 |  | THE GOOD NEIGHBOR TOOL KIT: IMPROVING YOUR COMMUNITY cont. | | ||
|  Why Volunteer? Getting Started Improving Your Community Improving Yourself as a Volunteer Fundraising Working with Volunteers More Resources Directory: Links to Charitable Organizations | 15 Ways to Improve Your Neighborhood Safer, more pleasant neighborhoods not only benefit residents, but also help improve home values. Real estate professionals are often uniquely poised to head neighborhood improvement efforts. Here are some suggestions: 1. Work with the local sheriff or chief of police to establish a community policing unit. 2. Sponsor neighborhood clean-up campaigns twice a year. Search out a local nursery to donate planters for key intersections. Encourage local businesses to “adopt a street” to care for. 3. If an area is blighted, have the city or county commissioner issue a resolution declaring it to be a slum and blighted area and then get a community development area established. This will help your area qualify for grants to rehabilitate it. 4. Find ways to use "volunteers" who are required to do community service hours by the local court system. 5. Schedule regular public meetings for members of the community to talk to police, fire rescue personnel, sanitation departments, and the building and zoning code enforcement personnel. This provides an excellent forum to get ideas and air complaints. 6. Get the schools involved with the community and the community involved with the schools. Encourage teachers and students to volunteer for neighborhood clean-ups and flower plantings. “The elementary school in our neighborhood sends a communication envelope home with each student every Tuesday. This is a perfect way to get word to parents about different community functions at almost no cost.”--Joseph Pitts, 2000 Good Neighbor Award Winner 7. Organize a homeowners association or community group and then form committees on projects the neighborhood favors. 8. Help your neighbors with some task around the home. Rake leaves, mend the stairs, or whatever. It may inspire them to help someone else, and if we all help each other it will make the entire community a better place. 9. Organize a block party or community picnic. Ask each resident to bring food and ask the local grocery to donate drinks. Have local merchants donate items to raffle off, and ask a local radio station to send a DJ for entertainment. 10. Become a member of the local planning or zoning board. Your real estate expertise will be valued, and you’ll be in a key position to influence neighborhood improvement initiatives. Find creative ways to fund major improvements. Consider a public-private partnership in which a company in the area donates a portion of the funds. 11. Identify and prioritize your neighborhood’s problems; then tackle one or two at a time. 12. Develop safety initiatives that will address three perspectives—the offenders (who are they and why are they there?), the victims (who are they and what could be done to promote their safety?), and the location (what could be done to make it safer?).--Chicago Police Department, Community Policing Initiative 13. Establish an annual “Neighborhood Night Out Against Crime” parade in coordination with the National Crime Prevention Council. “We hold our parade on the first Tuesday in August each year, when similar parades are held all over the country. Our county sheriff brings 20 patrol cars, a police honor guard, McGruff the Crime Dog, K-9 units, a horse-mounted unit, a helicopter, a fire engine, and an ambulance.”--Joseph Pitts, 2000 Good Neighbor Award Winner 14. Enlist retired seniors to watch your community during the day. Give them a phone or pager number for the local beat officer to ensure a fast response. The American Association of Retired Persons sponsors the TRIAD program to help seniors help prevent crime. 15. Get businesses involved in a crime-watch initiative. Get fax or phone numbers of all participants to notify them of a crime in the area so they can be on the alert. Use your brokerage office as a base for other businesses in the area. Realtormag.com thanks Joseph Pitts, 2000 Good Neighbor Award Winner for contributing to this section. Tips for Encouraging Homeownership > | |||