Neighborhood Alliance of Central Oklahoma

Neighborhood Newsletters

Regular communication with neighborhood members is an important function of a neighborhood association. Communication comes in many forms; newsletters, flyers, E-mail lists, neighborhood web-sites etc. Newsletters can help further neighborhood goals by allowing neighbors a chance to read/talk at their leisure about the news from within your boundaries.

Creating A Newsletter

Neighborhood newsletters come in all sizes and shapes. They can be monthly, quarterly or even semi-annual, it all depends on your association's needs. They do not have to be fancy, just fun to read. Each newsletter is unique, and should be informative and up-beat.

If there is such a thing as a typical newsletter, it usually has ...

A column from the President
Upcoming events for your neighborhood
News from the city of OKC (if any)
Account balance or Treasurer's report
Highlights from the block captains
Welcome to new members or new neighbors
Congratulations to residents for births, new babies, graduations, new jobs, etc.
Neighborhood Crime Stats report that comes from Neighborhood Alliance

Newletter as a Fundraiser

Many neighborhoods sell advertising space in their newsletter as a revenue source for their association. Realtors, local businesses, day care providers, veterinarians, coffee shops, etc. are good places to ask if they would like to advertise to a very local group of potential customers. Usually a business card size ad will run anywhere from $5.00 to $15.00 per month depending on how many homes your newsletter reaches.

Do Not Use Your Newsletter To ...

Bully people into complying with the covenants or rules by listing names and addresses of people who have not paid their annual dues. This could be used against the neighborhood association in a court of law.
Lobby or advocate for a particular political point of view, not even as a privately written "letter to the editor" type of article. Your newsletter should be neutral on political issues.
Support a specific person for a political office. You can advertise the dates of upcoming elections and list all the candidates, but you should not endorse a specific candidate. Be careful when accepting paid advertising from a political candidate for your newsletter. This can be construed as an endorsement and could cause some to complain.

Production and Distribution

A few things to note when developing a Neighborhood Newsletter:

Printing

Community Action Agency will print your neighborhood newsletter for FREE! Just call them at (405) 232-0199 ext.1412 and ask for the print shop. There are strict deadlines for delivery and pickup, as well as maximum pages so ask about those when you call. For specific printing procedures from Community Action Agency, please click here.

Delivery

There are many ways you can deliver your neighborhood newsletters:

Door to Door
Enlist the help of a neighborhood youth group, boy scout troop, 6th grade class, church youth group, etc. to deliver your newsletters. Offer to give a donation to their organization for this effort. Have your block captains deliver the newsletters to the residents on their block.
Mailing
You can mail the newsletters to all your residents using regular US Postal Service. This route assures every resident receives a copy but can be cost prohibitive for large associations.

Mailing Lists for your Newsletter

Don't forget there are people outside of your neighborhood that are very interested in what is happening there, so please include the following people in your mailing list:

Neighborhood Alliance 1236 NW 36th St. OKC, OK 73118	Action Center C/O Beth Crounse 200 N. Walker OKC, OK 73102 beth.crounse@okc.gov	Your City Council Person C/O City Hall 200 N. Walker OKC, OK 73102
City of OKC City Manager 420 W. Main, 3rd Floor OKC, OK 73102 james.couch@okc.gov		City of OKC Planning Department c/o Ben Davis 420 W. Main OKC, OK 73102 benjamin.davis@okc.gov
Local Newspapers:
Carrie Coppernoll Neighborhood Reporter C/O The Oklahoman P.O. Box 25125 OKC, OK 73125-0125 John Williams - Edmond Tami Althoff - Norman	The City Sentinel Attn: Publisher P.O. Box 60876 OKC, OK 73146	Oklahoma City Gazette 3701 N. Shartel OKC, OK 73118
Black Chronicle 1457 NE 23rd St. OKC, OK 73111	Oklahoma City Friday P.O. Box 20340 OKC, OK 73156
Community Police Relations Officer (Choose the area nearest to you) Hefner Division 3924 NW 122nd St. OKC, OK 73120 Santa Fe Division 9000 S. Santa Fe OKC OK 73139 Springlake Division 4116 N. Prospect OKC, OK 73111 Will Rogers Division 3112 N. Grand Blvd. OKC, OK 73112
Your Local Fire Station

Sample Newsletters

Below are a few sample newsletters from actual neighborhoods. Click the newsletter name to view or download the newsletter.

Windsor Oaks "The Talking Leaves"

Remington HOA "Remington Report"