Chapter 02 – Why Organize Your Neighborhood
Before you ask your neighbors to organize, you have to be able to explain to them the benefits and value of forming a neighborhood group.
Organizing is mostly about developing relationships with each other, the city government, and other neighborhoods.
When deciding whether or not to organize as a neighborhood, ask yourself and others the following questions.
Do you know how to get in touch with neighbors in case of an emergency?
Would you like to address some problems in your neighborhood that need to be corrected, such as crime or unkempt properties
If your children needed to reach someone nearby for help when you’re not home, would they know who to call?
In the case of a neighborhood emergency, such as a fire or crime spree, would neighbors know how to get in touch with you?
Could your neighborhood be friendlier?
Would you enjoy more planned activities in your neighborhood for children and adults?
Did you answer “yes” to a majority of these questions?
At RNeighbors, we believe that organized neighborhoods are not only a happier place to live, but a safer one also. And we’re not the only ones who think so. The following are excerpts from Robert D. Putman from his book entitled Bowling Alone.
“One of the best (examples) is a widely noted study of Chicago neighborhoods by Robert J. Sampson, Stephen Raudenbush, and Felton Earls. Based on extensive survey and crime data, the study found that two characteristics—mutual trust and altruism among neighbors, and their willingness to intervene when they see children misbehaving—went a long way to explain why some neighborhoods are less crime prone than are others. Indeed, a neighborhood’s “collective efficacy” was a better predictor than was its poverty or residential instability of whether a person is likely to be victimized in the neighborhood.
“An earlier study by Sampson and W. Byron Groves found that organizational participation and social ties did make a difference in reducing crime levels. Their analysis of British crime data found that in areas where people are connected through tight bonds of friendship and looser yet more diverse acquaintanceship ties, and where people are active in local committees and clubs, there are fewer muggings, assaults, burglaries, auto thefts, and so forth. What is most interesting about this research is its finding that traditional neighborhood “risk factors”—such as high poverty and residential mobility—may not be as big a part of the crime problem as most people assume. Sampson and Grove’s analysis suggests that while poorer, less stable areas do have substantially higher rates of street robbery, this is not simply because of poverty and instability per se. Rather, these places have higher crime rates in large part because adults don’t participate in community organizations, don’t supervise teenagers, and aren’t linked through networks of friends. Similarly, a study of a dozen New York neighborhoods found that participation in community organizations helped to lessen the effects of socioeconomic disadvantage on juvenile delinquency. Put another way, young people rob and steal not only because they are poor, but also because adult networks and institutions have broken down.”
-Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone, 2000, p. 313-314
Are you convinced that it’s good to know your neighbors?
Why is it important to organize into an official RNeighbors Neighborhood Association?