The neighborhood surprised us with their request. Children, teenagers, and adults alike knew what would help their community.
We decided on a straightforward approach. Work with three (3) groups independently, adults, teenagers, and children, do a deep dive into the neighborhood's pain, and ask them what one thing we could do that would help make it better.
We held several meetings at the recreation center and slowly gained the trust of the adults. The teenagers and children had not been so battle-scarred by life and the neglect of any organization or government that created a neighborhood that was dying a death by a thousand cuts. The resiliency and innocence of children are always touching, and my team was committed to doing whatever was in our power to help them.
The effort started getting attention, and that was deliberate on our part. The police carried it back to City Hall. The students and professors at the university brought stories back into academia. The local African American newspaper interviewed Joseph and the neighborhood. The more prominent, mainstream daily newspaper approached my team to discuss what was happening. Soon enough, local elected officials were reaching out to us. They wanted to have their names associated with a good cause.
Initially, we were elusive. Do not be too responsive. Make influential people search us out. Build the low-level hum of energy. Do not give it all to one politician or one organization. Behind it, we continued work on the discovery process. What did the people living in this neighborhood believe could help them? We still needed that answer, yet. In the meantime, we were purposely sketchy about the details. The larger community was watching us, and that was exactly what we wanted. The strategy baffled the neighborhood association, but Joseph and his dedicated volunteers played along.
And then it happened. Each of our three (3) neighborhood groups converged on an answer, and we fully expected that each would have a different answer. Still, it stunned us when all three independently devised the same solution. I had never seen that before.
A library. Children, teenagers, and adults alike all agreed that a library would be the one thing that would help them the most. My team could never have predicted that. The nearest library was 4 ½ miles away and along some of the city's busiest roads, with no direct bus service. A neighborhood where most people did not own a car. A library. Wow did not begin the describe what my team felt. And not just a library anyplace but one that could be part of the elementary school. The elementary school, the recreation center, and a library joined in proximity creating a thriving nucleus within the neighborhood. What a beautiful vision!
Tall order. We certainly could not build the neighborhood a library, but we could show them how to make their voices heard and lobby for their cause. We could teach the neighbors to work together within the civic system to meet their needs and empower them to help themselves.
And so, we did. We leaked a little information to create more buzz in the media. We decided on a strategy with the neighborhood association. Go to the Library Board and pitch the idea. We showed the neighborhood leaders how to get on the Library Board agenda a few months out. The leaders needed time to prepare. We recommended a group presentation with adults, teenagers, and children. We helped them to organize a presentation, how to research the backgrounds of the Board members to appeal to them directly in the presentation, the roles each of their age groups would have in the presentation, the data we collected they could use to document the social problems they had, a simple market study of sorts about the drawing power of a new library and the connection of literacy to rising out of poverty. We showed them how to get letters of support and real people that would be in the audience supporting their cause. We helped them with the graphics to tell the story and showed them how to get the media involved. And we rehearsed the presentation with them.
The day arrived. The large contingent of a newly empowered, civically minded group went to the library board. Board Members had heard of the event and were pleased to see so many citizens interested in library matters. The press made an appearance. The presentation was heartfelt and authentic. I watched the Library Board Members and their emotional responses to the presentation. I soon knew the neighborhood had made a breakthrough judging by the Board's facial expressions. One Board Member teared up, and all gave the community a long and resounding applause followed by accolades.
The outcome was swift. The Board passed a motion to put a new library on the needs list for funding and placed it in the rank ordering of needs at number two (2). Further, the Board passed a motion to work with the School Board to co-locate the library with the elementary school. And the Board passed a motion to offer bookmobile services for the neighborhood immediately. We were dumbfounded, and the neighborhood was elated. Was this really happening?
This story was originally published on May 20, 2021.
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Next week - Part 5, Conclusion, in this month-long series, The Little Neighborhood That Could.
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