The room where problems get solved was not at City Hall Thursday evening. It was inside the Owen Park Community Center located west of downtown Tulsa.
Eight neighborhood leaders from the Charles Page, Crosbie Heights, Owen Park and Skyline Ridge neighborhoods met for a roundtable discussion July 23. This was part of a new City of Tulsa program called Neighborhood Connect, which gathers residents to exchange ideas and organize across their ZIP code.
“We are all 74127,” said Kellie Pendleton, Charles Page Neighborhood Association president. “We’re better when we’re stronger and we do it together, instead of us trying to do all of this on our own.”
The Charles Page Neighborhood Association is young. More than 500 people have joined their Facebook page since it launched in November, but the monthly meeting turnout is still low — something neighbors in Skyline Ridge say is a struggle for them as well.
So Pendleton rallied her neighbors from the 74127 ZIP code to find new ways of boosting engagement. The City of Tulsa Neighborhood Conditions Index does similar work and now aims to help neighbors who live close by collaborate and network.
“This is brand new, but we thought we would do this to help Kellie meet those interests, and y’all seem like folks who would want to have that kind of conversation,” said John Hetherington, Tulsa’s Neighborhood Programs coordinator.
The program is simple: Neighbors write down their needs, resources and areas of opportunity on blue, green and yellow sticky notes, along with an action item and contact information.
Not only can neighbors reach out to one another in the future, but city councilors and other officials can also point back to the sticky notes as they make budgets and set agendas. District 4 City Councilor Laura Bellis attended and represented her neighborhood, Owen Park.
Here are some of the ideas Charles Page, Crosbie Heights, Owen Park and Skyline Ridge neighbors came up with:
- Need: Skyline Ridge and Charles Page both want to stake neighborhood association signs in high-traffic areas so they can increase membership and visibility.
- Resource: Several Charles Page residents have trucks or trailers to help with a trash cleanup event for the entire 74127 ZIP code.
- Opportunity: Find out who installs and maintains trash bins at the bus stops. Neighbors want to put some down because trash piles up on weekends.
- Opportunity: A farmer’s market with neighbors who have bees and chickens, plus the Eden Village Restoration Farm and Crosbie Heights Community Garden.
If you want to bring Neighborhood Connect to your community, visit the Neighborhood Connect website for more information on how to apply.
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