Collaboration DC helps Near SE, SW Aim for Consensus
Collaboration DC, a network of practitioners working to build civic capacity and solve community problems in the Nation’s Capital, has been working with residents and community based organizations in Near Southeast and Southwest for over a year to help forge a collective approach to neighborhood change. Collaboration within the community has not always been the case. As Reverend Ruth Hamilton, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, says in the Hill Rag, “The rap on our community is that we can’t get along.”
Now, the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6D, Southwest Neighborhood Assembly, and the Southwest/West of the River Family Strengthening Collaborative have worked together to engage the community and build a “consensus vision on what community benefits residents most want to demand from developers.”
The process of relationship building was supported by Mary Jacksteit, former director and now consultant to Collaboration DC. Residents see the benefit. Rev. Hamilton, continued, “The relationships that we have built, they pay for this process already. We just have to continue doing this as new residents come in.”
This story is excerpted from the June 2007 edition of the Hill Rag. The full story can be found here.
Posted by Administrator on Sunday, October 21, 2007