Coro Fellow Sean Holiday’s final community study and presentation have been released. from the introduction: "The newly elected Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council (HHPNC) board is confronting a major task. It must rebuild, rebrand, and remarket itself to a constituency that is largely confused about its purpose or frustrated at its past. Despite these public relations challenges, the vast majority of stakeholders still see HHPNC as an organization with potential, and one that could and should serve as a hub of the Highland Park community. Based on interviews with over 30 community based organizations,
businesses, and stakeholders, as well as focused academic research, nine recommendations surfaced that may allow HHPNC to reorganize and flourish over the next two years. These recommendations include: putting first things first—developing relationships, purpose, and vision; connecting with the community to recreate a stakeholder-centered system; using elections as an outreach benchmark, not a time to grab power; strengthening accountability while limiting bureaucracy; forging strong working
relationships with elected officials and their staffs; forgiving and forgetting past misdeeds; broadening the ways stakeholders can be involved; making meeting meaningful; and embracing diversity as a goal. When these cultural changes are realized, the board will be able to effectively focus on making broader material improvements in Highland Park."
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