While a group is more productive than one person, the same is true for organizations that work together as allies. Partnering with law enforcement and joining forces with business and religious leaders, youth-oriented organizations, other civic groups and stakeholders maximizes the neighborhood group s effectiveness. When you have many people and groups with different views, resources and skills working together to solve community problems, goals can be realized. Neighborhood or block watches are driven by the energy and dedication of their members and the hope of improving their quality of life. Take one step at a time.
Problems don t develop overnight and unfortunately neither do the solutions.
Use the information from the survey to identify a laundry list of issues. Members of those organizations may wish to join your effort. Additionally, their by-laws and mission statements may be good models on which to draw. By networking, coordinating, cooperating, sharing and collaborating, neighborhood residents and business people can achieve their objectives more easily than if they were working in isolation. Further, when alliances among different groups are established, people see that they have more in common than they previously imagined, and that there is more to be gained by partnering on projects.