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Southeast Quality of Life <br />Strategic Neighborhood Action Plan <br />1. Individual capacity is an individual's level of attainment in a particular skill <br />area but also the way an individual feels about him or her self; what one <br />believes one can do. Individual capacity is a resource (asset) of the <br />neighborhood. It may be discussed as feelings of self esteem and <br />empowerment. Individual capacity is a strong resource of the <br />neighborhood. <br />2. Or anizational caPacitY is what a neighborhood can do together. <br />Organizational capacity is most often demonstrated in the ability of an <br />organization to wield power, to attract positive attention and resources to <br />the neighborhood and the ability to work together to solve problems. <br />Examples may be the amount of public works dollars spent in the <br />neighborhood, the existence of the neighborhood as a target neighborhood <br />for bank lending, or perhaps for non-profit projects such as "Christmas in <br />April". <br />3. The structures which Support capacity or which enable the building of <br />capacity may be things like transportation, child care, and City code <br />enforcement. These structures may be inside or outside the neighborhood <br />and may or may not be under the control of the neighborhood but are very <br />important to the neighborhood. The availability of these structures may be <br />neutral as with a law or regulation or may require some level of capacity <br />to access such as the need to have political clout to ensure the <br />enforcement of the law or regulation. <br />Trends Causes and Influences <br />The changes in the neighborhood and family structure, aging of the population, <br />influx of new residents, increased percentage of rental housing, decreasing <br />residents overall, and a rise in crime, all cause feelings of isolation in the <br />residents and an overall demise of the neighborhood. The elderly and youth in <br />Particular are vulnerable to these feelings of being isolated. Yet even parents <br />working outside the home feel isolated from others in their neighborhood. Jobs, <br />child care, groceries, health care, little is available within or nearby the <br />neighborhood. The stresses of life and the strain of making ends meet on a <br />limited budget leave little time or energy for the affairs of the neighborhood. <br />55 <br />