Fostering Community Engagement & Cohesion: The “Portals for Our Partners (POP)” Project

Have you engaged in online forums, read news articles, or gotten a blast on social media letting you know how Covid-19 will affect you?  Likely you’ve been on a computer in the past two months and have gone to specific websites to find out what you need to know in order to operate your *normal* life. This form of communication is direct and essential in the development of our communities today.  That’s why I’m pleased to announce that NeighborSpace received  a grant from the Quality of Life Giving Circle to fund the development of  websites  for our community partners in order to foster improved communication with and among them, a project we are calling “Portals for Our Partners (POP).” Our strategy is to create websites and applicable documentation for communities where currently none exist so that outreach material, correspondence and discussion can be sustained.  In the current environment, where gatherings are not recommended this tool is even more necessary than before. The grant provides funding to develop a website template in Google Sites that can be rolled out to community association partners, including custom URLs, marketing materials, and training/help materials.

Why do we think this is useful? Over the course of 18 years of working with communities, NeighborSpace and its stewardship partners have struggled from time to time in getting the word out to communities, especially where there are 200 or more households surrounding an open space site.. This, of course, is a real challenge given that the NeighborSpace stewardship model contemplates that its community partners, typically community associations, will play a key role in helping to care for its land. As NeighborSpace has attempted to understand the problem, it has documented that the vast majority of community associations have no website.  The ones that use Facebook as a communications tool miss out on community members not using the product actively or at all. Then there are others that go door-to-door with flyers, but that is hardly efficient or even a good use of community volunteer time and energy. 

The project goal is to enhance community engagement and cohesion by improved participation in events on NeighborSpace sites as well as improved participation in community association activities like meetings, cleanups, fundraisers, neighborhood gatherings, etc. We are excited for the opportunity to provide this service to the communities where we work and look to  develop a simple, pertinent and user-friendly product.  The Powhatan Farms Improvement Association will be the first of our stewardship partners to receive a website under the POP Program. Other partners who are interested in participating should send an email to me at shannon@neighborspacebaltimorecounty.org  letting us know the person within your organization who will be your liaison for the project and we will reach out to them.