Introduction

The Young at Heart Homeowners Association (name changed for privacy) has long been an active community of young seniors.  Built during the mid-eighties, this community has an established Board of Directors, Committees and Social infrastructure and professional management which made it one of the most desirable Adult Communities in its county.

Young at Heart HOA has a Social Activities Committee which is guided by and proudly implements its Mission Statement:

 “To provide diverse activity and foster community spirit and assistance to members of the Association and to serve the needs of our greater surrounding community.”

The Social Activities Committee has four sub-committees: (a) the Functions Committee which is responsible to plan and organize parties, picnics, and social gatherings;  (b) the Game Committee, which organizes indoor and outside sporting events and card games; (c) the Sunshine Committee which runs fund drives and donation campaigns to donate to the local charities; (d) the Operations Committee, which monitors and implements maintenance requirements for the Social activities infrastructure and buildings. 

Recognizing the Problem 

Sometimes a challenge like aging and apathy escapes attention when the day-to-day appear to be working fine.

 Very often, Managers recognize “results,” and tailor their actions to accommodate the obvious “results” without focusing on underlying root causes which often tend to be subtle and expand slowly over time.

The key is to recognize the community’s challenge.  In Young at Heart’s case it was community apathy and low participation in social functions that were geared to promote community spirit and a sense of neighborhood.  This occurred due to a failure to timely revisit the Associations Strategic Plan. 

The existing Strategic Plan, to develop a financially secure Community Association which services the needs of its members operationally and socially, coupled with the Mission Statement of the Social Activities Committee were in need of a tweak.  Both goals were still applicable, yet both plan’s direction needed to shift to keep on target with the evolving needs of the community.  The epiphany was the realization that not only was the bricks and mortar of the Association aging, so too were its residents! 

The Test

As with any idea, certain experiments need to be conducted and data gathered to lend support to the theory, prior to recommending that changes are in order.  This is true, especially in light of a population which generally tends to be conservative and has a reluctance to easily accept change in its pattern of living.  In this case, the contemplated changes would also bring forward the somewhat uncomfortable recognition that the average resident age in the community was increasing; turnover was not impacting the age demographics, and the types of activities which were once popular were being replaced by more sedate activities.  Their idea of a good time had changed, as well as the emerging need for assistance necessary to maintain the status quo or support those who needed outside quality life assistance to remain comfortable.

The test came to our attention without much ado when the Township sponsored a Senior Outreach Program. The Outreach Program focused on presenting a variety of health-enhancement and assistance programs available to our Community as free services from the Township.  The Outreach Program was promoted by the Social Activities Committee consistent with historic methods.   As opposed to declining attendance at previous programs, which emphasized physical activity, this program was met with a standing-room only attendance.  The membership requested more daytime programs of this nature be provided.

The follow up program, one presented by a local bank addressing savings, lending, refinancing and a hands on demonstration of state of the art banking  (i.e. debit cards, ATM cards, and on-line banking) was also a complete success.

It was clear that the Social Activities Committee recognized the Mission Statement could be successfully interpreted by including new types of programs that addressed needs that were more educational and less physical – and still achieve its objectives.

Shaking out our Party Clothes…or Adjust and Adapt the Plan

A strategy meeting of the Board of Directors and Management was called to set forth a “New Direction for the New Millennium.”  It was decided the Board would roll out a program to the Committees asking their assistance to help revamp the community programs and agendas.  The Operations Sub-Committee was directed to make an inspection and recommendations for the replacement of old and outdated furniture, to take advantage of lightweight plastics for tables and chairs, thinking in terms of portability and mobility.  Secondly, to evaluate the pool and replace old railings with new assisted lifts, and to examine the exercise equipment and replace it with cardiovascular and low impact aerobic devices.

The Functions Sub-Committee was given the task of working with the Township’s Senior Outreach Center to bring in additional speakers and programs oriented towards introducing their services to the membership.  While continuing their task of providing “fun” evenings to the community, dinner/dance programs and functions mindful of including our expanding group of members who had become widows and widowers and who were not participating due to cost or concern/perception that the functions catered more towards couples.

