Urban
leaders give Heartland Center program high marks
From 1994 to
2000 the Heartland Center worked with more than 300 people living
in 19 low-income neighborhoods in Washington, DC. The program, Empowering
Neighborhood People (ENP), was a joint project with The
Johns Hopkins University.
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The
written survey indicated that 100% of our ENP respondents
felt that their experience was either "very valuable"
or "somewhat valuable." More than 95% said that
ENP helped them meet new people and expand their networks
in the neighborhood and beyond.
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Last year the Eugene
and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation provided funding to conduct a post-program
evaluation. A mail survey and follow-up phone interviews were used
to determine if the capacity developed during the yearlong course
of leadership workshops, action planning and project implementation
remains today, how it affects current neighborhood improvement efforts,
and any other lasting impacts that might be detected through survey
methodology.
Findings
The written survey
indicated that 100% of our ENP respondents felt that their experience
was either "very valuable"or "somewhat valuable."More
than 95% said that ENP helped them meet new people and expand their
networks in the neighborhood and beyond. Nearly half of these people
(48%) said that they used their ENP ideas and techniques in community
projects beyond those implemented through their ENP training program.
Today, ENP participants continue to use their acquired skills and
knowledge in a rich array of community development work. Martha
Raycene Woodland credits ENP with teaching her how to run effective
meetings. After her ENP team conducted a series of public neighborhood
forums on topics such as rodent eradication and neighborhood beautification,
Martha went on to become an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for
Area 5C11. Patricia Pressley has used her ENP training in working
with children's groups, community gardening projects, and the neighborhood
newsletterÑlaunched through ENP and still circulating today. Two
ENP grads founded non-profit organizations. Brookland Pride, Inc.,
focused on beautification, sidewalk repair, and educational efforts
to prevent disposal of trash in storm drains. Today the group continues
its activities on behalf of the preservation and revitalization
of this historic Washington, DC neighborhood. "The Washington
Project," was also launched to provide services such as job
and personal development training to the "poorest of the poor."
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Patricia
Pressley has used her ENP training in working with children's
groups, community gardening projects, and the neighborhood
newsletter–launched through ENP and still circulating
today.
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Additional projects
and activities include addressing drug dealer problems, working
with the City Council on a small business development, organizing
holiday events, and many others.
Today the Heartland
Center is replicating parts of the ENP model in Lincoln, Nebraska.
In partnership with the city's Urban Development Department and
Neighborhoods, Inc., the Heartland Center delivered a series of
leadership development workshops within Lincoln's low-income neighborhoods,
which are highly diverse, and home to our most recent immigrant
citizens. The Center also facilitated the formation of a new North
27th Street Business and Civic Association, which recently won the
"Business Leadership Award" in Lincoln. And this fall,
we began a new program called "Great Neighborhoods!"–
a leadership-training program targeting low-income and moderate-income
neighborhoods and based largely on the lessons we learned from Empowering
Neighborhood People. 
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