Neighbours Building Neighbourhoods, Rochester, NY, USA

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Method(s) Used

Participatory Strategic Planning (Methods)

Name of person who posted the project:

Matt Leighninger

Location of project:

United States of America

Date when the project started:

Date when the project ended/project ongoing:

2007

Background to project:

Neighbors Building Neighborhoods (NBN) is a citizen-based planning and community action process that was initiated in 1993. City staff work with teams of residents - one for each sector of the city - to map assets, create community vision statements, and develop priorities for community action. In addition to providing citizen engagement in the Rochester 2010 Plan, the process supports new partnership and funding sources for neighborhood priorities.
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Purpose of project:

Help residents deal with issues like land use planning, economic development, and neighborhood and community development.
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Project activities:

Participants spend an average of 6+ hours per month for sector leaders, including individual sector meetings and monthly sector chairs meeting. This commitment can be substantially higher for volunteers working on sector-sponsored events and projects. The Rochester NeighborLink Network, an online resource, was also created to allow citizens to monitor the progress made by neighborhood groups and city departments on the goals set during the planning process.
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Project results:

New zoning ordinance focusing on design and community character;
New system of neighborhood-based code enforcement/police teams;
Award-winning urban farming project, called Greater Rochester Urban Bounty (GRUB)
Over 80% of the action ideas in the original NBN neighborhood plans have been implemented.

Contact details:

For more on this project and others, see the Democracy Helpline at http://helpline.deliberative-democracy.net.
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