Rosemont Community Foundation Projects and Programs
RCF collaborates closely with the Rosemont Community Association, sometimes supporting RCA activities and sometimes taking the lead in starting program and projects.
Among the programs RCF is supporting are:
Neighborhood Watch – providing seed money to acquire unique Rosemont Neighborhood Watch signs for active groups to erect indicating a particular block is on alert. Also we have provided seed money for custom Neighborhood Watch tee shirts for supporters to wear promoting the Neighborhood Watch program and encouraging other to start their own groups. In both these cases participants buy the signs and shirts so the money is recycled to acquire more of each for the next people getting involved.
Community Outreach – providing materials to inform residents and businesses about RCA and RCF and how they can help enhance our community. Several times this past year volunteers have walked the entire community distributing helpful information and inviting residents and businesses to community activities. This helped draw over 1300 people to our Third Annual Celebration of Community where they learned about many resources and services available here, and helped recruit dozens of volunteers for future projects. The distribution also allowed several local merchants to get their names in front of several thousand residents at very little cost.
Anti-Graffiti Project – helping develop a quick response crew to clean up graffiti as soon as it is spotted. Acting on the “broken window” theory that says damage attracts more damage, and realizing that our public agencies are no longer able to provide key services that keep neighborhood attractive, we are forming and training crews and equipping them to effectively clean up graffiti in Rosemont. This, too, is in conjunction with RCA.
Programs that Rosemont Community Foundation is initiating include:
Rosemont Branding. While the Rosemont community is over 50 years old, we are experiencing constant turnover and a growing mix of owner-occupied and rental homes. We also have hundreds of apartments with their usual tenant turnover. This requires a continual effort to inform and engage residents and engender in them a solid sense of pride in their community and a willingness to help make it great. We have plans to create an attractive “main street” effect along Kiefer Blvd. with both beautification projects and new banners that instill a sense of place while providing a more active and festive feeling. Additionally, we are planning to develop entrance monument signage that defines and welcomes people to our community. We expect to do this in conjunction with local resources, including students studying relevant trades.
Business Networking. Already we have begun discussions with local businesses to determine what can be done to improve their business and increase their bottom lines. This is important both because of the economic pressures businesses are feeling, and also because of the growing problems with minor crimes in the area that discourage customers. We are working closely with local law enforcement on this, and are looking to expand our Neighborhood Watch program to include a Business Watch project. A task force of business leaders will guide this project so it is of greatest benefit to them.
Rosemont Mascot. With the intent of attracting youngsters, and thus their parents, we are exploring creating a community mascot that can appear at local events where we are reaching out to residents and businesses. We envision this character as having “local roots” with which children can identify, and even coordinate the project with our five local schools so the “story” can become a fun and useful part of the curriculum, even with some elements of the project interactive online.
As these projects take root and achieve success we anticipate launching more programs that promote and enhance Rosemont as a great community that takes care of itself. We invite businesses and individuals to help move us toward these goals.