Mellone was just thinking…
Saturday, November 6th CFN hosted this year’s Neighborhood Summit. The theme was “Healing our communities: Working Toward Positive Change.” It was a good day, from the doughnuts (provided by Thorntons) and coffee (donated by Sonergos) in the morning during the networking hour all the way through to the wrap-up.
The crowd made me most happy. We had a full house of a diverse group of folks from all sectors and so many neighborhoods. I was able to meet people in person instead of on Zoom. We worked very diligently to be as safe as possible. We took temperatures. Everyone wore their masks and we worked at social distancing. Social distancing was a bit of a challenge because we had a full house, everyone worked at it. I think people were just happy to get out and interact with others.
In the morning, after the networking, we had our keynote speaker. The keynote was T Benicio Gonzales, Director for Metro Louisville’s Center for Health Equity. T’s keynote was right on with the theme of the day. T talked about how the Center uses authentic community engagement to deepen its focus on the root causes of health inequities.
Let me tell you about the workshops. There were 11 different sessions. I will list the titles, but the titles do not do justice to all the learning that went on.
Implicit Bias
Celebrating Small Victories
Trauma Informed
Environmental Justice
ABCD
Community Collaboration
Centering Racial Equity in Neighborhood Revitalization
Co-op Driven Change
Creating Inclusive Space
Mapping for Change
Storytelling for Social Change
The participants could choose two sessions. People told me they could not decide; they wished they could have gone to them all. We had some expert speakers. We will load the available powerpoints onto our website by the end of the week if you want some of the information.
The lunch was spectacular, both the food and the speakers. Sincerely Yours provided the food, it was great. We gave out six awards recognizing our outstanding neighbors. We had a panel discussion on “How to be a Great Neighbor.”
We had two short talks. The first was from the Louisville Urban League explaining how “The Path Forward” has progressed. The other was from Louisville Metro trying to encourage residents to participate in the update to the Land Development Code.
I heard from so many people that the DJ, Brooke McNary, was the best part. I even danced a little bit, not as much as I wanted to, but more than anyone else wanted me to. The music was as diverse as the attendees and just so appropriate for all the great moments.
Yes, it was a jam-packed day! I was exhausted when I got home, but it was that good kind of exhaustion. You know the kind you get when you know you did that thing. I am so proud of the Center for Neighborhoods for making the space for our neighbors to get together and learn.
Last but not least, I have to thank our sponsors, without them we could not do this thing.
