Neighborhood Toolkit

Bringing neighbors together to strengthen a neighborhood can be a challenge. Personalities and opinions often differ, making progress slow and frustrating.

RNeighbors has assembled this online toolkit from their experiences with Rochester Neighborhood Associations and various other community building sources. We hope this one-stop tutorial will aid current associations, and give start-up neighborhood groups guidelines for successful community organizing.

A big thank you to RTeam, a group of Augsburg College students, who took on this toolkit as a final project and organized the document, got it printed, and placed it online.

The RNeighborhood Association toolkit will be an evolving document that will grow as suggestions and ideas are brought to RNeighbors.

Good luck as you work towards bringing your neighborhood together!

Letter from the Mayor
Chapter 01 – RNeighbors
Chapter 02 – Why Organize Your Neighborhood?
Chapter 03 – Reasons to Form a Neighborhood Association
Chapter 04 – Getting Started
Chapter 05 – Your First Neighborhood Association Meeting
Chapter 06 – Future Meetings Guidelines for Core Group
Chapter 07 – Organizational Structure
Chapter 08 – Bylaw Development
Chapter 09 – Cultivate Strong Leadership
Chapter 10 – Recruit a Strong and Successful Base of Volunteers
Chapter 11 – Communication Tools
Chapter 12 – Project Ideas
Chapter 13 – Finances
Chapter 14 – Fundraising Ideas and Tips
Chapter 15 – Asset Mapping
Chapter 16 – Neighborhood Associations
Chapter 17 – RNeighbors Resources
Chapter 18 – Important Phone Numbers for Neighborhoods
Chapter 19 – Reference Examples
Sources