Our Story
Community Leadership Alliance came to be because it was time for me to get involved in creating a safe and healthy environment for my family and neighbors. I am an advocate of taking care of others and doing good to all. I have worked in mental health for the past 25 years and have worked to make the lives of others better. Through my church ministry for the past 17 years I have supported the community by feeding, clothing and ministering to people who are homeless and/or in need of encouragement. So helping others has always been a major part of my story. However I have never been involved directly in my neighborhood.
I found myself upset after my neighbor’s 16 year old son was padded down by the police after allegedly driving through a stop sign, on his motor scooter. I was angry, agitated and wanted someone to do something about it. I felt a deep conviction leading me to get involved. Not in protest, filing of a complaint or writing letters to government officials. It was time for me to get involved on the ground level, in my neighborhood. I prayed and believe God is calling me to a ministry of peace and unity through a ministry of reconciliation. My heart is to connect people in my neighborhood so that we can define, create and be responsible for the neighborhood we want to live in and enjoy. My desire is not just for the neighborhood I live in, but for the surrounding neighborhoods.
The idea of many neighborhoods coming together to create one community comes from a versus in the Bible 1 Corinthians 12:12:
For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
It was then I knew I could no longer be a bystander. I needed to be an active member of change. In order to do that I needed to start at the ground level, in my own neighborhood. Reach and teach in my own neighborhood then expand to build alliances with other neighborhoods. As more neighborhoods combine to share ideas and responsibilities, a community of unity, safety, care for one another, partnerships and accountability will emerge.
Together we become a voice and a powerful united mechanism of change. Change includes having a partnership with the police, decreasing crime, having clean neighborhoods, having a positive relationship with our local and state governments, and becoming self-sufficient and reliable to each other in our neighborhood.
The Alliance
Community Leadership Alliance Leaders-Connections That Make a Difference
I have connected with neighborhood leaders who believe that starting change on the ground level is our duty and responsibility. These leaders are dedicated and prepared to offer their resources, gifts and devotion to finding and building labors of change.
Thomas Claiborn
Thomas is the organizational leader of Broadway Heritage Neighborhood Association. He is passionate about helping leaders articulate, develop and implement their vision of change for their neighborhoods. He is the visionary specialist that sees beyond the ambiguity and challenges of neighborhood issues and empowers leaders to create a plan of change, growth and unity.
Darlene Jackson
Darlene is the organizational leader of Nevitt Neighborhood Association. Ms. Jackson embraces the idea that our greatest resource is one another and the work at the lowest level makes for lasting change. Bringing people together to collaborate, connect and plan creates a unified environment of reliability, resources and accountability.
Our Values
“That is one small step for man, one giant step for mankind”
– Neil Armstrong
In order to cultivate an environment of improvement there must be a committed leader who is willing to take the first step for his/her entire neighborhood.
Community Leadership Alliance (CLA) will identify neighborhood pioneers, assemble them and introduce the ideaology of “leadership on the ground level.”
Leadership on the ground level-means a dedicated leader who is committed to making the neighborhood he/she lives in a better place to live for all the residents.
Our goal is to provide neighborhood leaders with continuous support and partnerships so that they may return to their neighborhood and teach others how to create and maintain the neighborhood’s goal of a healthy community.