Our First Year: Where We've Been -  Where We're Going

Belle Haven Empowered - Update 2021-2022

Belle Haven Empowered was created through a grant to Menlo Together by the Silicon Valley Community Development Foundation. Three Belle Haven residents came together creating Belle Haven Empowered. We saw the need to encourage and support residents of District 1, the Belle Haven neighborhood, to better understand and participate in the decision-making process in Menlo Park.

We envision Belle Haven neighbors creating strategies that will give us more of a voice with city government. Civic participation should not be complicated. Civic participation should be easily accessible, which is why we are working to take the mystery out of city government. 

Meetings are referred to as Kitchen Table Chats (KTC or Chats) are designed to be an hour-long conversation. The Chats are intended to deliver information and create a safe place to have open conversations that reflect the feelings of participants and encourage solutions. Posted Chats have been done so with permission of the participants. Since inception, the Chats have been held via Zoom and will continue to be held on Zoom until the community desires in-person or hybrid meetings.

During this past year, residents have become more active participants in council, commission and committee meetings. This is one strategy that is strengthening our voice and making a difference by communicating the needs of our community to the council prior to final decisions. In addition, attendees are encouraged to share information with their family, friends, and neighbors. By sharing information, residents, neighbors, and families are able to collaborate and increase understanding of issues that may affect them. There may be additional issues and interests to add to the topics for discussion.

We have also created a series of InfoChats which are about five minutes in length and on one topic only. Some topics need background or supportive information and may require multiple InfoChats on one topic creating a series of InfoChats. For example, there are several things that need to be known as a part of attending meetings. Background information is included in the Menlo Park Redistricting series creating 7 InfoChats with an introduction. In some cases, an individual may need to only watch 2 or 3 parts rather than the entire series.  Additional topics will be added during this year.

We found that what is even more important is to give residents a platform to discuss issues that affect quality of life in their areas of concern. This was accomplished through our culminating Chat. Three Belle Haven residents worked together and presented the year end Kitchen Table Chat. The discussion brought to the attendee’s attention the need to provide more support to our Seniors, Teens, Tweens, and Toddlers. This has helped us to realize that we need to focus more from the community perspective during our second year. The intention for this year is to have more resident driven Chats.

Following the completion of our first year, the taglines below were created and are now on our home page:

Belle Haven Empowered: Whether we rent or own, we all pay taxes and are entitled to the full benefit of paying taxes.  This is a reminder of our right to have equal access to resources which are fairly distributed throughout all neighborhoods.

Our purpose: Access to resources encourages civic participation. Ease of access is a significant aspect of inclusion and demonstrates clear intention.

Our plan: What do we need to know? What do we need to do?  Clear consistent communications from the city that is constantly updating current activities important to all residents. Informed residents have the opportunity to decide if further information or action is required.

Our goal: The more we know, the stronger our voices.  Informed residents work together on common interests and provide input when and where ever necessary.

We are continuing to reach out to residents to find the best method of providing information. Our response to a flyer with a contact information and postage free return envelope was lower that expected. Working in collaboration with other CBOs, we will begin doing face-to-face contact so residents will be able to ask questions.  This outreach approach will help us to learn more about language translation needs as well as addressing the needs of people with disabilities. This outreach will be done prior to voter registration and campaign outreach to ensure people are not “door-knock” fatigued.

In addition to the Housing Element updates, we will provide input on Environment Justice and the Safety Element. We are educating residents redistricting and the use of the mapping tool for creating city-wide districts and communities of interest. Redistricting in Menlo Park will be completed and filed no later than April 17, 2022.

We will begin voter education and outreach in March. This includes voter registration, general ballot related information, navigating mail-in ballots and in-person voting for the Primary Election on June 7, 2022 and General Election on November 8, 2022. Information on voting at vote centers will also be included in the Chat held immediately before voting day. Information and discussion for clarification about various items on the ballot will also be included.

Simply stated, we recognize that every resident offers valuable information on how local government policies and procedures affect them. Every resident has a solution for their personal and broader issue. Solutions are created by those who are most affected.