| Topics: Civic Communication Fort Wayne News-Sentinel
The Neighborhood Project Since 1992, the News-Sentinel has pledged to work for at least a year with a neighborhood association on efforts that require no money and no work. Five editors meet quarterly with area residents and monthly with neighborhood association officials, brainstorming on projects, discussing ways to involve other community agencies and organizing informational meetings for officials who might help targeted efforts. In the second year, the paper also organized a bus tour of the targeted area for public officials including city council members, heads of key agencies such as the police department and code enforcement, state representatives and members of Congress. Reporters cover neighborhood meetings, track significant initiatives in the area and field story ideas that apply more broadly to the city as a whole. A case study by Project on Public Life and the Press
New York University, Department of Journalism,10 Washington Pl.
New York, NY 10003, (212) 998-3793 © Project on Public Life and the Press,1994 The Project is funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Fort Wayne News-Sentinel (newspaper)
600 W. Main St, P.O. Box 102
Fort Wayne, IN 46801-1002
(219) 461-8222 (phone)
(219) 461-8649 (fax) Ownership
Knight Ridder Inc.
No. newsroom employees: 70 Circulation
55,000 (daily)
circulation area(population)
Fort Wayne and northeastern Indiana (173,700) Initiative
The Neighborhood Project Dates
Ongoing since 1992 Lead editor
Joseph Weiler, Executive Editor When and how did this initiative get started?
The paper's editorial-page editor suggested the News-Sentinel follow one neighborhood for a year; the idea came in response to the failure of 1991 efforts by residents of a drug-plagued neighborhood who organized to hold weekly crack-house protests. While both public officials and the media initially turned out in droves, the effort waned as attention for it dwindled. The initiative was moribund when the paper checked on it six months after the first protests. What are the goals of the initiative?
To strengthen both neighborhoods and the paper's understanding of how to cover them. What does the initiative entail?
In 1992, the paper announced the project, issued a call for interested neighborhoods, and set simple ground rules: The paper donates neither money nor work for area projects. After a selection process where representatives of the neighborhoods say how they think the paper could help, the paper's team holds an initial meeting in the area, inviting all interested residents to discuss their goals for the coming year. Five editors then meet monthly for an hour at the newspaper with neighborhood leaders. Three more neighborhood-wide meetings are held through the year. Reporters cover the area-wide meetings and follow up with stories on subsequent activities by residents. Specific work has varied in the two neighborhoods targeted so far. In one, residents wanted to improve the image of the area elementary school. The paper and the neighborhood association cosponsored a block party to welcome a new principal, which was heavily promoted in house ads in the Neighbors section, and covered in news sections. The paper and the neighborhood association also teamed up to sponsor an informational meeting about establishing a community center, a long-time neighborhood goal. At the meeting, which included representatives from area groups looking for places to hold activities, school-system representatives said they were quietly looking for six target sites for community centers; the school was selected as a pilot. In the second neighborhood, where residents targeted higher home-ownership rates as a goal, the paper and the association held an information session with bankers, government officials and redevelopment experts. The association subsequently bought and fixed up three homes in the area; its president personally has purchased, improved and marketed two others. How many people are working on it?
Six: the executive editor, managing editor, metro editor, editorial-page editor, neighbors section editor, all of whom are involved with the selection process and neighborhood meetings, and one reporter designated to cover the meetings and the neighborhood. What does it look like in the newspaper?
The Neighbors section runs stories about quarterly meetings in the neighborhood, along with updates on new efforts and activities in the area. Other stories detail citywide problems and/or remedies discovered through the paper's work with the neighborhood. For example, when residents of the first area targeted by the paper complained about trouble getting sewer lines fixed, the paper developed a piece on the process by which the city selects areas for repair. Similarly, the paper has run a special tab on how to protect your home and neighborhood. While more stories come out of the neighborhood targeted by the paper, "I don't think it's overkill that the average citizen would notice," Weiler said. The first neighborhood was mentioned in the paper three times the year before the project, and 27 times in the year while the paper worked with residents there. Response to the Initiative In the newsroom:
Initial skepticism -- mostly centered around questions of equity: "The old idea if you do for one, you must do for all" -- has tempered over time. "Even if there is still skepticism, it's an accepting sort," Weiler said. " (Skeptics in the newsroom say) 'I don't think this is right but maybe it will work.' It's not a flash point kind of issue." In the community:
Dramatic increases in neighborhood participation. In one area where just six to ten people were actively involved in the neighborhood association, turnout for meetings has nearly trebled, and new leaders have been elected. Residents of targeted neighborhoods say they will benefit from the project for years to come, a response that surprised Weiler. The Leadership Fort Wayne project has picked up on the paper's effort by adopting a neighborhood itself. The 40 members of the leadership class will work with an area where the neighborhood association is defunct; they have asked the paper to offer a few initial tips on the work. Among political leaders:
Because the paper is paying more attention to a given neighborhood, public officials do, too. For example, police were initially unresponsive to repeated complaints about drug traffic in the second area the paper worked with, telling residents they already were aware of the problem. After the area was targeted by the paper, the crack house in question was closed by police. In another case, a sidewalk-repair project that had been dropped half-finished was completed after the paper organized a bus tour of the neighborhood for public officials. "We didn't editorialize for it, but things start to happen," Weiler said. Lessons:
Time/cost effectiveness: The project has cost the paper nothing and entailed little staff time. Editors involved meet with groups from the neighborhood once a month for an hour at news offices, and hold larger community meetings four times a year. "It's not the time commitment," Weiler said. "They get so pumped up by having to come talk to us. We don't quite understand it, but psychologically it pumps them just to have us there." Teaching government-contact strategies: Residents in each neighborhood initially called Weiler to ask that he contact a government agency about problems, but "what happened by the end of the year was a new connectedness," Weiler said. Residents themselves learned who to contact, how to make an effective approach and how to follow through. Editorial perceptions vs. community perceptions: After the paper profiled problems with a crack house in one of the newspapers, editors who commented on the bravery of citizens who protested it were surprised to garner an irate reaction from neighborhood residents. "They thought we had just run down their neighborhood in front of the public," Weiler said. "It never occurred to us. At least we're starting to understand how we're perceived and why." What's next:
The paper plans to start the selection process for another neighborhood in spring 1995. Case study written by Lisa Austin, Assistant Director of the Project on Public Life and the Press, September 1994. Lisa is also a member of the CPN Journalism editorial team. More Information Project on Public Life and the Press
New York University
Department of Journalism
10 Washington Pl.
New York, NY 10003
(212) 998-3793 Back to Communication Index | 
