that each board member is active on at least one committee.
• Offer regular workshops to board members to enhance understanding and skills for leading ANC.

Goal: Increase the capacity of Allen Neighborhood Center to develop and use resources effectively and efficiently, to utilize information technology, and to keep effective records.

Objectives:

• Provide leadership team with professional development and training to increase awareness of principles and practices in sustainable community building; enhance skill in program/service delivery; and further develop skills in administration and management.
• Provide all staff with regular opportunities for professional development, relying on low-moderate cost offerings from AmeriCorps VISTA, Power of We Consortium, and other sources.
• Explore and, if feasible, create a retirement program (e.g., 401-K) for full time, permanent staff.
• Continue to upgrade computers and software as funding allows, including re-establishing the Community Computer Center.
• Identify options for relocation of ANC or various of its programs (e.g., Housing, Food/Incubator Kitchen), with consideration given to impact on the immediate neighborhood, the service area, and the Eastside; accessibility and visibility; synergy between programs; program goals and objectives; costs/feasibility.
• Seek a funding package that allows for optimum organizational and program development.

Goal: Raise funds and friends (e.g., supporters, volunteers, advocates, partners, patrons) to support the work of Allen Neighborhood Center.

Objectives:

• Continue to diversify types of funding sought.
• Create a fund development plan for each year that includes 1) cultivation of corporate and large dollar individual donors, 2) at least two separate fundraising events that link fundraising to mission, 3) Eastside Neighbor-driven friend and fund-raising campaign, and 4) in 2009, a ten-year anniversary event (e.g., formal 10^th Anniversary Dinner) that builds funds.
• Maintain a vigorous volunteer recruitment/management/appreciation program to link volunteers from the Eastside, the City, MSU, and LCC to our programs.

Overall Program Goals:

• Develop accurate data and measurements for assessing the state of the neighborhood, including engaging neighbors in surveys, forums, and outreach initiatives in order to assess and respond to external changes and opportunities with innovative and appropriate programming.
• Develop and deliver innovative programs that promote the health, safety, stability and economic well-being of people living and working on the Eastside.
• Connect individuals, neighborhood groups, businesses to one another and to resources/programs at the Center and in the community.
• Support learning, leadership, empowerment, self-sufficiency and mutual assistance of Eastside neighbors, neighborhood groups, business owners and employees.
• Offer technical assistance, meeting space, use of copy machine, fax and computers to assist self-directing groups of neighbors to address challenges and enhance assets.

Goal 1: Outreach and Engagement - Engage Eastside residents and other stakeholders, (via door to door canvasses, center-based programming, regular forums and community gatherings), to link them with resources and services; connect them to organized and emerging groups of neighbors; and invite their participation in community conversations leading to the development of strategies for neighborhood improvement.

Goal 2: Communications / Education / Neighborhood Media – Maintain a lively, easily navigated and information-rich website; and develop and distribute accessible and appealing print media (Eastside Neighbor newsletter, brochures, posters, flyers, etc.) that educates and informs neighbors about emerging issues, while alerting them about events, activities, resources, and opportunities.

Goal 3: Organized Neighborhood Groups/Social Capital Building – Connect residents and other stakeholders to organized and emerging groups of neighbors (e.g., neighborhood watches, commercial associations, gardening clubs, block groups); and provide technical support to these self-directing groups to help build leadership and organizational capacity.

Goal 4: Livable, Sustainable, and Green – Promote and support principles of smart growth, new urbanism, and green building practices.

Objectives:

