NEIGHBORHOOD COORDINATION MESSAGE

This edition of Chesapeake Neighborhood Connections honors former City Manager Dr. Clarence V. Cuffee, who passed away June 2006. The Neighborhood Coordination program was initiated during 2003 under Dr. Cuffee’s supervision. After the program merged with the

Neighborhood Services Department in 2004, Dr. Cuffee continued to provide guidance and support for creating a model program that connects Chesapeake City government to neighborhood groups and residents. Toward fulfillment of that goal, Chesapeake’s Annual Neighborhood Symposium, Neighborhood Leadership Program, Civic League Directory, World Changers Home Repair Program, Neighborhood Quality of Life Study, as well as this newsletter, were created while Dr. Cuffee served as city manager. From presenting at neighborhood leadership classes to speaking at neighborhood symposiums, Dr. Cuffee’s support was consistent and sincere. His presence exemplified Chesapeake, “The City That Cares.”

Dr. Cuffee often stated all of us shall leave a legacy; it’s up to us to decide what that legacy will be. With this edition, Dr. Cuffee’s legacy of caring about neighborhoods continues.

“Connecting Chesapeake neighborhood to neighborhood”

NEIGHBORHOOD LEADERSHIP Chesapeake’s Spring 2006 Neighborhood Leadership Class was held from March through April. The Class Celebration occurred on April 20, 2006, at the Chesa-peake Conference Center, where 20 participants were recognized, including two youth participants for the first time. The youth provided feedback and actively engaged their adult colleagues to enhance the learning process.

IN THIS ISSUE:

First NLP Youth Participants Neighborhood Leadership Spring 2006 Class Virginia Statewide Neighborhood Conference 2006 World Changers Results

Volume 1, Issue 4 July/August 2006

PLACES OF

WORSHIP

C H U R C H E S

GOVERNMENT & AGENCIES

RESIDENTS

CIVIC LEAGUES

B U S I N E S S E S

N O N P R O F I T S

Chesapeake Neighborhood Connections

NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES COORDINATION

MISSION The Chesapeake Neighborhood Services Coordination Divi-sion coordinates revitalization efforts and connects residents to services and information to enhance the quality of life in the City of Chesapeake, Virginia. VISION The Chesapeake Neighborhood Services Coordination Divi-sion shall be a national model for its innovation and empow-erment of communities to actively develop, revitalize and maintain healthy neighborhoods.

Next NLP Class begins October 2006

Front row left to right: Anne Mortenson, Pablo Custodio, Gail Park-inson. Middle row: Edna Falkner, Sharon Alexander, Ella Ander-son, Karon Hardy, Angela Gregg, Shavonnah Stephens (youth). Back row: Martha Veal, June Staton, Burnie Mansfield, Ronald Clapp, Greg Orfield, Larry Bailey. Not pictured: Walter Coley, Demetre King (youth), Lylie King, Ralph Stewart & Greggory Wil-liams.

Note: The May/June 2006 edition profiled the NLP Fall ‘05 class. Ms. Angela Lyons was inadvertently omitted from the class roster.

Dr. Clarence V. Cuffee 1945-2006

Remarks made at the NLP Class celebration on April 20, 2006, by Gregg Williams, Spring 2006 NLP Class Representative:

“Distinguished leaders and citizens of Chesapeake, I have the pleasure of making some brief remarks for our class. Having spent a bit of time with these people, I appreciate the privilege of being asked to do this. I joined in on this group adventure as an offshoot of my civic league. I wanted to try and find ways to ener-

gize our fledgling phoenix group and thought this might be the way to do it. I suppose everyone in our group had similar personal ambitions that motivated them to make the commitment away from family and friends and whatever comes on TV on Thursday nights. I think what we found though after a night or two, was that we created a small community of our own, not without our problems, that we enjoyed being a part of every meeting and will miss them. Together we heard and were energized to take our lessons back to our civic leagues, groups, houses, and families and apply them vigorously. We learned that we needed to create mission and vision statements, align goals and objectives with them and develop action plans to achieve what we were striving to do. We learned what hav-ing a community really is and how to organize collectively to achieve our goals. We also learned that it is not just the voting adults that need to be involved but equally impor-

tant is the youth of our community. I think most of all we learned a lot about each other and ourselves. We learned that even in a large place like our C-City, that we basically have the same concerns and issues we have to deal with. I am confident that everyone in our little community will take what we have learned and use it positively and the en-tire city will benefit from the knowledge. Every single person in the class brought something special to offer to the group but there are a couple of indi-viduals that I feel should be recognized. We had the opportunity to be graced with two young citizens of Chesapeake, Shavonnah and Marcus. These two individuals represent part of the future of Chesapeake– and judging by them the future looks very good. They have so many ideas and are in touch with what really makes quality of life important. We need to listen to them and involve them as much as possible. Thank you for being part of this. I would also like to thank Theo, SherI, and Jen for a wonderful program and making us feel appreciated every night that we came. Lastly, I would like to thank the leaders of Chesapeake for the foresight of hav-ing a program like this one. This is a great idea and I hope that you continue your support for the program and look for ways to expand it. I think it would be great if our greater community of Hampton Roads could have dialogue like we did in our little community.”

