Neighborhood Association Partnership Program
The Neighborhood Association Partnership Program (NAPP) is an effort to improve the quality of life in the City of Bryan by promoting and facilitating citizen communication, participation and involvement in local governance.
NAPP promotes the organization and registration of neighborhood associations that will work cooperatively with the City of Bryan to help create a better community by addressing community needs and issues and by promoting neighborhood integrity and pride.
Benefits of Organizing
Why should my community organize?
Organizing your community will foster communication and interaction between neighbors and will help to boost neighborhood pride and neighborhood integrity. This new sense of community will promote citizen involvement in activities and efforts that will help improve the quality of life in your neighborhood. Your community’s efforts may result in:
- Neighborhood clean-ups
- Stricter enforcement of city codes and ordinances.
- Preservation of property values.
- Efforts to help alleviate social problems.
- Enhanced communication and interaction with the city.
- In addition, your community may benefit from some of the many services listed below that the City of Bryan will be offering.
What services will Bryan offer to my neighborhood?
The City Will:
- Provide documentation describing how to form a neighborhood association and how to get the members of the neighborhood involved.
- Provide staff liaisons to answer questions, attend neighborhood meetings and assist the community in its effort to organize.
- Assist in the development of neighborhood signs for your community.
- Provide notification of upcoming neighborhood and community events.
- Welcome citizen feedback on new developments in the area.
- Provide planning and land use updates, including endeavors to provide prior notification of new developments.
- Provide clarification of city codes and ordinances.
- Explain the current prioritization of city and street repairs.
- Provide emergency management information.
- Provide a list of service organizations that can help citizens find access to a range of services from utility assistance to leadership training.
- Provide access to land use studies conducted by the city.
How to Organize a Neighborhood Association
Develop a Core Group
The best way to start a neighborhood association is to find a small group of committed neighbors who are interested in organizing. When you have a commitment from three to five people, plan to meet in a comfortable place, such as a member’s home, a local park, or a local church.
Tip: If the group gets too large it may become unmanageable and result in low productivity.
Identify the General Purpose of Organizing
Each association will have different reasons for organizing. Some associations may want to promote neighborhood fellowship, while others may want to improve property values. Some may wish to provide social services for their neighbors, while others may want to address changes in nearby land use. Identifying the purpose of organizing will help you later on when you wish to set specific goals for your association. Identifying the purpose of organizing may also help you to decide how large or how small an organization you would like to develop.
Establish Boundaries
Typical boundaries may be determined by roads or natural features along the border of the neighborhood. A review of the city map and a tour around the area may reveal logical boundaries for a manageable sized area. Don’t forget to consider the purpose of your organization when determining the boundaries; the general goals of your organization may have an effect on how large or how small a group you would like to have. Once boundaries have been determined, a complete list of residents and property owners should be obtained. The list should be kept current in order to allow every neighbor to become involved. To get a complete list, you may need to go door-to-door or check with the city.
Tip: Don’t try to include too large of an area.
Develop a Neighborhood Plan
In order to have a successful and active neighborhood association, it will probably be necessary to develop a specific plan for your group. A neighborhood plan is simply a list of prioritized goals and a list of the means to achieve them. In order to find out more about how to develop your own neighborhood plan, please see the handout entitled, “Neighborhood Plan.” You can download a copy of this handout from the neighborhood web site, or you can pick-up a copy at the City of Bryan Municipal Building in downtown.
Delegate Responsibilities
You may want to delegate responsibilities to different members of your association in order to best meet the goals listed on your neighborhood plan. You may want to assign these responsibilities to a committee of members, rather than to just one person. The following are examples of possible volunteer responsibilities:
- Neighborhood inventory: An inventory, or a collection of facts about a topic, may include items such as population size, types of housing, and land use in your area. You may also want to take an “inventory” of the skills of your neighbors. Finding out that you have a neighbor who can fix cars or paint ceilings may be useful information!
- Issue identification: Issues and concerns can be identified through surveys sent to the residents or through a series of neighborhood meetings. The concerns may deal with crime, physical improvements, transportation corridors, preservation of unique features, re-zoning, social functions or other special interest concerns such as neighborhood renovation.
- Review neighborhood goals: The draft neighborhood plan should be reviewed and changed as you continue to form.
- Review and evaluation: The progress of the plan should be monitored and evaluated on a regular basis to ensure its success. Periodic evaluations should be done to recognize successes, detect problems and suggest improvements in the program.
How to Start Developing a Neighborhood Plan
1. Take some time during your first neighborhood meeting to determine a list of 3 to 5 goals that the members of your neighborhood would like to achieve.
For example:
- Improve the appearance and landscaping of my community.
- Provide social services to the citizens in my neighborhood.
- Further strengthen my community’s ties with the City of Bryan.
- Encourage fellowship among my neighbors.
- Obtain funds to pay for neighborhood projects.
2. After compiling this list, take some time to rank the goals in order of priority so that your community can determine which items on the list are most important.
For example:
- Goal 1: Improve the appearance and landscaping of my community.
- Goal 2: Provide social services to the citizens in my neighborhood.
- Goal 3: Further strengthen my community’s ties with the City of Bryan.
- Goal 4: Encourage fellowship among my neighbors.
- Goal 5: Obtain funds to pay for neighborhood projects.
3. After prioritizing your list, begin to brainstorm some ways in which your community can meet each of your identified goals.
For example:
Goal 1: Improve the appearance and landscaping of my community
Ways to Meet this Goal:
- Ask a city official to come to one of our next meetings to clarify city codes and ordinances.
- Promote more strict adherence to city codes and deed restrictions.
- Plan a neighborhood clean-up project and landscaping project.
Goal 2: Provide social services to the citizens in my neighborhood
Ways to Meet this Goal:
- Obtain a list of social service organizations in my area.
- Have a food drive to obtain food for needy citizens.
- Obtain permission to set-up a community center in a spare room in a nearby building.
Goal 3: Etc.
4. Determine a timeframe during which you would like to meet your goals.
For example:
Goal 1: Improve the appearance and landscaping of my community
Ways to Meet this Goal:
- Ask a city official to come to one of our next meetings to clarify city codes and ordinances.
- Promote more strict adherence to city codes and deed restrictions.
- Plan a neighborhood clean-up project and landscaping project.
Timeframe:
- Have a city official come to our May 1st meeting to clarify city codes.
- Obtain stricter code enforcement within the next year.
- Organize our first neighborhood-wide clean-up and landscaping project within the next 6 months.
Goal 2: Etc.
5. Send a copy of your neighborhood plan to the City of Bryan so that we will know the interests and goals of your community.
The contact information for the city of Bryan is listed below. When you send a copy of this documents to the city, please be sure to include contact information for your association so that we can help you meet your goals.
