Met with Church leaders next

So far this was taking longer than we expected. But looking back, it should have been anticipated. Care has to be taken that this is good for all, that there is a definite advantage, and that it cannot hurt the reputation of a church or its members in any way. Just the fact that it could help fund programs or groups or that it was a way to help the community was not enough.

And that was what this meeting went over. Questions were raised. And some we had not thought of previously.

But onto the meeting.

Gathered together were....
Chris Sell - Interactive Web Designer and IT, Carol Smith- Director of Lay Ministry, Andy Cartee- Director of Student Ministries, Murray Wilton - Director of Operations and Judy Arnett- Director of Communications.

Then there was us - Diane and I and Gary Ramey - Neighborhood Ambassador Coordinator.

After we went over what a community web center was and the history behind it, we started to give our vision of how a church could make an impact in the community as The Neighborhood Ambassador. But we didn't need to. They had done their homework- with Chris and Andy in the lead - they explained how they thought it could give the church a pathway into the community to reach out and make a difference. And the rest of the gathering understood. So now it was time for their concerns and questions.

There were 2 completely different functions for the church to consider taking on- being The Neighborhood Ambassador and/or being the Neighborhood Manager.

We pointed out that the church did not have to be the Neighborhood Manager if they did not want to take on this responsibility. We could bring in another to manage the Neighborhood Web Center. After all, the Neighborhood Manager would get a portion of all the sponsor fees in exchange for the things they would need to do to keep the site moderated and active. So we went over what a Neighborhood Manager would have to do.

Simply, the Neighborhood Manager would approve or disapprove all submissions to the discussions, announcements, videos and news, and update and approve all business listings on the site.  They would also help promote and manage the inclusion of site sponsors.

So what did that really mean?

It meant we would teach the Youth how to make sure the site stayed current and active and give them print ready fliers to give out to their parents, neighbors or friends telling them about their Neighborhood Web Center and inviting them to be a sponsor- thereby staying in front of the entire community  as a business or service that cares, and also helping the Youth raise funds for upcoming needs and projects- Everyone wins!

It also meant the Youth would do little attention-getting things to keep the community involved and informed about their neighborhood Web Center. Things like - manning a table in the court yard on a Sunday every once in a while and give out fliers and bumper stickers to get people visiting and using their Neighborhood Web Center. How about spending a Saturday afternoon in front of the local supermarket promoting their Youth Group and giving away those same bumper stickers? Or standing at a major intersection every once in a while holding up signs telling passersby to "Find Everything In Their Neighborhood - Visit MyWinterParkFl.com.
All these and dozens of other community friendly promotions, that are easy and fun to do, are developed by My Online Neighborhood and ready for instructional downloads.

So if the Neighborhood Manager did all these steps, the Neighborhood Web Center would be active - the community would be using it every day and it would be a place that Sponsors would want to be seen.
Now I do not want to go over numbers here but in reality if there were 3 major sponsors and 10 front page sponsors- the Youth Group would get $927 each month. They would not collect anything or have to sell anything. It would all be done online between My Online Neighborhood and the sponsors. EZ stuff.

So now they had a good overview of what was involved in managing the Neighborhood Web Center and Andy thought his youth could do it.Great!

What about the Neighborhood Ambassador? What do they do?

First, they set an example in the community. They manage Helping Hands and they let the congregation know that they are the Neighborhood Ambassador and encourage participation in being an active part of the community. Really, that is it.

Everyone is excited and on board it seems. But there is a question- a big one.And we had not thought about it yet.
Sponsors- If they allowed Sponsors(and the benefit was the Youth Group managing would get the majority of the sponsor fees) could they disapprove any? You know- what if it was a business or service that would reflect poorly on the church that was selected as The Neighborhood Ambassador?

Good question- Our answer- ( and it did not take much thinking on our part- in fact we had been denying certain types of sponsors for years) -They should and would have final approval  on any that wanted to be displayed as a Sponsor of the Neighborhood Web Center.

In closing the meeting we were told it all sounded good and they would get back with us.

Good things take time, don't they?