The Sunshine Sub-Committee took on the task of doing for ourselves as well as others outside our immediate HOA community.  A telephone chain named “Making  New Friends” was established to contact new homeowners as well as people living alone, emergency contact lists were updated; and medication and health information was gathered and placed in the same location in each home to enable Emergency/Ambulance workers immediate availability.

The Games Sub-Committee blended men’s and women’s events where participation was low, added a computer-learning center by recruiting grandchildren (now in their late teens and twenties) to teach members use of e-mail and the Internet.  Grandchildren were paid volunteers – which translates into those who work when they can for .00 per day.

The Pay Off – A Happy Ending

Residents were interacting, learning and sharing with each other.  The community had moved into a new phase of its evolution.  They were once again socializing with each other, providing a network and support system for their residents, taking care of each other.  They had redefined socialization and the types of programs which promoted it, they had re-organized the Social Committee with an expanded purpose, and they had created a new sense of pride and purpose in the Community.

As Management Professionals, we stopped to re-examine actions and activities we often took at face value, and, in the act of challenging ourselves, had challenged our Community, together Management and the Board had tweaked our focus, and improved the quality of life.

Once again, we are a Community.

For further information regarding Jo-Ann Greenstein or hoa management, please see:  RealManage.

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Naples Florida is the unofficial golf capital of the United States. Besides our fabulous beach sunsets, there are few places where the natural beauty of Southwest Florida is more prominent than on our fine golf courses. Major golf designers and many professional player designers’ courses dot our landscape, including such standouts as: Pete & P.B. Dye, Robert Trent Jones Sr. & Jr., Robert Van Hagge, Arthur Hills, Tom Fazio, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman, Gary Player, and many more. The majority of our courses are private country clubs and annual dues and initiation fees do vary.

Most golf communities Naples has to offer include social membership, which entitles members to full use of the facilities during off-season and limited use of the golf course during the winter months. Full golf memberships typically include all social membership privileges plus use of the golf course on a year-round basis with no greens fees.

There are lots of Naples golf communities offering year-round golf, from bundled golf memberships to private clubs.

Naples fabulous year-round weather allows golfers to play any time of the year. Also, during the off-season, most major clubs offer reciprocal memberships with other courses and discounted greens fees.

For golfers looking to move to Southwest Florida, there are over 50 golf communities Naples offers as well as over a hundred golf courses, from public courses to ultra private masterpieces. There are a variety of ways to pay for golf in Naples, including what’s known as “bundled” golf communities, which has become very popular here.

The term “bundled golf” describes the purchase of a home that includes a membership to the golf club at no additional initiation fee.

The advantages of bundled golf are many, including: savings on the initiation fee when you buy a residence, lower yearly dues paid to the club, no waiting list to sell your membership separately and transferability to tenants should you want to rent your property. The disadvantages of a bundled golf membership is that there are more golf members and more members means that playing time may be less than in a private equity club. The following Naples area golf communities are bundled: Cedar Hammock, Countryside, Cypress Woods, Forest Glen, Foxfire, Glen Eagle, Heritage Bay, High Point Country Club, Highland Woods, Naples Heritage, Naples Lakes, Quail Creek Village, Royal Wood, Stonebridge, Vanderbilt Country Club, Vasari and Worthington.

There are many Golf Communities Naples offers that are equity golf communities, including: Audubon, Bonita Bay, The Classics at Lely Resort, Collier’s Reserve, Grey Oaks, Mediterra, Pelican Bay, Quail West and Wyndemere. Equity buy-in at some of these communities can top 0,000, plus annual dues. These courses are spectacular and featuring fabulous home sites and views. Before you consider buying into a golf community or golf course in Naples, think about what your goals are and what you might be willing to pay to accomplish these objectives. From a golf perspective, Naples offers something for everyone, so do your homework before you visit and know what your best options are before you make any commitments – you’ll be glad you did.

Listening to community residents and getting more value for property tax dollars

How effective are your community’s fire, police, EMS, public works and other support services? Are the schools doing a good job? How do residents feel about proposed bond programs to support public works, school and other purposes? How do you know?

