The Hampton Neighborhood Initiative

The design of the Hampton Neighborhood Initiative was approved by City Council in 1994. Its mission is to bring all of the resources of the community together in a partnership relationship to make all of Hampton's neighborhoods places we can proudly call home. People, skills, knowledge, and physical places of importance are all key resources that neighborhoods need to succeed.

The Vision:

A city where individuals and families, by creating healthy neighborhoods, have the opportunity to succeed in realizing their full potential for a better quality of life.

Guiding Principles:

• Hampton neighborhoods are valuable community assets.
• City government should be flexible enough to serve the unique needs of individual neighborhoods.
• Partnerships are critical. Everyone has a stake in neighborhoods and everyone has a contribution to make.
• Neighborhoods should be places where families are strengthened and youth are supported.
• Neighborhoods should be safe, offer economic opportunity, support social interaction and civic involvement, and provide recreation and education opportunities to all residents.
• Neighborhoods should be places where people want to live.

Support Partners:

• Neighborhood Commission: a 21-member body that is appointed by City Council with representation from neighborhoods, institutions (such as business, non-profits and the faith community), schools, city government and youth. The Neighborhood Commission meets monthly and provides leadership, policy guidance and support to the Neighborhood Initiative.
• Neighborhood Office: a City department established in 1993 to lead and staff the City's strategic focus on neighborhoods. Staff are consultants and coaches to neighborhood leaders and organizations as they move through the process of outreach, organizing, planning and project implementation.
• Neighborhood Organizations: the neighborhood based and neighborhood-serving organizations and the neighbors who work to make neighborhoods the best they can be. They are the bases of support for Hampton Neighborhood Initiative.

Neighborhood College
Hampton’s Neighborhood College is designed for those interested or involved in Hampton's and its neighborhoods. The college offers the opportunity to gain the knowledge to make their home, their work, and their neighborhoods great. The Neighborhood Colege offers two different ways of informing and training residents, realtors, businesses, non-profit, faith-based and neighborhood leaders through the Hampton 101 Series and the Neighborhood College Workshop Series.

IN-SYNC
In-SYNC, which stands for "Innovations for Schools, Youth, Neighborhoods and Communities", is a relatively new effort that was developed as a result of the goals that are outlined in Hampton' Strategic Plan. In-SYNC is working to build Neighborhood Development Partnerships for youth where the neighborhood is guiding decisions about programs for youth that meet high quality standards and can be sustained into the future. This past year, over 200 young people have participated in free after school programs held at our neighborhood centers and over 160 individuals volunteered in schools and centers. In-SYNC has its own annual report that has been attached to this report for reference.