Miller Beach Embraces Collective Impact

The main goal of the Neighborhood Spotlight program is to promote our community to work collectively, thus increasing the level of impact our efforts can have. Collective Impact occurs when organizations from different sectors agree to solve a specific social problem using a common agenda, aligning their efforts, and using common measures of success. (FSG, 2011) For more on collective impact please check out http://collectiveimpactforum.org/what-collective-impact

Luckily Miller Beach already has a lot of cool organizations and vested community members interested in making the quality of life here the best it can possibly be. There are several annual events that occur that promote collective impact. The Miller Spotlight Steering Committee is collecting and synthesizing data from our community to find out how to better these efforts.

   

This past weekend several big kickoffs occurred. There was a major coordination that occurred between the MCC, MBA, Miller GardenClub, Miller Spotlight Steering Committee and several Block Clubs. Volunteers conducted a community clean up on Saturday 5/2/15 from 7am-11am.



    

A ton of folks came out and supported our community. Litter is definitely one of the threats to our neighborhood. This summer we will construct a plan of action to figure out how to address it.

St.Mary of the Lakes hosted a Festa Italiana. There was a great turn out. People from all areas and religions attended. St. Mary’s has been a long-standing pillar of our community, but as of late has run into some financial troubles.

 



Miller Beach wants to keep as many organizations thriving as possible. So, everyone collectively tried to attend this awesome event. Over 500 tickets were sold! Our Miller Spotlight volunteers were there too getting interviews on the community’s thoughts about what will help revitalize Miller Beach and how we can coordinate our existing institutions to collectively impact our community.

Another great joint effort in Miller is our Farmer’s Market, which opened on Sunday, May 3, 2015 with an awesome turnout.  

 

 

We had produce, honey, a variety of world cuisine, jewelry, and flowers! The market accepts SNAP and a Miller Spotlight volunteer was there to interview folks too! It’s open every Sunday this spring/ summer from 10am-3pm.



If you have an apartment, event, precinct, block club…you would like our community builder, or some of our volunteers to come to please contact Jessie Renslow via millerspotlight@gmail.com. Also, please like us on Facebook and Google+ .

 

Parks Shore Commons, Fiesta Italiana and Our Farmer's Market!

Miller Spotlight Steering Committee conducted a great day of interviews at Park Shore Commons on Wednesday, April 29, 2015 from 10AM-Noon.

 

Park Shore Commons offers affordable apartments along the shoreline of Gary, Indiana. There is no other community of its kind in a 10 mile radius. So, our volunteers knew we had to interview the formal and informal leaders that lived within the 246 units there.

 

Working in cooperation with the managers and community liaison, we were able to make this event a major success!

We are looking to synergize more events between their site and our volunteers and open up the invite to anyone in the Miller Beach and City of Gary as a whole to feel free to join in our efforts. We will have some fun stuff coming up this summer so please stay tuned for our latest updates.

We have just hit our first 100 interviews for the MillerSpotlight project!!! There are 10,075 people living in Miller Beach. We would like to hear from as many vested community members as possible. Please book your interview as soon as possible!

 

Members of our Steering Committee will be volunteering St.Mary of the Lakes’ Festa Italiana. Please come out and support this pillar of the Gary-Miller Beach Community tomorrow, Saturday 5/2/15 from 4-9pm. Our community builder and a Miller Spotlight Steering Committee volunteer will be onsite too. After all, EVERYONE loves a delicious Italian Dinner!!!!

Our community builder and a Miller Spotlight Steering Committee volunteer will also be at the Miller Beach Farmer’s Market Sunday May 3^rd, 10^th and 17^th from 11AM-3PM too. Come out and see all the great stuff our local venders have been whipping up just for you!

You can give an interview on the spot at any of these events, or book one. Your opinion matters! Take part in our revitalization efforts and help your community in the process.

 

 

 

If you have an apartment, event, precinct, block club…you would like our community builder, or some of our volunteers to come to please contact Jessie Renslow via millerspotlight@gmail.com. Also, please like us on Facebook and Google+ .