Many mayors, city managers and town/city councils are running their cities and communities without information and feedback from the vast majority of their city’s or town’s residents. A relatively small number of vocal residents typically attend city and town council meetings and provide suggestions and feedback. Unfortunately their opinions and feedback are often biased and represent their own personal interests, which are frequently different than the opinions of the majority of residents.

Costly decisions are often made without the benefit of hearing preferences and gaining insight from residents.

For very little cost and effort, community satisfaction surveys provide information, opinions and insight from a wide range of residents. This gives municipal leaders a more balanced and objective understanding about how residents feel about services, important issues and the city/town leadership.

The best way to assess the effectiveness of community services and how well elected and hired city and town leaders are performing is to conduct a community satisfaction survey. Community satisfaction surveys enable residents to share their opinions, perceptions and suggestions about municipal services and government, and specific public issues. The findings from community satisfaction surveys can be shared with residents by posting the survey results on the city or town web site, in local newspaper articles and at monthly city or town council meetings.

Community opinion surveys provide an easy, cost-effective way for municipal government leaders to gather feedback and suggestions from and to be responsive to residents.

Community opinion survey results provide information and insight for setting priorities and preparing budgets based on feedback from residents. Residents often identify ways to reduce costs, improve services and get more value for their tax dollars. They tell you what is working well and what needs improvement, and they often offer insight for how to make needed changes.

Today, most people including senior citizens use computers and the Internet. A highly effective way to conduct a community satisfaction survey is to conduct an online, or Web survey. Residents can complete the survey at home, at work or at the public library. Online/Web surveys are significantly less costly to conduct than paper or phone surveys. Another benefit of online/Web surveys is that once the survey response period is closed, reports can be generated very quickly because paper surveys do not have to be collected and date-entered.

Community Satisfaction Survey Metrics

Community satisfaction survey ratings provide a clear picture of city and town resident satisfaction. Voters’ comments and suggestions provide actionable information and insight for achieving results and being responsive to voters.

Community satisfaction surveys are designed to gather perceptions about many important issues and to aggregate the results to get the pulse of the city/town. Surveys are usually customized to meet the information needs of municipal leaders.

Services and issues typically included in community opinion surveys:

· Perceptions about upcoming bond programs

· Fire Department, Police and EMS performance

· Effectiveness of schools

· Maintenance & availability of public recreational facilities

· Availability and effectiveness of youth, adult and senior citizen programs

· Satisfaction with the public library

· Street cleaning and road maintenance

· Parking availability

· Trash, snow and leaf removal

· Traffic control effectiveness of

· Responsiveness of the mayor/city manager and town/city council

· How well public notice of important issues/decisions is communicated

· Responsiveness of zoning board and enforcement of zoning regulations

· Effectiveness of attracting and facilitating/supporting businesses

· Overall satisfaction with the wide range of services provided

Examining Community Satisfaction Survey Results by Resident Demographics

Including resident demographic questions in community satisfaction surveys makes it possible to get survey results reports for the city or town overall, and by resident demographic criteria. Resident demographic questions provide useful information and insight in community satisfaction surveys, making it possible to see how each demographic group feels about issues and services. Some of the demographic questions that can be included in community satisfaction surveys are the section of the city or town where residents live, their age range, ethnic background, gender and other pertinent demographic information.

Benefits of Conducting Community Opinion Surveys

Conducting community satisfaction surveys sends an important message to residents that their opinions are valued. Community satisfaction surveys enable residents to easily and cost-effectively voice their opinions and suggestions.

Acting on community satisfaction survey results enables elected and appointed officials and city/town managers to be more responsive to residents and to increase the performance of the various community services and elected and appointed officials. Residents’ opinions can be factored into budgets, initiatives and staffing decisions.

Conducting and taking action on community satisfaction survey feedback increases the effectiveness and popularity of mayors, city managers and city/town councils. Surveys provide an opportunity to increase payback on municipal budget dollars and to demonstrate to residents (remember, they are also tax payers) that elected and/or appointed officials are interested in running the city or town government effectively.

