Alameda County, California
Target Neighborhood: Ashland/Cherryland
Helping Neighbors Connect in the Bay Area
Building “community” is a priority for all BCJI sites. In Alameda County, California, the BCJI team led by the Sheriff’s Office has supported “house meetings” as a way for neighbors to build relationships, talk about issues and work together to solve problems. The Sheriff’s Office started the first monthly house meeting over a year ago in the community room of a large apartment complex on a dangerous stretch of 165th Avenue. “The idea came from brainstorming for the Byrne (Criminal Justice Innovation) Initiative, how to galvanize the community and identify entrepreneurs and neighborhood leaders who could become more civically engaged,” says Deputy Charles Joe. Now there are four home groups in the area, with residents leading the meetings and law enforcement partners as participants.
Part of the house meeting strategy is “contact theory,” using increased interpersonal connections to defuse problems and strengthen bonds among neighbors. “We’re getting people who had little contact with each other before—or even negative issues in the past—together to solve problems,” Deputy Joe says. The home groups have held block parties and clean-up days and, in one location, started a campaign to limit illegal fireworks on the Fourth of July. The home groups are also a key building block for a larger council, the Eden Area Livability Initiative (EALI), which also includes neighborhood associations, parent groups from local schools, local business owners and other organizations in the region. The groups share examples of what’s worked in their own community, and work together on larger projects as well.
House meeting participants have started to leverage the home groups, EALI and other programs like Operation Safe Passage (a school safety initiative) to connect with resources and other opportunities. One resident opened an ice cream shop with help from relationships built serving as a local soccer coach, for example. Find out more about the Alameda County CBCR effort here.
Additional Resources:
- Network Organizing
Learn more about the NeighborCircles strategy developed by Lawrence CommunityWorks in Massachusetts, which helps neighbors come together in small, facilitated groups to identify and pursue common goals for community improvement. - Identifying Community Leaders and their Interests
This article and the linked “one-on-one engagement interview script” provides a template for talking with community leaders, published by the Institute for Comprehensive Community Development.
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