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NNIP PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
The Neighborhoods Resource Center Institutional Setting The Neighborhoods Resource Center is a private non-profit organization. It was founded in 1997 by the Nashville Neighborhood Alliance, an umbrella group for neighborhood organizations that has engaged over 169 neighborhood groups in its county-wide advocacy coalition. From 1980 to 2005, the number of Nashville neighborhood organizations exploded from 12 to an estimate of over 250. In 1997, the all-volunteer Nashville Neighborhood Alliance was faced with an overwhelming - and ever-growing - number of requests for help from individual residents and neighborhood groups. "Can you help us get started?" "What can we do about this crime problem?" "How do we get more people involved?" In response to questions like these, the Alliance created the Neighborhoods Resource Center to provide experienced organizing staff and technical assistance to neighborhood groups. The mission of the Neighborhoods Resource Center is to assist residents in the formation and development of ongoing neighborhood organizations that take action to improve the quality of life in their communities. NRC has focused mainly on low and moderate income neighborhoods that are facing significant challenges. In the past 8 years, we have assisted over 120 individual neighborhoods to become better place to live, work and recreate. The organization is funded by Outcome Based grants, corporate and foundation support, and individual giving. Significant support has been received from United Way of Metropolitan Nashville, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Mills Corporation, U.S. Department of Commerce, The Frist Foundation, and The HCA Foundation - as well as from contracts for services with other non-profit and government agencies.
Three Main Initiatives
The Neighborhoods Resource Center (NRC) combines three intertwined initiatives in assisting neighborhoods: Nashville residents become better neighborhood leaders through the Leadership Training Program; Neighborhood organizations become stronger and achieve their goals through the Organizing Assistance Program; Neighborhood leaders receive information on demographics, crime, land use, and other statistics through the Information Services Program - as well as help in how to use this information to shape the future of their neighborhoods.
Information Serving Neighborhoods NRC staff have over 50 years of experience in working in neighborhoods and see Information Services as a critical part of making change and measuring the change that has been made. More than half of requests for NRC information are from residents of low and moderate income neighborhoods. Other requests come from institutions and agencies that serve neighborhoods, such as schools, universities, churches, and non-profit organizations. The neighborhood leaders who created the NRC insisted that Information Services be one of its main components. They wanted to effectively "democratize" data, allowing residents of vulnerable neighborhoods to have access to maps, charts, and statistical reports that typically are unavailable to them. The NRC provides useful and understandable information to residents of vulnerable neighborhoods at no cost, and also trains them how to use it to strengthen neighborhood-based participation. The NRC also provides data to various agencies that are working in neighborhoods, enabling them to focus their services and evaluate results.
Crime maps and analyses have been two of the most popular information items provided by NRC, since residents can find "hot spots" of crime and can then work with police to deal with these specific problem areas. NRC's crime information has also been used by neighborhoods and agencies to establish specific needs, secure funding, and coordinate efforts by outside agencies. GIS information available from NRC includes: Crime maps showing individual crimes or crime density, as well as tables comparing one neighborhood's crime to the county as a whole; Census data, including data from the 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000 US Censuses (population, income, poverty, education, ages, housing statistics, etc); Health information (teen pregnancy, low-birth weight babies, pre-natal care, etc.); Neighborhood "assets" (community centers, congregations, day cares, schools, etc.); Zoning and land use maps and property ownership records. PARTNER BIOGRAPHIES: John Stern, Executive Director of the Neighborhoods Resource Center, is an entrepreneur whose extensive involvement in neighborhood engagement has led him to be an acknowledged expert on Nashville's neighborhood organizations. As a founding member and past president of Nashville Neighborhood Alliance, Inc., founding member and past Chairman of the annual Nashville's Night Out Against Crime, co-founder of the Neighborhood Crime and Safety Council, among many other activities, he has impressive credentials in marshalling local and citywide citizen based initiatives. In addition John has been a leader in a variety of advisory committees including the Arson Prevention Task Force; Metropolitan Planning Department -- Executive Director Search Committee, Retired Seniors Volunteer Program; Brownfields Advisory Committee; CityNet Consortium Board; Community Mediation Roundtable; Healthy Nashville 2000+ Leadership Team; HN 2000+ Violence Task Group; Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Task Force; David Lipscomb Advisory Committee; Animal Control Advisory Committee; and the Zoning Advisory Committee. He is also on the board of Cumberland Region Tomorrow and Senior Citizens, Inc. He is former chair of the Nashville Violence Prevention Coalition and is a graduate of Leadership Nashville. Other activities and organizations that he is or has been involved with include the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities; Donelson - Hermitage Neighborhood Association; Green Neighbors Project; Hermitage Environmental Leadership Project; Low Income Housing Forum; Nashville Healthcare Partnership; Nashville Sponsoring Committee; Partners for a Healthy Nashville; Recycle!Nashville; and the United Way. Three years ago, John was recognized by our city's Mayor as Nashville's "Neighbor of the Year" - the first recipient of this annual award. Mike Hodge is the Programs Manager of the NRC. Mike has been active in neighborhood organizing since 1977 and has been with NRC since 1997. He has worked with neighborhoods in developing leadership, finding common interests, finding solutions to neighborhood problems, and creating affordable housing for low-income families. He has assisted neighborhood groups, congregations, and other citizens groups in developing common projects. He also works with Geographic Information Systems, developing computer maps and other information around neighborhood concerns. Mike has a Master's Degree in Church and Community Ministry from Scarritt College in Nashville. Blaine Ray is the Information Specialist at the NRC. Blaine received a Bachelor's Degree in Geography from Southern Illinois University in 1999. He graduated Summa Cum Laude and was selected as the Valedictorian for the College of Liberal Arts. As a graduate student at the University of Kansas, Blaine focused his study on the geographic occurrence of crime. For his Master's thesis, Blaine developed a methodology for predicting the home location of a repeat offender, based upon the locations where their crimes took place. In 2001, Blaine graduated with a Master's Degree in Geography from the University of Kansas. Shortly after graduating from Kansas University, Blaine began working at the Neighborhoods Resource Center. He has an extensive knowledge of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and cartography, and has used this knowledge to present practical and understandable information to neighborhood residents throughout Nashville-Davidson County. Carol McCullough is a Neighborhood Organizer at the Neighborhoods Resource Center with five years of experience in organizing. Her career in organizing began in 1998 when she organized a union at her workplace in Portland, Oregon. In 2000, she moved to Chicago and worked as a labor organizer providing assistance to healthcare workers interested in forming a union. She went on to work as an Education Organizer for the National Training and Information Center, where she provided training and technical assistance to parents, youth and community organizers interested in education issues. In 2003, Carol began with NRC, focusing her organizing skills on the challenges facing neighborhoods. Carol is a native of Tennessee and graduated from Reed College in 1996 with a degree in Political Science. |