The bottom line, community satisfaction surveys provide significant benefits for mayors, city managers, city and town councils and employees, and residents.

Community/Municipal Opinion Survey Information

Your business can be stronger and more successful if you build a strong community around, and for, it. Successful business owners know that developing a business community or network will help their business prosper. As a business owner or manager, you need to recognize that you need to be part of the right network of people, otherwise you are wasting time. Develop business social networks with people who want to connect, share, and who have specific business goals.

In today’s business environment, building a network has never been easier because it is enabled by a growing number of online community groups; and by some of the best online communities (such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Ning, Open Forum, MySpace, and Flickr). These online social networks have great value in building your business relationships – if you clearly understand how to do so.

The power of business networking comes from building relationships and from gaining access to hard-to-find information, contacts or resources.

The best online communities also allow you to build your brand and communicate your messages; usually at no direct cost to you.

For face-to-face (in person) or voice-to-voice (by phone) networking, consider industry or trade associations. Attending meetings is the first step, but to get the biggest return on your investment of time you need to participate in association meetings. Ensure that you participate in associations that your customers belong to; you’ll be able to connect with them in a much more meaningful way if you work with them on a committee or attend a training session or program and spend time discussing the program with them.

Before you build your business group or business social networks, you need to define your stakeholder model: specify who has contact with your business (customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, bankers, your business neighbours, etc.), rank their importance to your business, and define the points of contact you want to have with them (e.g. within their organizations do you want to make contact with the customer service group, the accounting department, the purchasing group, the warehouse/inventory department, and so on).

Once you’ve developed your stakeholder model, assess both the offline and online community groups (in this case, we’re talking about business communities that are also known as business social networks). Many business owners still feel that networking is a ‘soft’ activity and they don’t want to invest their time in building a network. That’s simply wrong thinking that leads to lost opportunities and to higher costs for marketing and sales efforts.

You do need to be real and authentic in your relationship building. It cannot be only to make a sale. You need to invest in your network to give to others in the group, as well as to receive. This sounds somewhat trite but the reality is that building a business community is like building any long-term relationship; you need to put time and sincerity into it and it cannot be all about you.

Participate in at least three or four networks or communities. Some of them are listed here:

Your industry trade association and your customers’ trade or industry association (e.g. the insurance industry associations).
Business owners sometimes forget to include employees in their network building. An internal committee formed to address specific tasks or solve specific problems can be a powerful internal network.
Build or join a small business advisory group – this is a non-competing group of small business owners who meet regularly to discuss business issues and concerns and look to the group for input (much like an adhoc board of directors).
Build or join a small business peer-to-peer network. This works best if the participants in the group come from non-competing geographical regions.
Build a network of two – you and your business mentor. Work with a business mentor or a business coach that is highly skilled and successful in your industry.
Participate in online business social networks. Today’s top 3 best online communities: LinkedIn has a good reputation for professional networking. Others such as Twitter and Facebook are gaining credibility as online community groups for business, on top of the high profile reputations they both have as purely social groups.

To get the most of networking, define social networks and their target audiences first and then closely align to your business objectives and stakeholder model. The network you build for you business needs to have common goals that can be obtained through the building of relationships with others.

Your business social networks will be most effective if you relate your business strategy and objectives to your stakeholder model. These associates and groups work together as a community for a common purpose: each wanting to improve their own business (or in the case of family and friends, helping you improve your business) through the support and connection with others.

This article can show a way to use a community journalism (additionally referred to as participatory journalism) platform to make and maintain a community by using the web as a mean of communication between its members.

Why is community building important?

We tend to are all part of communities whether we have a tendency to realize it or not. We tend to have our native community, national community. Some are members of clubs or groups. Some are fans of a band or play hockey. Colleges, Schools, universities and workplaces are also communities.

Having a closer and more committed communities may profit us all. Assume regarding massive corporations. In such workplaces folks hardly recognize one another while they have therefore much in common. A tighter community in the workplace can create people feel additional attached.

Bring higher communication and a lot of productive relations between totally different departments, branches or perhaps individuals at the identical room.

Stronger communities also offer reliance when times gets rough or when crisis hits. The stronger the community is, the better the prospect it will work along to solve problems and learn from past mistakes.