• Conduct an annual door to door canvass to engage neighbors in ‘front porch conversations’ about emerging issues and concerns.
• Link neighbors and other Eastside stakeholders with appropriate housing, health, and human services, resources, programs and opportunities during street canvasses, at community and outreach events, and in the Center.
• Explore methods for identifying and welcome new neighbors.
• Make priorities of signing uninsured neighbors up with the Ingham Health Plan, helping them to establish medical homes, promoting breast health, and addressing other health issues in collaboration with ICHD (e.g., asthma, infant health, maternal and reproductive health, lead abatement, etc.)
• Actualize our slogan, “Good Health is Contagious; Catch Some on the Eastside”, by promoting healthy life style choices (and the programs that supports those choices such as walking and gardening groups).
• Develop and implement strategies to engage and support refugees and immigrants who are settling in this neighborhood.
• Engage our institutional neighbors (businesses, schools, faith based organizations, non-profits) in assessment, planning, and programming activities to strengthen the relationship between the residential, non-profit, public, and commercial sectors
• Train Eastside residents as ‘neighborhood information and referral specialists’ to serve as helpers in the Center and in their own neighborhoods.
• Build connectivity by linking neighbors to self-directing, organized neighborhood groups (watches, associations, gardening clubs, walking groups) operating in their immediate few blocks.
• Provide technical support to organized neighborhood groups to build their leadership and organizational capacity.
• Host regular issue forums to engage neighbors and other stakeholders in ongoing assessment and planning for neighborhood improvement.
• Host annual events (Saturday in the Park) to bring neighbors together in a celebration of health, fitness, and neighborhood vitality.
• Maintain an up-to-date, information rich website that promotes not only the Center and its programs and activities, but the Eastside and the City of Lansing.
• Develop and distribute the Eastside Neighbor six times per year. Education and inform stakeholders about emerging issues; provide information about Eastside events, activities, programs, and opportunities; and celebrate Eastside strengths and assets while addressing its challenges.
• Explore developing and disseminating an Eastside Green Code---perhaps borrowing from Leeds for Neighborhood Development to encourage restoration of Eastside commercial and residential properties to highly energy efficient levels. Use this to market the Eastside as a healthy and green neighborhood.
• Link neighbors to efforts to increase livability, walk-ability, and bike-abilty of the Eastside.
• Assist the commercial sectors of the Eastside in marketing, promotion, identity building; support the Buy Local initiative. Work to develop our commercial corridors as fun, safe, friendly community gathering places.
• Market the Eastside, its strengths and assets, its connectivity, and reputation as a ‘healthy neighborhood’, via tours, print materials, thoughtful articles and presentations, & videos.

Goal: Support the stability, safety, and vibrancy of the Eastside by improving the housing stock, empowering home ownership, and promoting quality rentals while maintaining housing for a diverse population, including families, seniors, students, and young professionals.

Objectives:

• Attract more public and private investment in housing improvement.
• Robustly and creatively market the Eastside and Eastside houses, inside and outside the neighborhood, to targeted populations, including graduate student families, immigrants and refugees, Sparrow and Neogen employees, Peckham clients, people with vision and mobility disabilities. (Example: Combine a Tour of the Eastside with visits to foreclosed homes and/or First Time Homebuyer Classes). Showcase the Eastside’s walkability, character, and housing stock as an “energy preservation district”, with a focus on embedded energy.
• Commit to economic diversity and affordable housing for startup and lower wage households, e.g., Advocate for a set aside on any project, new construction or redevelopment, to insure a steady supply of entry level workers for Eastside businesses and a steady supply of new young neighbors to carry out community life.
• Build to suit targeted groups, particularly people with visual and mobility disabilities that would benefit from outstanding public transportation options (e.g., build accessible homes)
• Develop strategic alliances with Center for Independent Living, Peckham, Refugee Development Center, Refugee Services, MSU Graduate Student organizations and offices, HR offices of local employers that offer ‘walk to work programs’.
• Promote green building, energy efficiency improvements, flood proofing of homes affected by the flood plain.
• Provide education and advocate for incentives and funding for restoration of older housing stock.
• Explore the opportunities in a shrinking population and changing demographics, such as doing strategic thinning (deconstruction) of tagged and junk houses with the following caveats:

• Reserve materials during deconstruction for reuse in replacement housing.
• Exercise caution against excessive deconstruction that would substantially decrease density and, hence, walkability
• Consider replacement of demolished housing with one story, accessible bungalows with universal design features, suitable for seniors and people with disabilities.
• Prioritize those areas close to Michigan Avenue, providing access to public transportation and an accessible commercial district.
• Carefully consider empty lots (as a result of deconstruction) for use as green space and pocket parks.

