Neighborhood organization basics
The City of Minneapolis has 70 recognized neighborhood organizations representing 84 residential neighborhoods.
- A neighborhood organization may represent 1 or more geographically defined neighborhoods.
- Each neighborhood organization is an autonomous nonprofit organization and has a volunteer board of directors elected by residents (and sometimes other stakeholders).
- Some neighborhood organizations in Minneapolis have histories going back more than 50 and even 100 years. Others have been around less than 20 years.
- Communities represented by neighborhood organizations range from as few as 672 residents (Northeast Park) to more than 20,000 residents (Longfellow Community).
- Some are highly diverse with multiple languages spoken at home (East Phillips) while others have little racial diversity.
- All neighborhood organizations received funding through the Community Participation Program and the Neighborhood Revitalization Program.
- Most neighborhood organizations have at least one part-time staff person, but some may be entirely run by volunteers. Large neighborhood organization may have several full- and part-time staff members.
- There is a long history of funding programs supporting neighborhood organizations before NRP and CPP, including Model Cities and the Citizen Participation Program.
- Some neighborhood organizations do additional fundraising and grant-writing, and have significant support from other funders besides the City.
Each recognized neighborhood organization must meet eligibility criteria identified in the Community Participation Program (CPP) Guidelines.
- Geographically based
- Represent neighborhood in its entirety
- Provide for participation of all segments of neighborhood
- Ensure membership is open to all residents
- No barriers to resident participation
- Hold regular open meetings