The net is the ultimate community building tool

A sensible community desires a central place where community members will meet, communicate with each alternative, show ideas, share experiences and sound their voices.

A community magazine is the perfect mean of communication and has varied blessings as a community meeting place.

Here are some of these blessings:

1) Accessible to anyone from anywhere at any time

A community web site is accessible from nearly anywhere, community journalists and different members can participate at their own free time while not constraints of time and place.

a pair of) Democratic and empowers the individual

Anyone can express their opinion and submit their own content. It is the glue that keeps the community together. The very fact that everybody includes a voice is key.

3) Freed from charge

4) Requires minimal moderation or attention

Platforms like comagz.com offer the complete community members with the flexibility to post content and decide which content should be promoted and shown on the front page for instance while throwing out inadequate content.

All this can be done by a voting system and algorithm which manages the content in line with the reader’s votes.

What are the ingridients of a sensible community magazine platform?

o An on-line magazine appear and feel with nice layout.

o Sections for news, articles, recommended links and personal columns

o Versatile Classes for easy browsing

o Straightforward submission of things by all members

o Automatic management of content things in line with users votes

o Forums for discussions and search for locating previous posts.

o Exposure of the content to all or any major search engines and blog aggregators

Conclusions

Building or enforcing a community and tightening the relations between its members will be both fun and beneficial. The net is a great enabler for community building. Community members can serve voluntarily as citizen journalists and write for the community blog or magazine. Fitting a community magazine is simple and cost free. Therefore what are you expecting?

A spectacular tourist destination

Valencia is one of the most beautiful regions in Spain, a Mediterranean one that contains three provinces: Castellon, Valencia and Alicante. Valencia is world renowned for its breathtaking orange groves and for the outstanding, long beaches. Valencia is patiently waiting for its visitors with a very interesting and original combination of Mediterranean atmosphere and Moorish influence that form a very profound Hispano Moorish heritage unique in the world. You have to see it with your own eyes and to experience it on your own skin if you want to understand its essence!

Visiting Valencia and the Valencian Coast

Valencia is absolutely priceless: it is a city that will take your heart away, because it is absolutely wonderful! Valencia is famous thanks to its Saint Joseph festival, also known as ‘’Las Fallas’’, the festival during which the inhabitants set ablaze huge papier-mâché sculptures. Valencia is also worth visiting for the fantastic Gothic architectural style it displays; you have to see the cathedral’s bell tower, El Miguelete and the Lonja, which are representative for the Gothic style of the city. If you decide to go on a tour of the region during your holiday, then don’t miss the Valencian coast that lies alongside the capital, having two superb beaches always ready to receive the tourists: Gandia and Oliva.

Other attractions of the region

La Costa Azahar or the famous Orange Blossom Coast is found to the North of Valencia and it waits for its tourists with a long list of tourist centers: Vinaroz, Peniscola, Oropesa or Benicarlo. Continue your tour with a stop in Castellon, as the city will impress you with the Santa Maria Cathedral and the City Hall Building, which has a magnificent ashlars-stone façade. Peniscola is another ‘’must’’ for you; it is a picturesque village situated on a promontory that is guarded and dominated at the same time by the medieval castle that survived over the centuries.

Oropesa is another important attraction of the region, because it hosts the 16th century Tower of the King, while Alicante will attract your attention with the Moorish Santa Barbara Castle and the two long beaches warmed by a delicate sun and bathed by crystal clear waters. The list can continue with the spectacular Costa Blanca, always prepared to entertain its tourists with resorts such as Javea, Denia, Calpe, Torrevieja or Moraira. As you can see, Valencia is a place where it is very difficult to get bored, so consider it as destination for one of your holidays! 

What do you call a small business owner who is doing it all and trying to do it all at once? The answer is…overwhelmed! This is a situation that many of us are familiar with. Somehow, no matter how conscious we think we are of what we’re doing, many of us set up shop and suddenly we realize that we’ve been thrust into the realms of marketing, accounting, sales, customer service, window dressing and website design…Yikes! We’ve all had that thought at one time or another, “What on earth have I gotten myself into?!”.

