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Silver Spring Action
"We are the leaders we have been waiting for."
The third annual Silver Spring Action took place in
January with over 200 people of diverse backgrounds in attendance.
Residents, business owners, community leaders and government officials came
together at this event to seize this tremendous opportunity for realizing our collective vision and potential for collaborative action in Silver Spring, particularly in the context of the current economic challenges. People at the event engaged in rich dialogues and made new connections
around topics such as safety, transportation, business and economic well-being,
and much more. Click here to read the Gazette's coverage of the Silver Spring
Action event.
The event emphasized the importance of taking personal
responsibility for the well-being of our community and reflected the
capacity within our community networks for responding to our common concerns. Attesting to this capacity, the Neighbors Campaign was unveiled at this event. This campaign is an opportunity
to respond to, and take action for, addressing the economic hardship experienced
by residents in our community.
In addition, we also launched the new IMPACT
network, community building model. This model of building community network is based on
cutting-edge practices that are being adopted in similar communities around the
nation. This new model was expanded upon by our guest speaker, Bill Traynor,
who is the Founder and Executive Director of Lawrence Community Works, and who is nationally
known for his innovative ideas on community building and neighborhood
revitalization.
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Connecting Residents to Emergency Services: A Conversation with Health and Human
Services
In early February,
IMPACT facilitated the sixth Property Managers' Luncheon to build stronger
partnerships between Montgomery County Health and Human Services staff and property managers. In
response to feedback from property mangers, this session was designed to
increase their capacity for early intervention in supporting families in rental
communities who are facing economic hardships.
At this session, Health
and Human Services staff, including Director Uma Ahluwalia, and 24 property managers participated in a rich dialogue that focused
on the important role that property managers play in referring residents to
appropriate emergency support services, such as rental and utility
assistance. Ms. Ahluwalia stressed the need for a strong partnership between managers and
HHS in order to keep families in stable housing and avoid homelessness. At the forum, there was some creative and very productive problem-solving including:
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property managers shared their experiences on the
"front lines" with HHS staff and suggested low-cost solutions such as a roommate
match program
- managers also shared with each other creative ways
they have found to support residents - such as allowing a tenant to pay rent two
times a month, rather than once
- HHS staff responded to specific questions from
property managers and provided them with informational materials about emergency
services; property managers will share this information with their residents
- HHS explained the County's new Housing First
Initiative and how to participate
- Participants made personal connections that will
facilitate future interactions
- IMPACT introduced the Neighbors Campaign as another
way for mangers to support residents
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Adults and Youth Team Up Against Violence
The Youth Adult
Ambassadors Program is one of the initiatives that emerged out of an open space
planning meeting that took place following the death of Blair High School
student Tai Lam in November. A group of parents, concerned community members
and members of the business community have been meeting regularly through this
initiative to find better ways of addressing violence in our community and
identify ways in which parents could be more engaged in ensuring a safer Silver Spring for the youth and other residents.
At a meeting held
in mid-February, twelve adults who formed the Youth Adult Ambassadors program
met with Mixed Unity, a group of youth committed to a safe space for youth, to get a better sense of their perspective
on the issue of safety in Silver Spring.
At this meeting, the adults formed a partnership with the youth to support
youth-led initiatives against violence in the community. Responding to a
request made by Mixed Unity, the Youth Adult Ambassador group will be forming a
peace brigade at the free concert, hosted by Mixed Unity on Saturday, the
7th of March. This youth-led initiative is also supported by a number of
local groups including: Identity, Gap Busters Learning Center,
IMPACT Silver Spring,
Blair Sports Academy,
Street Outreach Network, Asian American LEAD, Maryland Multicultural Youth Center,
and Gandhi Brigade.
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Residents of Rental Communities Participate in the County Budget Process
IMPACT Silver
Spring, C-SAFE, and Weed and Seed are supporting residents of rental communities along the the New Hampshire Avenue corridor in developing and conducting a community assessment, in an effort to involve residents of rental communities, in the County's Budget Process. This community assessment will be presented for consideration to the County Executive.
Presently, the two areas of concern that the residents have identified are: (1) Lack of sufficient and appropriate youth space and programming, and
(2) Need for better lighting and more police presence to make the community
safer. Through this campaign, we are supporting residents
to:
- Create a shared
vision for their community.
- Use this vision to
create a series of indicators to develop a current assessment of the community.
- Gather information
using surveys, interviews and existing data to compile a community assessment
based on the chosen indicators.
- Present this
assessment to the County Executive
and County Council as part of the budget input process.
- Educate other
residents about their own community, and
- Continue to chart
progress towards these community goals.
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