GREEN BAY, WI – (WGBW) – On a windy afternoon last week, the Downtown Neighborhood Association in Green Bay unveiled a new sign across from the City Deck Center on North Washington Street. The unveiling underscored the importance of neighborhood associations in a city like Green Bay.
Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich said, “It’s really helpful to have a neighborhood association that’s actively engaged in improving things within the neighborhood and also advocating for different policies at City Hall.”
Green Bay Alderman Brian Johnson said neighborhood groups strengthen a city because they help identify issues on a micro-local level.
“So neighborhood, associations are the folks that we lean in on to tell us about what are the challenges? You’re facing. What what? The problems that you have what are the opportunities that we’re seeing that? We’re not taking advantage of,” said Johnson. “And your neighborhood associations have that deep rooted understanding what’s happening on every single block within their neighborhood and then it allows that information to flow up as we make larger policy decisions.”
Johnson added that there is a social and emotional benefit to neighborhood associations too.
“But really it’s about being neighborly. How do we get people back together? Talking to each other? It’s really important that when you talk about the loneliness epidemic that is happening across the world right now,” Johnson said. “Neighborhood associations can be a really important piece of of how we solve that struggle.”
Learn more about the Downtown Green Bay Neighborhood Association at their Facebook page.