Let’s take a closer look and consider how realistic it is to expect ourselves to suddenly manifest skills that for most intents and purposes we had little to no knowledge of before. And therein lies the trap. We stumble head first into the situation realizing only afterward that we’ve taken on roles and duties that we can’t possibly fulfill to the extents and the standards needed.

Even with new business owners who have done their homework, the very nature of a start up business is to evolve.

Thus, in addition to the day to day necessities of running a business, it’s common for us to find ourselves facing an ever mounting pile of resources, information, leads and tasks. In these times of search engine optimization, the never ending list of social networking sites, web and video logging and all the other tips and tricks needed to create an internet presence; it’s easy to slip into a state helplessness, paralysis and fright. It can truly feel like we’re going mad! Each of these facilities has its own unique platform and as we try to find your way around just one, our minds wander, thinking at the same time of new marketing strategies, changes to the website that need to be made, new pitches, products and bills. Many of the over 45′s for example, who didn’t learn on computers as today’s children do are especially vulnerable to the information overload that occurs.

So, what’s the solution? Well for one, being able to take stock and truly assess our situation is key. Being able to admit to ourselves what we can reasonably be expected to accomplish requires us to be neutral and clear so that we really see each of the trees in our forests. In the early stages of a business, ordinary routines such as meals and sleep can fall right the way down to the bottom of our lists. It’s part of what creates that great buzz and adrenalin that keeps us high, riding on that first exciting wave of having our special creation make its way into reality. It makes those first months both exciting and scary at the same time.

If you are at that stage in your new business and you jump ahead to one year, or 18 months when the first flush of excitement has worn off, can you maintain the same pace and workload while at the same time being able to enjoy all the other areas of your life, like relationship, family, fun, exercise, travel, relaxation and dream time that may have been put on hold?

This is when many of us realize that we can’t and the creative minxes amongst us start roaming, searching, almost hunting the specialists that suddenly we realize, can do in just one day what we spend an excruciating number of weeks in a graceless state trying to do. As many of us have seen in the successful entrepreneurs we admire, it helps to build up an informal circle of allies with skills that can complement and add to each member in the group. Networking and developing our professional relationships with accountants, lawyers, graphic designers, people who specialize in internet marketing and have the same target market as ourselves for example, can only work FOR us. Indeed, it has the potential to increase our productivity and effectiveness many times over.

Think of how reassuring it would be to be able to bounce our fledgling thoughts, feelings and ideas off of these people and be able to get professional, specialized and informed feedback. There is no rule that says we need to be martyrs, constantly snowed under having do it all on our own. Rather, as part of our constant striving to become self aware, we can give ourselves permission to write own guidebook of rules to live by to help us create more freedom of expression, success, and joy…and this is true in life and by extension the creation that is our small business.

If for example you’ve just turned your love of horses into a new business that is internet based, you haven’t already established such a circle and don’t know where to start, a relatively painless avenue to consider is the idea of searching the internet for small business forums that you can join. You will find real people from every area of business armed with a mind boggling array of backgrounds, specialties and skills. A forum is a relaxed environment where you can get to know more about what’s out there, about other small business owners, their strategies, successes, failures and generally what they do. You may find your imagination muscles get stretched to the point that one day you realize you know just the person/s who can help simplify your life greatly and move your business ahead faster and with more ease than you could.

Of course, as with ordinary life, the same goes over the internet. Be both cautious and savvy and use good sense. The possibilities are truly endless…and we haven’t yet begun to talk about the invaluable source of referrals and potential customers that your “circle” can provide.

If your vision for your small business is to consciously expand, create success, enjoyment and flow, allow yourself to seek out like minded people, find resourceful solutions and don’t be afraid to delegate and get out there and talk about what you do. Most of all open up to the idea of accepting the support that is available. Many times when we connect with others and get them on board with our creations they feel good at being able to help us find success. This need not cost a fortune…get creative, trade services and brain storm ideas as to how you can have mutually beneficial alliances that are equitable, fair and that perhaps even have an element of adventure and fun!