Over the past year, Azalea Park (Orlando, FL) is strengthening their efforts to be a neighborhood that is an insanely amazing place to grow up and grow old.
Azalea Park is a growing multicultural neighborhood filled with residents who have been in the neighborhood for generations and new families from the Caribbean, South America, and Central America. Since the early 2000s the Azalea Park Safe Neighborhood Association (APSNA) has been bringing residents together to improve quality of life and advocate for their community.
However, due to the pandemic, the neighborhood association declined in numbers and has been working to reconnect with neighbors ever since.
The President of the neighborhood association, Megan (also on staff with CommunityWorks), has been able to cultivate this work over the past year thanks to the support and resources provided by CommunityWorks (see previous blogs about this work here).
“While I might be a bit biased, I can without a doubt say that this work would not have happened without CommunityWorks. Several of our events this year only happened because of the resources and support we had access to from CommunityWorks. None of those events or the amazing things that came from them would have happened without this support.”
Through this work, the neighborhood association has been able to make real progress in strengthening the organization and connection with residents. Through their events and initiatives this year they have:
- More than doubled their contact list to share updates and ways to get involved with residents
- Have increased resident engagement by hosting four new events and going door-to-door to meet neighbors
- Taken first steps to launch a block connector initiative which brings residents on their block together
- Establishing new partnerships with congregations and local businesses to launch a collective impact framework for next year
Not only has this support provided a strong foundation for their work to grow, it’s also helped to sustain the leaders of this work.
“While I know this model works, there’s been a few times over the past year when I didn’t think it would work in my neighborhood because the ideas I had didn’t go as planned and I thought this just wouldn’t work. But, when that happened, I’ve been able to connect with other leaders on The Community Building Hub who encouraged me that it was a part of the process and gave me really practical tips to move forward better.”
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