At this month’s District D Neighborhood Alliance (DDNA) meeting, held on Saturday, June, 19, 2010, we had Kristen Rosselli, Director of Community Services take us through a branding report on what other cities and organizations are doing to promote geographical regions within their boundaries. We had almost 20 folks from across the district participate in today’s meeting. Read the rest of the notes for more details and see the attached presentation.
Meeting notes
Kristen Rosselli gave an overview of Community Services then went into her presentation.
Presentation: southwest-region-ideas-ddna-062010 [PDF]
Rosselli started by providing a brief marketing framework that is used to analyze what’s needed to get started with a project of this caliber. The following items should be identified:
- Partners (businesses, institutions, neighborhood associations, etc.)
- Product (which for us would be community and other elements such as data, workforce, available sites & buildings, comparative cost of doing business)
- Audience (what’s important to them & who are we marketing too?)
- Compelling story / message (sell unique identities, create a sense of pride)
- Marketing tools
- Follow-up
The presentation turned into conversation, Rosselli admitted up front that she doesn’t have all the answers, just some knowledge and a framework for us. She did say that people want to be part of something successful–and successful communities create a feeling that anyone can make a difference. When we started talking about compelling stories, we discussed how SouthWest Raleigh has some of the most affordable housing in Wake County.
Rosselli had some handouts, one of which was entitled: The eleven principles of healthy neighborhood. The elements described on that article were:
- leadership
- vision
- collaboration
- services
- education
- culture
- safety
- environment
- housing
- business diversity
- economy
We then went through some examples. First up, Kansas City. They created excitement around the region. The highlighted neighborhoods, businesses, and the other products of the region.
We reviewed other regional organizations:
- South East Raleigh Assembly (SERA)
- Kansas City Chamber of Commerce
- Northland (North Kansas)
- Raleigh Chamber
- Downtown Raleigh Alliance (DLA)
- Lineberry Alliance
- Midtown Raleigh news
- Outside in
- Wikipedia
- Encyclopedia of Chicago
- Centerstage (South side of Chicago)
We talked about the housing diversity in our area and the reasons why some realtors “steer” buyers to Cary and other places. The theory is that there is little conformity for housing options in SouthWest Raleigh and NC State is both a blessing and curse. We believe there is a perception that SouthWest Raleigh is only a place where students live because of the proximity to the university. This is not the case.
We started brainstorming some thoughts about SouthWest Raleigh:
- Stability
- Live-work-play
- Halfway to everywhere
- Country to Downtown
- Attractive
- Not Capital Boulevard
- DDNA – like the Three Muskateers, one for all, all for one
- Very diverse, but commonalities
- Why did you come here?
- Why do you stay?
- Proximity
- Affordable
- Eclectic
- Charming
Interesting website for research: http://www.city-data.com/
SouthWest Raleigh citizens are: Educated, Engaged, Excited
Other events coming up:
Attendance
- Phil Poe – Glenwood Brooklyn
- Jason Hibbets – Lineberry Alliance / SWCAC
- Jim Paumier – Fairview Acres
- Ana Duncan-Pardo – West Morgan / Hillsborough CAC
- Lana Dial – Lake Johnson Harbour
- George Alder – Cameron Park
- Mary Belle Pate – Fariway Acres / SWCAC
- Mo Johnson – Renaissance Park / SWCAC
- Erin Edger – Renaissance Park / SWCAC
- Sophia Katherou – Wade Avenue / Ridgewood (SP??)
- R Bethea – Historic Method
- Joe Cobina – University Park
- Anne Franklin – Park Devereux
- Louise Griffin – Wade CAC / University Park
- Gina Fesmire – Glenwook-Brooklyn
- Bob Fesmire – Glenwook-Brooklyn
- Will Allen – Cameron Village
- Kristen Rosselli – Community Services
- Thomas Crowder – City Council
Tags: community, dla, downtown, kansas city, makerting, neighborhoods, raleigh, SERA, southwest, wake county