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Mission of the District 1 Leadership Group:

To foster communication between the District 1 Councilmember, residents, and community based organizations while working to increase the quality of life in District 1.

Goals and Objectives of Leadership Group

• Recruitment
• Building relationships with, and helping new neighborhood leaders and groups
• It’s critical to reach out to other Community Based Organizations (CBOs), because they already have a communication network that we can use to resolve community-wide issues. 
• Share tips and best practices with emerging leaders and groups. 
• Help Guide
• Engaging and working with other groups
• Exchange of information
• Stay informed or major reviews or changes in City policy.
• Including: General Plan, tree policies, sign ordinance, secondary units.  If the Leadership Group knows about this upcoming reviews and shares input with the Councilmember, it allows him to be better educated when he is asked to make decisions.
• Forum to discuss district-wide issues and City policy
• The Leadership Group has opportunity to use neighborhood or individual problems to resolve citywide issues.  Generally, individual/neighborhood problems reflect a problem within the policy. The Leadership Group can help identify these shortcomings and help Councilmember Constant to be more proactive in addressing policy issues.
• Leadership training and education
• Training for new leaders and experienced.
• District-wide events and projects
• Leadership Group can be great tool for completing District service projects by utilizing the strengths/energy of all of the groups/organizations in the District.
•  These projects should help build pride and sense of community in District 1. 
• Example projects: Emergency preparedness training and plan development, litter cleanup, tree planting, educational events for children.
• Strengthening two-way communication between neighborhoods and the Councilmember
• Councilmember Constant hopes that this group will strengthen communication with the neighborhood to better enable him to represent District 1.  It’s important that residents share their input and thoughts with the Councilmember, so that he can take them into consideration them when making important decisions.
• Two-way communication not just about making policy decisions, but also about sharing information between groups.

Other Goals:

• Focus on development of younger leaders
• Organization of Citywide Forum for all neighborhood organizations/groups to discuss neighborhood organizing, neighborhood issues, opportunities to resolve citywide problems.
• To become a self-directed and autonomous group.
• Communication between groups
• Improve quality of life in D1—safe, clean, friendly, educated

Bylaws

• The Group decided that it was too early to decide on bylaws, the discussion will be continued on the District 1 Blog and further discussed during the next Leadership Meeting.
• When discussing bylaws group should consider the pros and cons of adopting bylaws. 
• Some members were worried that bylaws would restrict the open discussion enjoyed by the Leadership Group now. 
• However, other members also pointed out that bylaws will be needed to create structure for the group and keep members in line.
• Before Bylaws can be adopted, the vision or mission of the group must be clarified.

Why are you participating in the District 1 Leadership Group?

1. To make my association heard
2. To connect with other associations
3. To maintain property values and make the neighborhood look nice
4. To be educated about district and City issues to be proactive
5. To help older adults
6. To interact with my Councilmember
7. To create additional groups in District 1
8. To learn more about the needs of our community
9. To give back to the community
10. To make my association more active
11. To understand our community
12. To learn more about being a good leader and participate in leadership education
13. To develop an identify for District 1
14. To make our community sustainable

Next Steps

• The Group decided to discuss bylaws on the District 1 Blog and meet again in September to decide on bylaws.  Once the group is better established, the meetings can move to every other month and then quarterly.
• District 1 Blog  http://blog.sjdistrict1.com/

For more information on neighborhood organizing or District 1 and Citywide issues, visit www.sanjoseca.gov/district1 or call the District 1 Office at (408) 535-4901.