The Advoc8te like most River East residents sometimes feels awash in community organizations. At times it seems like a never ending parade of community organizations, non profits, civic associations and advocacy groups. Nothing seems more full than the River East community calendar - it seems everyone has something to say. The problem is what are they doing? What are they doing that will engage me a representative of the community?

That is where I find most - not all but most Ward 8 organizations fall short. They become so overwhelmed with perception that they forget about purpose... about simple community engagement. In my opinion the majority of Ward 8 community groups/organizations fall into two groups:

1) UNDERDEVELOPED -Groups totally without any infrastructure to speak of. A total lack of transparency with little to no objectives to address community input and engagement. With no plan to "move forward" they are always undoubtedly "left behind". These are the groups that are most often regarded as obsolete and irrelevant. By not incorporating community engagement as a major factor they have lost touch with the community. They may talk a lot but they do very little. They are the placeholders of what could be really effective and powerful community groups.

2) OVERCOMPLICATED-Groups so compacted with committees and mission statements that they totally loose focus of their primary objective - community engagement. They are so awash in the "sausage making" process that they totally forget the primary objective - making sausage. They have a great start but loose focus once their planning overrides their purpose and ultimately collapse under the weight of their own infrastructure. Without community buy-in an overly complicated organization just can't sustain (long term anyway) the "house of corporate cards" that they build.

In my profession I used to advise others at the beginning of projects that "Even a peanut butter and jelly sandwich can become the most complicated thing in the world if you don't have a plan".

All things can benefit from a plan and from some structure but if you become so obsessed with the minutia of all the details your bread will go moldy, the peanut butter will dry out and your jelly will develop that neon green fuzz that while fascinating totally makes it unappealing. At the end of the day you are left starving with only reminders of what could have been a really great PB&J sandwich. You have to find a happy medium where community engagement is the primary focus.

All the best intentions in the world do NOT feed a hungry stomach - in this case community engagement. All animals go where there is the most food (another one of my favorite sayings). I implore our River East organizations to make sure they are providing sustenance that will provide for not only our mind and body but our (community) soul - otherwise we will find other places to eat and your organization will starve in the form of poor attendance and participation.

And lastly, in Ward 8 there has been historically so much division.... so many internal tiers of residency (old vs. new) that there is really lacking a sense of basic "togetherness". The open door policy of Ward 8 can jokingly (in part) be considered a "closed door" policy of acceptance. Especially when it comes to community groups and organizations (our ANCs are a perfect example) it would be great if there could be more encouragement for togetherness and cooperation. In a community where community group attendance is often in the single digits it would be great to see more full capacity meetings such as the first two events presented by the River East Emerging Leaders (r.e.e.l.) in February and March. That is what made those events so special. The large attendance, the feeling that the community was engaged and ready and willing to work TOGETHER. I am always so baffled when I hear River East groups talk of dividing their groups through types of membership, committees or chapters. There is a shortage of active community stakeholders not an over abundance. There is not one community organization in River East that consistently has an issue with an overabundance of community participation and attendance - quite the opposite.

For that reason (and a host of others) I strongly encourage River East community groups to focus more on cooperation and progress through community engagement. The rest WILL follow.

Yours Truly,

-The Advoc8te

P.S. And in case you forget. Always remember... "It's peanut butter jelly time!".