Changes to Neighborhood Resource Teams

Returning them to what they were intended to be . . . This is from an email sent more than a week ago from the mayor’s staff. If you are not familiar with Neighborhood Resource Teams this is a good start to learning about them. Essentially they are staff teams that focus efforts on various neighborhoods to address emerging issues and problem areas.

Good Morning NRT and NGT Members!
In the past few months the Mayor and I have been reviewing the work of the NRTs and their efforts throughout the city. You will recall the Mayor’s excitement about reengaging the NRTs as central to the city infrastructural reach into the community. The Mayor is appreciative of the time, enthusiasm and passion that you all have invested in the NRTs and the work accomplished throughout city regions that you serve.

As we move forward and complete the first six months of this administration, we have reviewed the NRT’s current regional configuration and considered what we have learned from community partners, neighborhood residents, city staff, and county stakeholders about the need for more teams throughout the city. People are anxious to partner with the NRTs but are perplexed about prioritization of issues and neighborhood focus of the teams under the current regional structure. Each team is working differently with different issue focuses. That is excellent and has worked well in previous years. However, under the new administration’s priorities, we have concluded that there is a need for more teams with a focus on specific neighborhoods going forward. Likewise, the new level of engagement will represent a paradigm shift in the priority and level of neighborhood engagement within city infrastructure. This is not merely an initiative sensitive to the whims of changing administrations, but a philosophy that will become part of the fabric of city culture. The goal is to promote collaboration across disciplines within city government as it relates to specific communities, and create natural touch points for collaboration with neighborhood residents, community advocates, non-profit and county stakeholders. The vision is to have teams that are equipped to be responsive to immediate neighborhood needs in specific disciplines at the core, but also maintain a broader vision and work on planning and directional issues with a future focus for each neighborhood identified.

Shifting to a Neighborhood –Specific Targeted Approach

The Mayor and I, in consultation with the NGT, have identified 9 neighborhoods that will have teams assigned to them. We have also mentioned this new approach to the management team, so that they know what is coming. They are:

1. Bettys/Hammersly/Theresa/Park Edge/Park Ridge
2. Balsam/Russett
3. Allied Drive
4. Badger/Bram’s Addition/Cypress/Burr Oaks
5. Brentwood/Woodland/Woodland Park
6. Darbo /Worthington
7. Leopold/Arbor Hills
8. State St/Langdon
9. Owl Creek

What this Means For Current Teams:
In lieu of these changes, we will be building new teams to accommodate the new approach. While it would be ideal to have current team members that are working on specific area to be assigned to the area (if possible) under the new structure, the assignments will be left up to the managers of each city division and department. If you are passionate about being assigned to a specific team, please let your manager know. Obviously, with the expanded number of teams, more members will likely be added, which means more resources (staff and time) will be asked of city managers for this effort. In the short term, this really is about change management, but in the long term, the work and boundaries of each team will be more defined and apparent. We believe that this will make the resource more accessible and useful to neighborhood stakeholders, as well as government and non-profit partners that may want to engage and partner with the NRTs on specific issues.

Leadership of New Teams:
Team Leaders will be identified in consultation with City Managers, the Mayor, and the NGT once the members for each team are identified. We are exploring the possibility of having co-leads for each team to share the burden, though that is still undecided. These leadership responsibilities will not rotate as the current team lead responsibilities do. Because of the strong charge of these new teams and the emphasis that is being placed on them, for the sake of stability and transition, it is important that the leads be capable, self-starters and familiar with community engagement and coalition building. This is an opportunity to take initiative and develop as a leader in city infrastructure. The following are a list of skills that will be needed to lead these cross-disciplinary teams. If you don’t have all the skills, you should have a willingness to learn them:

· Group Facilitation Skills
· Meeting Coordination and Group Management Skills
· Strong Analytical and Communication Skills-writing and speaking
· Work planning skills ( How to plan group work by establishing S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) goals
· Healthy respect for community and external stakeholders (coalition building)
· Presentation Skills- ability to talk with diverse audiences
· Be a self-starter- be willing to take the initiative

If you are interested in leading a team, please let your manager know that as well.

Below, I have identified disciplines that are CORE to each team. These areas tend to be called on the most in areas of the city that are in crisis. These disciplines also are already engaged in the community in the work that they do, thus the charge of community work will not be that foreign to them. What also has driven the core structure is the issues that the Mayor has identified that he wants for teams to focus on, also listed below.

1. Building Neighborhood New Teams

a. Disciplines that will be core to each team

i. Police
ii. Public Health
iii. Community Services
iv. Libraries
v. Housing
vi. Building Inspection
vii. Fire

b. Issues the Mayor wants each team to continuously assess and recommend and or/respond to neighborhoods with solutions:
i. Housing Stability/ Code Violations issues
ii. Law Enforcement/Saftey Issues
iii. Education (learning centers)
iv. Job Training/Access
v. Childcare quality and access
vi. Health Care

Additional Possible Issues (but not exhaustive list)
vii. Transportation access/limitations
viii. Financial Literacy (money/asset management)
ix.

There is a lot of information included in this email. I wanted to communicate changes to you, as soon as we had things firmed up as far as direction. I have a meeting with NRT Leaders and the NGT scheduled in the next few weeks. Feel free to bring your questions to that meeting, or contact me if you have other questions.

Thanks for your hard work and patience as we manage this transition.