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Kennedy Park Neighborhood Association
A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 1 1
Monroe Park Neighborhood Association
Dedicated
to improving
the quality of life
in South Bend
neighborhoods
Sunnymede Neighborhood Association
Neighbors Building
Better Neighborhoods
SOUTH BEND, INDIANA

highlighting NRC’S WORK IN 2011
neighbors building
better neighborhoods
Dear Neighbors,
Neighborhood Resources Corporation ended
another busy year in which we launched two
new programs; Engaging Youth, Engaging
Neighborhoods and the Neighborhood
Leadership Academy.
Engaging Youth, Engaging Neighborhoods
asks neighborhood associations to identify
a team of students, grades 7 through 12,
to participate in a neighborhood-based
research project with the help of Notre Dame
faculty. This project encourages students
to talk about the good and bad of living
in their neighborhood and take pictures
to ‘document’ their experiences with the
aim of identifying and then creating (and
implementing) a neighborhood
improvement project.
Kudos to the Monroe Park Neighborhood
Association, whose team of four students
successfully piloted the project and who have
each earned a small scholarship that can be
used toward post-secondary education.
As to not leave out the adults, in cooperation
with South Bend Heritage Foundation, Inc.
and with the help of our dedicated planning
committee, we sought applications for
our Neighborhood Leadership Academy
launching in spring 2012. The Academy
is a 7-week program which adapts the
NeighborWorks national curriculum, Building
Leaders, Building Communities, and is
facilitated by community leaders who infuse
the material with their special local expertise
and experience.
In addition, we continued to award Block
Party, INSPIRE, and technical assistance
grants, provide conference scholarships, and
support both existing and newly forming
neighborhood associations through coaching
and technical support.
All of us at NRC look forward to another year
of successful programs and opportunities
to work with neighbors to strengthen their
engagement and to develop and support
neighborhood associations. Neighbor to
neighbor let’s make South Bend the city in
which we want to live!
Warm regards,
Naomi Penney, Board President (2011–2012)
Diana Hess, Executive Director
• Launched the Engaging Youth, Engaging
Neighborhoods program, an initiative in which
youth tell the story of their neighborhood
through photographs.
• Developed the Neighborhood Leadership
Academy and received 37 applications for the
inaugural class starting in February 2012.
• Provided scholarships to 12 neighbors to
participate in the Regional Neighborhood
Network Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio.
• NRC board president was a presenter at the
Regional Neighborhood Network Conference.
• Awarded 4 INSPIRE grants totaling $14,171 to neighborhoods in the near southeast, the near
northwest, the northwest, and the west side of South Bend.
• Awarded two $1500 Technical Assistance grants for website development and
neighborhood branding.
• Awarded 8 block party grants totaling $1441.20.
• Partnered with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior Men’s Club to host a Mayoral candidate forum
at WNIT.
• Partnered with the League of Women Voters of the South Bend Area along with the Northeast
Neighborhood Council, the Sunnymede Neighborhood Association and River Park Neighborhood
Association, and the Lincoln Way West Gateway Association, LaSalle Area Neighborhood
Association, and Kennedy Park Neighborhood Association to host district specific Common
Council candidate forums at Robinson Community Learning Center, IU South Bend, and the
Charles Martin Youth Center.
• Planned and facilitated a breakout session on “Creating Safe & Stable Neighborhoods” featuring
NRC, Weed & Seed, Unity Gardens, and the NNN, Inc. for the Community Forum on Economic
Development at IU South Bend.
• Engaged neighbors in three Neighborhood
Roundtables at the Charles Martin Youth
Center, St. Paul’s Memorial Methodist Church,
and Notre Dame Downtown focusing
on landlord/tenant issues and vacant &
abandoned housing.
• Partnered with Catherine Toppel, Code
Enforcement, to facilitate a solutions
brain-storming session on the vacant and
abandoned housing issue for the Real Estate
Investors Association (REIA).
2011 INCOME
Investments/
interest 34%
CDBG Funds 66%
2011 EXPENSES
Grants and training 22%
Operations, Outreach,
Technical Assistance 78%
Neighborhood Resources Corporation • 217 S. Michigan Street • South Bend, Indiana 46601

