Home Community Northside Named 1999 National “Neighborhood of the Year”

Northside Named 1999 National “Neighborhood of the Year”

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Northside Named 1999 National “Neighborhood of the Year”

We are very proud to announce that the Northside Planning Council and Madison’s North side neighborhoods have been awarded the prestigious national “Neighborhood of the Year” award for 1999. Awards were announced at the national Neighborhoods U.S.A (NUSA) conference held May 26-29 at Monona Terrace. NUSA’s “Neighborhood of the Year” awards are the only national award given on an ongoing basis to neighborhood organizations for their self-help initiatives. 

The Northside Planning Council and Northside Community were honored in the “Multi-Neighborhood-Project-Partnership” category, for our collective work on the Warner Park Community Recreation Center and other significant community achievements. Awards are made through a competitive review process judged by a panel of distinguished neighborhood activists from around the country, which included both written documentation and a presentation at the NUSA conference by award finalists. 

As readers of the North side News are aware, the North side has experienced significant success in building a better and strong North side community in recent years. Probably the most visible sign of the North side’s revitalization through collaborative community efforts is the development of Madison’s first public multi-purpose community-recreation facility. When Warner Park Community Recreation Center opens its doors later this summer, it will culminate a six-year grassroots efforts, and also a significant partnership between Northside neighborhoods and our local city government. 

The Northside Planning Council and its 17 member Northside neighborhood associations led the six year grassroots community effort that eventually gained City approval of Warner Park Center, engaged Northside residents and organizations in helping plan the Center, and raised over $810,000 with the support of Northside neighborhoods, businesses, and individuals to help the City build the facility. We also secured City commitment not only for funds to build the Center, but to fund and manage its operations, in partnership with Madison School Community Recreation (MSCR).

The fundraising campaign in particular was a powerful demonstration of neighborhood and community support. A handful of larger corporate and foundation donors were joined by over 900 smaller donors, local businesses, and neighborhood groups in contributing the $810,000+ total. Donors made three-year pledges, “bought” bricks, held bake sales and garden tours, soldcookies and frisbees — including middle schoolers who collected almost $700 in pennies. 

There were many other obstacles along the way in developing Warner Park Center — from a City government reluctant to take on new projects due to ever-tighter budgets, to naysayers who believed a community center that served people of all ages and backgrounds would never work. The Northside community overcame these and many obstacles by knowing our community, by involving as many people and organizations as possible in advocacy and fundraising efforts, and most importantly, by refusing to give up despite many setbacks.

Other significant achievements highlighted in the award presentation included:

  • New Neighborhood Associations — the organization of 10 new North side neighborhood organizations, bringing the Northside total to 17 (the highest concentration of any comparable geographic area in Madison);
  • The creation of the Northside News, the bimonthly community newspaper you are reading, which is written almost entirely by dozens of community members. The Northside News is distributed free to 10,000 households and businesses by bulk mail, and is supported entirely by local business advertising from over 200 local businesses;
  • Troy Community Gardens — the successful grassroots effort to permanently preserve Madison’s largest community garden site and 35 acres of surrounding open space that was threatened by development residents deemed undesirable. The Northside Planning Council continues to facilitate the community-based planning effort that will draw on the resources of community organizations and UW-Madison departments to develop new kind of “community resource park” on the property that will include an innovative mix of community gardens, prairie restoration, mixed-income housing, educational programs, and an urban farm. The Troy Gardens project wil receive an “Orchid” award from Madison’s Capital Community Citizens on June 4, and the project is already being cited as a model for community-based planning and development. The Troy Gardens story has been captured for use as a case study and teaching tool in a video documentary produced by Northside resident and independent film producer Dorrie Brooks that is currently being distributed nationally.

The above-listed projects are among those where the Northside Planning Council has played a significant leadership role. Other significant Northside accomplishments in recent years brought about by Northside organizations and local government working together include construction of three new Northside neighborhood centers (in addition to Warner Park Center), a new community police station, a number of new local businesses and renovations to others, reduced crime, and improved local schools.

A Little of the Story Behind the Success

With its wealth of affordable housing and attractive natural environment, the Northside was among the first areas of Madison to experience both the benefits, and the challenges, of Madison’s growth in the past two decades from a Midwestern university town to an increasingly diverse urban center. As one of the most economically and culturally diverse areas of Madison, nearly half of the Northside’s population is over 55 or under 17.

In the late 80’s and early 90’s, both Northsiders and Madison public officials were recognizing the need for new ways to engage Northside residents and neighborhoods in responding to the changing face of their community. The Northside Planning Council (NPC) was formed in 1993 to help achieve that goal.

In their presentation to NUSA judges, NPC leadership stressed some key themes they feel have been important in the Northside’s recent history. One key theme is a strong belief in the positive power created when a community works together to build on our strengths, rather than focus on our problems. NPC, committed Northside activists, and other successful North side organizations have realized we are blessed with a diverse population, a variety of housing options, good schools, Madison’s highest concentration of neighborhood organizations, and great natural beauty in our parks and open spaces. We are working to build on those assets.

Another key theme, and task, has been the creation of a stronger sense of community, and community identity, among the diverse North side neighborhoods and population groups, as exemplified in the Northside News and Warner Park Center. Current NPC co-chair Paul Van Rooy speaks for many long-time North side residents when he says: “As recently as five or ten years ago, most people didn’t even think of the Northside as a distinct community, but now we not only see ourselves as a community, but as a community that is working together to build a better future for all of its residents.”

A third theme of the Northside’s community-building efforts is a belief that ultimately we cannot strengthen our community by focusing on only so-called “troubled” neighborhoods or “at-risk” residents. In Warner Park Center, Troy Gardens, and other efforts, we have worked to engage and link all residents and neighborhoods together, not isolate them from each other.

Finally, NPC strongly believes in both the need, and value, of residents and neighborhoods actively participating in local decision-making and in taking leadership to improve their own community.

These four themes have been a common thread running through the combined efforts of Northside neighborhood organizations, schools, business and community groups, and supportive local government officials over the past six years.

We’ve accomplished a great deal, but we still have more to do as a community to make sure our high quality of life is maintained and improved even more for future generations. We need to work together to determine what we want our community to look like 5 years from now, or 25 years from now. The Northside Planning Council is inviting Northside organizations and residents to participate with us in developing a comprehensive community vision statement and an action plan to take our community into the next century — an effort we are calling “Northside 2000”.

We hope that Northsiders share our pride in being named a national “Neighborhood of the Year”, and we thank all of you who have helped make the Northside such a wonderful place to live and work. Working together, we’ve built a wonderful community building in Warner Park Center, now we are going to build an even more wonderful community for all of our neighborhoods and residents.

Madison can also take pride in the fact that the Dudgeon-Monroe Neighborhood Association and neighborhood received a second-place award in the Single Neighborhood category, for their “Pedestrian Safety Zone” project. A NUSA official we spoke to indicated that it is very rare for two neighborhoods from the same city to be selected as finalists or to win awards the same year. NPC extends our congratulations to our sister neighborhood organization.