• Protect the residential core by preventing additional erosion from poorly designed and enforced buffers between residential and commercial uses. Work with both sectors to establish boundaries (including consideration of ‘nodes’) that enhance both residential and commercial areas and allow for appropriate development/improvement of homes and businesses.

• Promote a culture of good stewardship among renters and home owners.
• Continue to promote homebuyer assistance programs and financial literacy, and when necessary, foreclosure prevention counseling. Explore the addition of IDA, Asset Development programs and counseling services.
• Advocate new housing ordinances and spending at City Hall to 1) address vacant home realities in order to ensure that vacant, red tagged homes are demolished or sold at auction in short order, 2) offer incentives for retrofitting older housing stock to greater energy efficiency (perhaps even energy star status).
• Explore establishing an education and demonstration house to inspire and inform restoration of older Eastside houses, and perhaps serve as a design center and library (with a base of designs, contractors, funding sources, architectural guidance).
• Collect data on changes in the property tax base and use this to drive planning and development.
• Promote/Support/Sustain Housing activities by developing and incorporating revenue producing ideas and strategies.

Purpose

The overriding purpose of our Food Project is to promote food self-reliance; increase knowledge and skills in growing food/flowers; enhance health; and strengthen bonds of civic trust through an integrated and synergistic set of programs.

Current programs include: Breadbasket, a one day/week pantry, the five year old Allen Street Farmers Market, the newly opened Hunter Park Greenhouse, neighborhood growing projects (Garden-in-a-Box, Urban Gardener Certification Course, Pocket Parks, Yard Gardening Promotion), and Community Soup – beginning in December and serving as a possible precursor to a community/incubator kitchen

Goal 1: Strengthen and strategically market the Allen Street Farmers Market in order to increase access to whole, fresh foods for Eastside residents, particularly for neighbors on food assistance

Objectives:

• Develop creative, neighborhood-based marketing techniques targeted to Eastside residents, particularly those receiving food assistance;
• Engage and train Eastside youth as volunteers and vendors at our market;
• Provide practical support to farmers at our Market to increase their capacity and stability;
• Link market farmers to local Eastside businesses, including restaurateurs & small groceries.
• Use the market as a lively venue for nutrition and local food system education;
• Promote/Support/Sustain Market activities by developing and incorporating revenue producing ideas and strategies, and
• Host activities and celebrations that strengthen community identity, diversity, and connectivity.
• Regularly collect data to guide planning and marketing decisions.

Goal 2: Increase food security and self-reliance by sponsoring greenhouse-based programs for agricultural education and food related projects.

In our 30’x 96’ Hunter Park Community Gardenhouse, offer food-related entrepreneurial, educational, and recreational opportunities to residents. This thermostatically controlled year-round greenhouse will be a growing place, not only for produce and flowers, but also for neighborhood relationships.

Objectives:

• Bring additional fresh food into the neighborhood by using the greenhouse and surrounding park land as a site to raise and harvest vegetables in park plots and as starter plants for distribution throughout the neighborhood.
• Extend Michigan’s notoriously short growing season to 12 months/year for Eastside gardeners.
• By using the greenhouse as a site for gardening education, build (and share) "green" skills and knowledge, increase nutritional awareness, promote and support yard gardening via innovative programming such as Garden-in-a-Box and the Urban Gardener Certification Course, and celebrate the food ways and cuisine of this diverse neighborhood.
• Let the greenhouse catalyze entrepreneurial and neighborhood-generated projects, particularly for youth, low-income families, refugees, and organized neighborhood groups.
• Create a model for promoting food self-reliance, agriculture education and creative place-making, i.e., a neighborhood commons, which is replicable in other low income and food insecure neighborhoods in the region.

Goal 3: Strengthen bonds of civic trust and involvement by creating ‘gardening places’ in strategic locations throughout the neighborhood, where people can gather to garden and turn spaces into ‘places’.

For over 30 years, organized neighborhood watches and associations have been enduring parts of the Eastside's social infrastructure. This network of organized groups provides a means for engaging neighbors in our Market and the Gardenhouse. It also provides an opportunity for targeted, smaller scale food activities. One neighborhood group has already created a small fenced, community garden & gazebo in an empty corner lot. Other groups have expressed interest in similar pocket parks or community gardens. We will collaborate with these neighborhood partners on projects of all sizes, to assist them in creating small neighborhood ‘commons’- spaces for growing trust and community, as well as food and flowers.

