How to Form a Neighborhood Association

A neighborhood association is a group or council of neighbors who get together, share their ideas, thoughts, feelings and work cooperatively to make their neighborhood a better place to live. The U.S. now contains more than 250,000 private neighborhood associations. Upon forming a neighborhood association, your neighborhood gains a voice and an advocate to become recognized in your city and community.

Instructions

1. To get started, form and identify a small group of committed neighbors who share your aspiration to form a neighborhood association. This small group should be the core of your neighborhood association.

2. Set a meeting time and place and create a well-planned agenda for the first meeting. Establish how frequently members would like to meet.

3. Examine the boundaries of the neighborhood.

4. Evaluate ideas concerning the problems and needs of the neighborhood. Outline goals, projects and concerns.

5. Identify current and potential leaders in the core group. Determine their special skills, talents and willingness to participate.

6. Check your local city guidelines to confirm if you need to register your association.

7. Develop a complete list of neighborhood residents. Contact prospect committee members to form association. Decide how to communicate with your neighborhood association: Phone, email, postcards, flyers, newsletters or a website. Establish a way of regular and consistent form of communication to your association members.

Tips & Warnings

• Before organizing a new neighborhood association, check for existing associations in and around your area.

• Be sure to keep the size of the core group to ten or people or less.

• Avoid overlapping other neighborhood associations; check the phone book for neighborhood boundaries.