“Hamilton is unique among Canadian ci es because our Neighbourhood Ac on Strategy engages residents beyond just cas ng a ballot on elec on day. I’m very proud as Mayor to see the residents provide sensible sustainable ideas within their neighbourhood context that staff can actually implement within a reasonable meline. The key word is ‘Ac on’ which makes us diff erent from other engagement strategies.” - Mayor Bob Bra na, City of Hamilton Right: Community Development Workers and Neighbourhood Ac on Strategy Offi ce staff with McQuesten resident Pat Reid and Jim Diers, Tamarack Conference, June 2013 i Message from the City Manager, City of Hamilton Over the last three years, the City of Hamilton has spent considerable me and energy crea ng a Neighbourhood Ac on Strategy. This program or be er put, this new way of thinking and ac ng has been transforma onal for us as an organiza on, but also for the community and our ins tu onal partners. Since its ini a on in 2010, in partnership with the Hamilton Community Founda on, we have engaged residents within 11 City neighbourhoods. The Neighbourhood Ac on Strategy has provided the frame work for the “horizontal integra on” of neighbourhood work that not only ensures the eff ec ve and effi cient delivery of service at a neighbourhood level, but assists us, the City, in crea ng a stronger working rela onship with residents and key stakeholders within those neighbourhoods. In September 2012, our fi rst four Neighbourhood Ac on Plans completed by the residents of the Keith, S nson, McQuesten and Beasley Neighbourhoods were presented and endorsed by Hamilton City Council. At that mee ng I can truly say that I was overwhelmed with what I saw. The energy in the room was inspira onal. Residents presented their plans, spoke passionately about their hopes and wishes for their community and their neighbourhoods, and in the end there was unanimous support and a strong desire to keep moving forward by all. Four addi onal plans for the Riverdale, Davis Creek (formerly Quigley Road) South Sherman and Jamesville Neighbourhoods have also been completed and presented to City Council for endorsement in 2013, shi ing the primary focus from the planning phase into implementa on across eight of the 11 priority neighbourhoods. It is an cipated that the remaining three plans will be completed by the end of 2014. These Neighbourhood Ac on Plans are truly community plans, refl ec ng the issues that are most relevant and pressing to the residents that live in each neighbourhood, highligh ng what the residents themselves hope can be achieved. The Neighbourhood Ac on Strategy has played a large role in helping to strengthen rela onships with key ins tu ons and encourage new community involvement and investments from both the private and public sectors, as evident in the pages of this fi rst Annual Report. As I look forward to the con nued work between residents, community partners and the City of Hamilton, it is important to take stock of the great work and signifi cant results that have already been achieved. Thank-you to all par cipants in this very important ini a ve and I look forward to our con nued progress together. Chris Murray, City Manager ii Message from Hamilton Community Foundation When Hamilton Community Founda on launched its neighbourhood focus back in 2002, our goal was to have a signifi cant impact on quality of life for residents. Li le did we imagine that eight years later the City of Hamilton would adopt that focus and expand its scope into the strategy that exists today. Over the last decade, the Founda on has invested close to $10 million into the communi es showcased in this report. Beginning with our “Growing Roots… Strengthening Neighbourhoods” ini a ve where we piloted the neighbourhood community development worker approach, leading to our mul -year poverty grantmaking focus, through to the new Neighbourhood Leadership Ins tute, Hamilton Community Founda on has held fast to two principles: • We believe that every neighbourhood has assets: people with ideas and strengths and “These are truly skills to off er. Our job is to help them build on those assets. remarkable people who exemplify the • We believe that residents know best what their neighbourhoods need. Our job is to listen, to be responsive, and to help their voices be heard. no on of smart and caring communi es… One of our proudest yet most humbling moments took place last year when we watched their collabora on ci zens present their neighbourhood ac on plans to City Council. It felt like a culmina on with residents and of our approach and a celebra on of Hamilton’s vibrancy. These great teams, backed by other community hundreds of their neighbours and energized with vision, courage