Objectives:

• Provide technical assistance and support to at least two organized neighborhoods on ‘gardening’ projects designed to grow food, flowers, and community.
• Collaborate with the local Garden Project to provide guidance and information, support and technical assistance to backyard gardeners and group gardeners on the Eastside.
• Promote/Support/Sustain GardenHouse activities by developing and incorporating revenue producing ideas and strategies.

Goal 4: Research, plan and build a community/incubator kitchen where 1) neighbors can learn food preservation skills by canning, drying, and freezing the foods they’ve grown in warmer weather in order to ensure a supply of nutritionally dense foods through the colder months, and 2) farmers who participate in our Allen Street Farmers Market can create value added products to market in the off-season.

Objectives:

• Conduct a needs/interest assessment to determine whether a community kitchen would be utilized by neighbors who are new to yard and greenhouse gardening and farmers at our Market.
• If we are able to establish substantial need/interest, explore design and location possibilities that would meet our current needs and allow for steady growth over the next several years.
• Build a community/incubator kitchen that integrates well with other ANC food, health, housing, and community building programs and initiatives.

Goal 5: Maintain the Breadbasket Program to provide for emergency food needs of Eastside residents.

Bread Basket" is a weekly ANC free food distribution service now in its sixth year of operation. Over 80 unduplicated families participate each month in this bread and seasonal gleaning distribution program.

Objectives:

• Continue this program to ensure the availability of bread and gleaned produce (including produce gleaned from the GardenHouse) for food insecure neighbors.
• Maintain a ‘neighbor-friendly’ and relaxed atmosphere at Breadbasket and provide easy access to information about other resources and services.
• Link interested families to the GardenHouse, yard gardening opportunities, and to the Market.

Youth Service Corps Goals and Objectives

Goal: Offer Eastside Youth neighborhood-based opportunities to develop job and life skills, with a particular focus on ‘green’ skills, civic engagement, community improvement, social justice, and entrepreneurism.

Objectives:

• Increase membership from the current 10-17 youngsters to 30 members by adding new kids on a regular basis and working to retain current members.
• Ramp up recruitment/training of adult volunteers to work as job coaches with the kids to ensure a ratio of 3 kids to 1 adult.
• Continue development of distinct teams within the Corps (Garden-in-a-Box, PeaceJam, GardenHouse Gardens, Greens for local restaurants project, etc.) that allow for a variety of experiences and skill development.
• Maximize skill-building opportunities and link to career possibilities (e.g., carpentry, gardening/farming, horticulture, landscape design, forestry, etc.)
• Encourage entrepreneurism in youth, e.g., by offering YSC members designated raised beds in the Hunter Park GardenHouse and space at the Allen Street Farmers Market to support their production and sale of food and flowers.
• Create short term rewards and expressions of appreciation to sustain long term membership in the Corps (e.g., t-shirt colors linked to time in service, pins, monthly fun events, etc.)

Wednesday Morning Senior Coffee

Goal: Maintain high quality programming for seniors.

Objectives:

• Continue to offer a weekly, topical program that educates, inspires, engages, and entertains older neighbors.
• Engage a team of seniors in the planning and facilitation of the weekly coffee.
• In designing new space for ANC, include space designated (if only for certain days/hours) for seniors interested in dropping in and hanging out.
• As a long term possibility, explore the viability of an Eastside virtual assisted living center, such as that in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston.

Kinship Care Support Group

Goal: To provide educational opportunities and support for Grandparents raising Grandkids in the neighborhood.

Objectives:

• Offer a monthly social/educational program featuring a speaker on topics of interest to this group (e.g., pertinent legislation, parenting challenges, school resources/issues, etc.)
• Link members to health, food, housing resources and programs offered by ANC or in the larger community to bring these elders fully into the life the community/neighborhood.
• Provide networking opportunities (e.g., conferences, forums, etc.) to members to connect them with relative caregivers from other areas of Lansing/throughout the state.