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The Neighborhood Exchange & Leadership Awards will be held at

8 a.m. - 2 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 1 at the Charlotte Convention Center.

Workshops

How to be a Welcoming Neighbor
Explore ways you can be a more welcoming neighbor.  This engaging workshop includes a group exercise that touches on recognizing your instilled biases as a step toward building a bridge across cultural divides. 
Moderator/Presenter:  Welcoming America

Creating A Vision for Your Neighborhood
Where do you envision your neighborhood in two, three or five years?  Learn how to apply a strategic planning process to define priorities and develop actionable steps to achieve your community’s short and long-term goals.
Moderator/Presenter:  City of Charlotte Neighborhood & Business Services

Planning 101
What is the difference between planning and zoning?  For the typical resident, it can be confusing.  Get a crash course on planning basics.  Learn more about planning, what zoning can and cannot do and how you can be involved in the development of your community. 
Moderator/Presenter:  Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning

Branding Your Neighborhood
Branding your neighborhood is more than a logo and a fancy name.  It requires leaders to draw on their community’s assets, history and people to create an identity that connects emotionally with residents.  This workshop provides participants with a framework for distinguishing and marketing their unique communities.
Moderator/Presenter: LandDesign

Discover Your True Colors
What are your true colors? In this session, participants will be introduced to the True Colors personality identification system.  The session allows attendees to understand the motivation and actions of others by first gaining a better understanding of their own personality temperament.  
Moderator/Presenter: Taylor-Made Learning Systems

Steal This Idea!
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  Neighborhood leaders will share ideas on how they made an impact in their communities.  This peer-to-peer session gives insight into how these leaders effectively leveraged funding and other types of assistance offered by local government and nonprofit agencies.
Moderator/Presenter:  City of Charlotte Neighborhood & Business Services/Local Community Leaders

Local Government 101
Why is the mayor part-time?  Who funds local schools?  Who makes the decisions? How can you make a difference? This session explains the basics of how City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County governments operate and simple ways to track local government actions and outline opportunities to get involved.
Moderator/Presenter:  GenerationNation/Charlotte-Mecklenburg Youth Council

Building Relationships with Law Enforcement 
This session is part of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s continuing efforts to communicate to the public their responsibilities and rights when encountering law enforcement.  Participants will learn about anonymous crime reporting, CMPD’s Citizens Academy, ways to commend or report an officer, as well as the steps for starting and maintaining a Neighborhood Watch program. 
Moderator/Presenter:  Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department

Leadership Development for Youth
Civic leadership and community service can start at any age. This session, specifically geared toward middle and high school students, serves as a springboard for helping our community's next generation of leaders get involved today. 
Moderator/Presenter:  GenerationNation/Charlotte-Mecklenburg Youth Council

Making Innovation Happen
Devising innovative ideas is easy compared to implementing them.  Participants will learn lessons such as how to bring creative people to the table, being emotionally true and the importance of starting small when undertaking innovative ideas.
Moderator/Presenter:  Peter Kageyama

The Business of Neighborhoods
While the love of community is important, a neighborhood organization’s success hinges on its structure, organization and procedures.  In this session, participants will learn how to develop bylaws, apply standard operating procedures and understand the pros and cons of seeking IRS tax exempt status.
Moderator/Presenter:  Charlotte School of Law

Showing the Love to Neighborhood Schools
Take care of the youngest neighborhood stakeholders.  Attendees will learn how several communities have successfully engaged their neighborhood schools. This session demonstrates relationship building at its best between a school and the neighbors who reside in the community surrounding it.
Moderator/Presenter: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools/City of Charlotte Neighborhood & Business Services/Local Community Leaders 

The Future of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
What does the future hold for CMS?  Hosted by the school district’s leadership, this session provides an overview of plans for the school system, including but not limited to school instruction and capital improvements.
Moderator/Presenter: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

Registration

Please submit your registration by 5 p.m., Monday, September 12.  Workshop sessions are filled on a first-registered, first-served basis.

Full Name

Full Address

Round 1 (9:45 – 10:45 a.m.):  Please identify your top three workshop choices.

Round 2 (11 a.m. – Noon):  Please identify your top three workshop choices.

Neighborhood Leadership Awards Luncheon

Will you be attending the Neighborhood Leadership Awards luncheon?

