From the Chair

From the Chair…

Over the past 7 years, the Council of Neighborhoods has hosted an annual Statewide Neighborhood Conference, recognizing neighborhood leaders and their efforts and providing workshops on subjects that were pertinent to neighborhoods. This year, we have decided not to have the conference. Now, before someone gets the impression that we don’t care any more or that we’ve become so weak that we can’t host any more, let me explain.

The Council of Neighborhoods is an organization with multiple functions. We operate as a Community Housing Development Organization, using federal funds to construct homes for first-time homebuyers and low/mod income households. We also help neighborhoods with organization activities, assist neighbors with individual needs, provide special events like Christmas for over 100 needy children each December and host an annual statewide conference. The first activity, for the most part, funds all the others. We are dependent upon the housing market just like any other organization in the real estate field and that market is weak, even in Oklahoma. Those other organizations who support us with grants are also affected by the rising cost of fuel and materials. We also know what the price of fuel is now - and what it’s likely to be by August, when would normally host a conference.

With that in mind, our Board of Directors asked our Director to contact those neighborhoods and cities who are usual attendees at the annual conference. She found that they have the same kind of concerns about the cost of travel - and, added to the increased cost of putting on a quality conference at some off-site convention facility, our Board has decided to set the conference aside for 2008.

In lieu of the conference, we will host several workshops in our facility at 2200 SE 59th in OKC, and we will help with the elective process by hosting Meet the Candidate programs. All of those activities will be advertised in this newsletter and will be noted on our new website.

We solicit your comments about these decisions and your participation in our programs. WE HAVE NEVER SENT YOU AN INVOICE FOR OUR SERVICES - AND WE NEVER WILL. We are resolved to provide quality assistance to neighborhoods free of charge. Carl Sullivan