networking NRC ATTENDS CONFERENCE
Held annually, the Regional Neighborhood Network
Conference (RNNC) helps neighborhood
leaders to develop their organizational skills
while stimulating and cultivating new solutions
for the many challenges they face.
Eleven South Bend neighbors (at right) joined
NRC Board president and staff to participate in a
variety of workshops such as Going Green, The
Power of Positive Influence, Interfaith Workshop,
From Planning to Action, Mobilizing Your Neighborhood,
CNBDU: Improving Neighborhood
Business Districts, Building & Rehabbing Green
Homes Through Collaboration and Sustainable
Design, Fence Post Communicating and Neighborhoods, Better Neighborhoods Operating System,
Bringing Foreclosures Back, and Building a Sustainable Youth Council.
One conference participant commented that one of the best ideas he took from the conference was,
“that we can get more done when we come together; that we have to operate with a non-traditional
approach; we have to meet everybody where they are in life, humble yourself to listen, in order
to learn.”
inspiring COMMUNITY PROJECTS
In 2011, NRC’s INSPIRE (Innovative Neighborhoods Solving Problems and Inspiring Resident
Engagement) program distributed $14,171 in matching funds for collaborative and innovative
projects designed to build community in South Bend neighborhoods.
Ravina Park Unity Garden/URC Youth Program
Expansion of the improvement and development begun two years ago with beautification
project for the park and Bowman Creek and creation of a youth program which engages,
educates, and empowers the neighborhood and its residents.
Taking it to the Streets/Near Northwest Neighborhood, Inc.
A campaign sponsored by the NNN’s Nuisance Properties Committee to engage neighborhood
residents to get to know one another and build a collective voice that will create a sense
of neighborliness, while improving the quality of life in the neighborhood. Through the
development of educational brochures such as “Keeping it Friendly, Keeping it Clean, Keep it
Safe: and accompanying quick reference magnet, “How to Resolve a Nuisance Property”, and
“How to Identify Ownership,” the nuisance properties committee plans to collaborate with
other NNN committees to compile and share various tools crated around this important issue.
Westside Neighborhood Organic Gardens
The Westside Neighborhood Organic Garden
(at right) is a local organic community
gardening project comprised of neighbors
living with the boundaries of Western Avenue
(N), Sample Street (S), Walnut Street (E), and
Dundee Street (W) in South Bend. Onethird
of their crop goes to the participating
neighbors, one-third is sold to put into next
year’s start-up, and one-third is donated to the
LaCasa de Amistad food pantry.
M & W Community Ministries
Collaboration of neighbors and M & W
Ministries to develop a community garden
as a focal point around which to organize
neighbors in a currently under-engaged
neighborhood within the boundaries of
Council Oak north, Near Northwest south,
Meade Street west and Woodlawn east.
• 574.287.0425 • email: nrcneighbors@gmail.com • website: www.nrc4neighborhoods.org
guiding NRC LEADERS
NRC Board Members
Naomi Penney, President, North Shore
Triangle Neighborhood Association •
Catherine Toppel, Vice President, City of
South Bend • Donald D’Angelo, Treasurer,
Sunnymede Neighborhood Association
• Jerry Niezgodski, Secretary, Lincoln
Way West Gateway Association • Janice
Batteast, LaSalle Park Neighborhood
Association • David Blouin, IU South
Bend • Noreen Deane-Moran, Near West
Side Neighborhood Organization • Jean
Hanrahan, Northeast Neighborhood
Council • Scott McKibbin, Near
Northwest Neighborhood, Inc. • Roy
Prince, Jr., Howard Park Neighborhood
Association • Charles S. Reger, Chapin Park
Neighborhood Association • Karla Riley,
Kennedy Park Neighborhood Association •
Donald E. Sporleder, United
Religious Community
INSPIRE Grant Review Panel
Karen Ainsley, Near Northwest
Neighborhood, Inc. • Bonnie Bazata, St.
Joseph County Bridges Out of Poverty
• Gary Brown, Memorial Hospital
Community Health Enhancement •
Michael Divita, City of South Bend,
Economic & Community Development
• Barbara Duncanson, Community
Member, formerly w/SBCSC and Ivy
Tech • Charles Leone, NRC Supporter/
Neighborhood Resident, City Attorney &
private practice attorney • Marco Mariani,
South Bend Heritage • Nancy Nichols,
Broadway Christian Parish • Naomi
Penney, NRC Board, North Shore Triangle
Neighborhood Association • Karla Riley,
NRC Board, Kennedy Park Neighborhood
Association • Jackie Rucker, Notre Dame
Office of Community Relations, Notre
Dame Downtown
Neighborhood
Leadership Academy
Howard Anderson*, St. Joseph County
Bridges Out of Poverty • Dea Andrews,
South Bend Heritage Foundation, Inc.
• David Blouin, NRC Board • Marilyn
Gachaw, Kennedy Park Neighborhood
Association • Jessica Kitchens, South
Bend Heritage Foundation, Inc. • Gladys
Muhammad, South Bend Heritage
Foundation, Inc. • Donna Ring, LaSalle
Area Neighborhood Association • Ron
Silverman, Sunnymede Neighborhood
Association • Bayé Sylvester*, St. Joseph
County Bridges • Rev. Father Charles
Zawistowski, Southwest Alliance of
Neighborhood Associations
*alumni of Regional Neighborhood
Network Conference

supporting NEIGHBORHOODS OF SOUTH BEND
connecting NRC WORKS WITH LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS
Here are some of the organizations that NRC supported or partnered with in 2011:
Block Party Grants
1100 Allen Street
Garden of St. Therese/Holy Trinity
Episcopal Church
Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior Men’s Club
Monroe Park Neighborhood Association
Near East Neighbors
Rum Village Neighborhood Association
Sunnymede Neighborhood Association
Technical Assistance Grants
Chapin Park Neighborhood Association
Kennedy Park Neighborhood Association
Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior Men’s Club
Common Council Candidate Forums
League of Women Voters of South Bend Area
Northeast Neighborhood Association
Sunnymede Neighborhood Association
River Park Neighborhood Association
Lincoln Way West Gateway Association
LaSalle Park Neighborhood Association
LaSalle Area Neighborhood Association
Near West Side Cooperative Alliance
Near West Side Neighborhood Organization
Robinson Community Center
Charles Martin Youth Center
Indiana University South Bend
Mayoral Candidate Forum
Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior Men’s Club
WNIT
Creating Safe & Stable Neighborhoods,
Community Forum for
Economic Development
South Bend Heritage Foundation, Inc.
Unity Gardens Inc.
Weed & Seed
Neighborhood Resources Corporation • 217 S. Michigan Street • South Bend, Indiana 46601
574.287.0425 • nrcneighbors@gmail.com • www.nrc4neighborhoods.org