and hope, are the ul mate organiza ons is inspiring” return on our investment. Their dedica on is transforming their communi es block by block with great resident leadership, be er safety, more ci zens engaged, blossoming Governor General David local pride, and many visible improvements to services, facili es and streetscapes. Johnston, commen ng on mee ng the McQuesten Of course there is more to be done and more to learn about how best to do it – building Planning Team, April 2012 communi es is ongong, never sta c – but our neighbourhoods have shown that, with commi ed support from responsive partners in the public, private and voluntary sectors, they are more than up to the challenge. Terry Cooke President & CEO Hamilton Community Founda on iii Table of Contents i | Members of Council and Neighbourhood Ac on Strategy Team ii | Message from Chris Murray (COH) iii | Message from Terry Cooke (HCF) iv | Message from Paul Johnson v | Neighbourhood Boundary Map 1 | Hamilton’s Neighbourhood Ac on Strategy 3 | Neighbourhood Home Renova on Program 4 | Monitoring Our Progress: Evalua ng Hamilton’s Neighbourhood Development Strategy 5 | Neighbourhood Leadership Ins tute It was only a year ago that I had the privilege of introducing residents from the fi rst four Neighbourhoods (Beasley, Keith, McQuesten & 6 | Beasley Neighbourhood (Ward 2) S nson) that were presen ng THEIR Neighbourhood Ac on Plans (NAPs) to Hamilton City Council for endorsement. Since then, we 8 | Crown Point Neighbourhood (Wards 3 & 4) have seen a total of 8 NAP’s completed. Contained within these 8 NAP’s are 315 Ac ons. Implementa on of the many ac ons 10 | Davis Creek Neighbourhood (Ward 5) iden fi ed as priori es by each of the neighbourhoods is well under- way (137 of the Ac ons are underway (43%), 9 are complete (3%) 12 | Neighbourhoods Timeline and 24 (8%) are completed, but reoccurring) and momentum con nues to grow, with partnerships between residents, city 14 | Gibson Landsdale Neighbourhood (Ward 3) staff and other service providers con nuing to expand. To date, the Neighbourhood Ac on Strategy has seen investments from 16 | Jamesville Neighbourhood (Ward 2) community and ins tu onal partners in the amount of nearly $3M ($360,000 of City funds leveraging $2.6 million in direct investments 18 | Keith Neighbourhood (Ward 3) from external sources). 20 | McQuesten Neighbourhood (Ward 4) We are working diff erently under the Neighbourhood Ac on 22 Riverdale Neighbourhood (Ward 5) Strategy. Our work is driven by community priori es. Our model | is strength based and focuses on assets. We are working as “one 24 | Rolston Neighbourhood (Ward 8) City” and truly collabora ng across departments. The result is a momentum that is undeniable. More and more residents are 26 | S nson Neighbourhood (Ward 2) ge ng involved in their neighbourhood and are doing the “heavy li ing” required to implement many of the ac on items. New 28 | South Sherman Neighbourhood (Ward 3) partnerships are being formed with businesses, organiza ons and key ins tu ons to access the resources necessary to move the Ac on Plans forward. This is the fi rst annual report and highlights some of the accomplishments to date. It is impressive to see what has been achieved but we all know there is s ll much more work to be done. With our community development approach and the shared commitment to ACTION I know we will con nue to make our neighbourhoods healthier places to live, work, play and learn. Enjoy this year’s annual report and please keep up to date on our work by going to our website at: www.hamilton.ca/neighbourhoods Paul Johnson, Director, Neighbourhood Action Strategies iv v Hamilton’s NEIGHBOURHOOD ACTION STRATEGY Suzanne Brown, Manager, Neighbourhood Ac on Strategy Hamilton has a long history of people and organiza ons working together to make posi ve changes in our community. The City’s Neighbourhood Ac on Strategies Offi ce was established to work with residents and local leaders to make neighbourhoods be er and healthier places for all residents to live, work, learn, and play. Through funding from the Hamilton Community Founda on, Best Start Network, and with the help of many partners, the Neighbourhood Ac on Strategy engages residents to improve condi ons for everyone in the neighbourhoods through an asset based, community development supported neighbourhood planning process. People in all neighbourhoods deserve to be as healthy as they can be and deserve to live in vibrant places. By engaging residents to iden fy, plan, and lead the changes “Some mes, all the well meaning inten ons and hard they want to see, residents can build on their strengths to eff ort in the community just won’t create the full address neighbourhood problems.