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Real Grass Roots
Enterprise groups practice economic development at the neighborhood level
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Business New Haven
11/17/1997
By: BNH
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An actively participating electorate has been a central principle of American democracy since the Revolutionary War. Even today there remain vestiges of colonial times in some communities, mostly rural, where local government decisions are forged at town meetings.
However, in most municipalities local decisions are entrusted to town councils, mayors or other representative forms of government. While neighborhood groups and coalitions are often consulted on local matters, seldom are they in truth empowered to craft and influence policy. This is especially true on matters of high finance such as economic development.
Yet New Haven's Enterprise Community Management Teams (ECs) are bucking this trend and impacting all aspects of city life in meaningful ways. The recent announcement of the creation of the “Regional Growth Connection” program (BNH, October 20), the opening of the Greater New Haven Business Resource Center, the Omni hotel training program and the Manufacturing Training Program for out-of-school youth are recent examples of major initiatives that originated within this people's forum devoid of any input from elected officials - although elected officials ratified and provided funding for these programs.
New Haven was one of 65 communities selected through a federal grant application process in December 1994 to create an EC. The $3 million allocation was intended to be used to leverage other funds to create viable projects. In March of this year, New Haven's EC was selected as one of the top ten performing programs in the country.
City employee Serena Neal-Williams is the New Haven EC coordinator, acting as a liaison between the neighborhoods and the government. She also oversees implementation of the strategic plan that was drafted by the EC Council and approved by the Board of Aldermen.
The EC Council has 30 members. Twenty are activists elected by the community and ten represent institutions like Yale, the Hospital of Saint Raphael and the Board of Education.
Neighborhood ECs are located in the Hill, Newhallville, West Rock, Dixwell, Dwight and Fair Haven. All conduct open meeting that range in attendance from 15 to 75 citizens. They also have three standing subcommittees: Strengthening Neighborhoods, Empowering Families and Economic Development.
According to Fred Thompson, a Dixwell community representative and chair of the Strengthening Neighborhoods Subcommittee, the ECs “give the community the proper tools and environment to thrive by providing training programs and an administrative structure. The ECs are a really effective tool for empowerment. People in the neighborhoods are getting a true voice and a partnership in how we can all work to make New Haven a better place to live and work.”
Currently the ECs are working on a home-based child-care training program in partnership with Gateway Community Technical College. In addition, several EC members just returned from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, where they spent two weeks studying the obstacles that substance abuse poses to economic development and how to establish a network to combat the problem.
According to Rhoda Zahler, director of special projects in the city's Office of Business Development, the ECs are unusual in that they forge partnerships and focus on actual benchmarks that must be reported to the federal government every six months. “The neighborhoods set these standards and then all parties work together to achieve them,” says Zahler.
The ECs' promise is even more remarkable given New Haven's traditional internecine hostilities. They might make even the most cynical observer wonder if perhaps Paul Revere didn't ride in vain.
- James Wareck
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