Mayor Dalton Edge talking with guests at NLP celebration

NLP Profile: Shavonnah Stephens, Spring 2006

• First NLP youth participant

• Attends Oscar Smith High School, 10th grade

• All Honors Classes

• Plays field hockey for Oscar Smith and also plays on an AAU basketball team

• Active in community and has spoken to other youth in her neighborhood about participating in the Neighborhood Leadership Program

Spring 2006 NLP class repre-sentative, Gregg Williams

Shavonnah Stephens

“All neighborhoods face the same issues even if they are in differ-ent areas.”

Demetre King Youth Participant

Profile in September/October edition

Officers: Michael Scott, President Vicky Porter, Vice President Rita Brinkley, Treasurer Kimberly Lawson, Secretary

Boundaries: From Deep Creek Locks (Inter-coastal Wa-ter Way) to Cedar Rd to Douglas Rd enclosed. I have considered inviting the citizens on the other side of the Locks to become involved. Q: What is working well in your civic league? What are you proud of? A: As a new league we are still in the development stages. All current projects are in their initial phases. We have established a great working relationship with the city as a league. Prior to the formation of the league we almost felt like the hand that the city forgot. Now that we have formed, we have opened a great communi-cation link to support. Now to get our initiatives moving we can make progress in our community. Q: What do you consider the greatest asset of your civic league? A: Our league consists of diversity. We have members from various walks of life. We have members that have heritage in the Deep Creek area, Military background, and just your usual employment locators. That in all brings many conversation and thoughts to the meetings. Q: Do you have any special neighborhood events? A: Our special event is an annual gathering of the com-munity, where we recognize our High School graduates and welcome new neighbors. Q: What do you consider to be the special characteris-tics of your neighborhood/residents? A: The location of the neighborhood due to its enclosure prevents normal thru traffic.

Civic League Profile Pleasantview Civic League

The City’s 3rd World Changer’s Project occurred June 24– July 1, 2006. The project achieved the following:

• Better housing conditions for 21 Chesapeake families

• Improved quality of life in South Norfolk

• Participation of 350 volunteers in Chesapeake

• A partnership involving residents, faith-based groups, the Chesapeake Redevelopment and Housing Author-ity, and Neighborhood Services.

World Changers is a volunteer mission program sponsored by the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Making the case for Civic Leagues

“Civic Leagues are a liaison between neighborhoods and government agen-cies. Good civic league performance will result in better neighborhoods, increased property values, lower crime, and good neighbors.”

Eddie Matney Kemp Woods Civic League NLP Spring 2005 Alumni

Rita Brinkley NLP Alumni

CHESAPEAKE NEIGHBORHOOD CONNECTIONS

This newsletter is published by the City of Chesa-peake’s Neighborhood Services Department, Neighborhood Services Coordination Division. If you would like to submit content or content sug-gestions, or would like more information, please contact Neighborhood Services Coordination at ( 7 5 7 ) 3 8 2 - 6 0 1 8 o r e - m a i l mcclammy@cityofchesapeake.net

The 7th Annual Vir-ginia Statewide Neighborhood Con-ference will take place in Danville, Virginia, September

21-23, 2006. The conference will be held at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research over the course of three days, beginning on Thursday evening, September 21 and ending Saturday afternoon, September 23, 2006. The theme of this year’s conference is “Neighborhoods: Dis-cover the Possibilities.”

The conference provides a great opportunity for atten-dees to participate in information-packed workshops, lis-ten to thought provoking speakers, view a host of exhibi-tors and engage in unparalleled networking opportunities with hundreds of neighborhood advocates from across the Commonwealth of Virginia. The one thing all attendees have in common is their interest in improving Virginia neighborhoods.

In effort to make the conference affordable for everyone, advance registration is only $50.00 per person. All regis-trations postmarked on or after August 25, 2006 are sub-ject to increase to $65.00. Many of the conference work-shops and activities have limited seating, so get your reg-istration in as soon as possible. There will be NO ON-SITE REGISTRATION. All registrations must be postmarked no later than September 8, 2006.

Call: (434) 799-5260 Call: (540) 342-2763

Visit: www.vsnconf.org

Next Issue:

Neighborhood Quality of Life Results VSNC Highlights NLP 2006 Fall Class Schedule

VSNC Conference Schedule

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Friday, September 22, 2006

Saturday, September 23, 2006

• Opening Evening Reception

• Breakfast at Host Hotels • Mobile Tours • Lunch with Closing Speaker

• Breakfast with Opening Speaker • Workshops • Awards Luncheon • Workshops • Evening Youth Event & Adult Reception

Sign-up for Neighborhood Leadership Classes—Register by September 25th

The fall 2006 neighborhoods Leadership Class will start October 5 and go through November 16, 2006. Partici-pants will meet once a week, Thursday evening, 6:30 to 9:00 P.M. The format is conducive to adult learn-ers. Information is presented for organizing successful grassroots organizations as well as peer-to-peer dia-logue about community issues. Topics include Success-ful Organizing for Neighborhoods, Developing Vision & Mission Statements, Planning and Problem Solving, Neighborhood Improvement Initiatives, Accessing Re-sources & Developing Partnerships, and Effective Com-munication & Presentations. Call 382-6018 to register.