Neighborhood Leadership Awards

All award nominations must be for projects or work successfully implemented between Sept. 1, 2015 and Sept. 1, 2016. Please submit nominations by Monday, Sept. 12, 2016.

 

Community Safety Ambassador Award

The Community Safety Ambassador Award recognizes neighborhood organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the improvement of police-community relations in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area. 

Award Criteria:

  • Cultivates effective relationships between residents and police
  • Uses innovative problem-solving strategies to improve neighborhood safety 
  • Implements crime prevention initiatives and addresses other community concerns

  

Embracing Diversity Award

This Embracing Diversity Award recognizes a neighborhood group that bridges cultural gaps among neighbors and celebrates diversity in their planning and activities. Efforts may include organizing festivals or gatherings that encourage sharing cultural traditions; reaching out to diverse communities to offer services or assistance; and providing signage or communication tools in multiple languages.

Award Criteria:

  • Addresses a need in the community
  • Serves a diverse population
  • Implements a program or event that provides a lasting benefit to the community

 

Good Neighbors Award

The Good Neighbors Award recognizes a neighborhood organization that collaborates to improve their community through improvement projects, initiatives and communication resources to address neighborhood beautification, code and regulation compliance and neighbor engagement.

Award Criteria:

  • Collaboration to reduce the number of code enforcement violations
  • Improves community appearance by implementing beautification projects, including landscape improvements, signage, litter and graffiti abatement, community cleanups and home improvements
  • Coordination with City staff to increase community engagement and leverage resources

 

Moving Charlotte Forward Award

The Moving Charlotte Forward Award recognizes neighborhoods that have made an outstanding contribution to the promotion of transportation choices and safety as well as neighborhood livability. Recognition will be given to neighborhoods that have collaborated with the City to address transportation concerns or have used a grassroots approach to improve their neighborhood’s transportation environment.

Award Criteria:

  • Collaboration with City of Charlotte Department of Transportation to educate and build consensus around transportation improvements
  • Grassroots advocacy that promotes walking, biking or the use of transit
  • Implementation of a project that improves safety or connectivity for residents (i.e., installing bike racks, providing benches or other facilities, bike share programs, etc.)

 

Sustainability Leadership Award 

This category recognizes neighborhood associations that implement sustainability initiatives in their community.

Award Criteria:

  • Implementation of sustainability initiatives such as:
  • Local food initiatives (i.e., community gardens, farmers markets, etc.)
  • Resource conservation campaigns (i.e., recycling, composting, water conservation and energy efficiency)
  • Efficiency upgrades of homes, buildings or community facilities
  • Recreational/open space improvements (i.e., trails, landscape or park improvements, and tree planting or tree canopy maintenance projects)
  • Digital resources (i.e., phone applications, websites or other digital resources that encourage sustainable behavior)     
  • Planning activities (i.e., sustainability plans, neighborhood improvement plans, etc.)

 

Community Service Award (For Profit)

This award recognizes outstanding contributions by a private business or industry with an extraordinary commitment to community service that has helped improve the quality of life in local neighborhoods and across Charlotte.  Examples may include neighborhood cleanups, support of youth or elderly initiatives or assistance in repairing, renovating and building affordable housing.

Award Criteria:

  • Impact of its contribution
  • History of community service in the Charlotte area
  • Investment of resources either through funding or volunteer hours

 

Community Service Award (Non-Profit/Not for Profit)

This award recognizes outstanding contributions by a nonprofit organization with an extraordinary commitment to community service that has helped improve the quality of life in local neighborhoods and across Charlotte.  Examples may include neighborhood cleanups, support of youth or elderly initiatives or assistance in repairing, renovating and building affordable housing.

Award Criteria:

  • Impact of the contribution
  • History of community service in the Charlotte area
  • Innovative techniques employed for the largest impact

 

Neighborhood - School Engagement Award 

A neighborhood is a decisive element in building successful school and community partnerships. This award recognizes a neighborhood that has invested in public education through effective engagement.

Award Criteria: 

  • Community engagement that supports education initiatives in a school
  • Advocacy to develop community engagement by organizations and businesses to engage with a school
  • Support of student learning, emotional and social growth by providing programming and experiences during out of school time
  • Participation in schools by working on the school leadership team or parent organization
  • Neighborhood advocacy that enrich or enhance daily life in the neighborhood
  • Promoting pride in a neighborhood by identifying and communicating its history and distinct character  

 

To nominate an organization, neighborhood or business, please visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TS96V7N