Northeast News
Jan. 13, 2010

The Community Action Network focus group met for a second time this past week and started hashing out vision and mission statements for whatever it is the CAN will be when this is all over.

The CAN, formed in 1993, currently consists of weekly meetings of community members, police officers and a city codes officer who discuss crime and grime problems people have observed in the Northeast neighborhoods. Several Northeast stakeholders, however, have expressed that they’d like to see CAN evolve into an entity that works on more than the crime and grime issues, as other Kansas City CAN centers have done.

At this past week’s meeting, about 30 participants braved the cold and snow to come together at Don Bosco Senior Center with facilitator Myra Dillingham. By the end of the meeting, the group had written five adjective-heavy possible vision statements:

• Northeast CAN is an inclusive community organization that inspires innovative ideas to be an essential part for the improvement of the Northeast neighborhoods.

• Northeast CAN is a responsive organization providing solutions through collaboration and communication with all stakeholders in the Northeast community.

• Northeast CAN is an organization that focuses on community improvement by involving all community members in building successful programs.

• Northeast CAN is a collaborative organization pioneering initiatives to overcome community challenges and focusing on improvement in quality of life.

• Northeast CAN is an organization that strives for community responsibility in developing programs to improve quality of life.

The group agreed to review the five statements, possibly combine them, and vote on their favorites by the next meeting.

Some in attendance were confused about what these meetings’ purpose is. Independence Plaza Neighborhood President Lee Lambert was one of these people.

“It looks like we’re trying to recreate a community development corporation and not a CAN Center,” Lambert said. “Is that what we’re trying to do? We’re seeing [CDCs] continually fail with this economy.”

The answer Lambert received was indefinite — that the group is exploring expanding.

Meanwhile, the regular CAN meetings continue at noon every Wednesday at Don Bosco’s administration center, 531 Garfield Ave.