Flint’s Neighborhood Engagement Hub (NEH) existing as a resource to support neighborhood and community-based groups isn’t exactly new – the organization has been around for more than a decade. But NEH took advantage of the annual opening of their Community Tool Shed to host an open house on April 20 and invite the community in to learn more about the different ways residents can connect with them and utilize their space and services.
Tom Wyatt, who has been executive director of the Neighborhood Engagement Hub since 2021, said that NEH has long offered a variety of ways to support work going on in the community, but they’ve really focused in on how to build awareness and better communicate those resources to residents. One growing and vital role that NEH serves is being able to serve as a fiscal sponsor for smaller neighborhood or resident-led groups so that they can apply for various grants and funding aimed at improving their neighborhoods or other local projects.
“NEH has always been a good organization,” Wyatt said. “But we haven’t always been exactly sure how to communicate the ways we benefit the community. So we’ve spent the last couple of years really honing in on our programs and getting our space renovated so that we can play a more supportive role with groups. And we’ve seen an increase in the number of neighborhood and community organizations that we have been able to work with as a fiduciary for grants that they receive.”
Fiduciary organizations help small groups build capacity in a range of ways, including by lending their nonprofit or tax-exempt status to help secure grant funding or by helping organizations or projects with grant management and reporting requirements. A key priority for NEH, Wyatt said, has been to engage groups earlier in their project development, which can help them better navigate things like proposal writing, project planning, and funding processes before deadlines become urgent.
Beyond just assistance with grants or finances, NEH can also help form new neighborhood organizations, or work with established groups to plan projects, increase participation, find partnerships, or accomplish other goals.
One tool they have for that process is a refreshed space. Their building, located at 3216 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue on Flint’s northside, has undergone several improvements over the last few years, with much of that work finished in the last year. That includes everything from remediating mold and mildew issues to paint and carpet and new furniture to technology upgrades, all aimed at making NEH a more viable meeting and community space for groups to use.
“In the last year, we’ve really finished it in a way that we can meaningfully host things,” Wyatt said. “We’ve added TVs with cameras and computers so groups can have hybrid meetings or utilize this space in whatever way they see fit.”
The NEH’s popular Community Tool Shed is an example of how the organization has helped resident-led groups in the city move from reactive to strategic. The tool shed is open from April-October each year and allows residents to borrow a wide range of mowers, trimmers, gardening tools, and other yard care equipment to maintain properties in the city. Wyatt said that they average about 2,000 checkouts per year in the months the tool shed is open, and each checkout results in an average of about three parcels of land being maintained.
“I feel like early on in the history of the tool shed, most of the equipment that was used was for cutting high overgrowth,” Wyatt said. “We’re now seeing far less of that, so people are continually coming in (to maintain properties more regularly).”
And, thanks to a Community Foundation of Greater Flint grant, the tool shed also has other items available that support neighborhood health in ways beyond just property maintenance. They now have event-specific items like long folding tables, a P.A. system, yard games, and more. Those items have been used for several events, like the growing number of neighborhoods that host “Porch Fests” each summer with music, food, and entertainment, or resource fairs, or similar gatherings in various parts of the city.
“A couple years ago, we started seeing all these Porch Fests and block parties and stuff like that, and people were investing tons of money renting things to provide this resource (to their neighborhoods),” Wyatt said. “We got a grant to buy all the stuff that people can just borrow from us at no cost. So they can have more to put toward the events, and they can go to the tool shed for the PA system or the popcorn cart or the lawn games or the tents and generators. So that stuff is going out now about 50 times a year. And now the funds that people used to be putting toward renting those things are paying more local artists and vendors.”
The tool shed is open Monday-Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through October and can be contacted by email (toolshed@nehflint.org) or phone at (810) 214-0186. The NEH staff works a hybrid schedule, so the building is not always open, but people interested in meeting with their team can reach them by email (info@nehflint.org) or by calling (810) 214-4829. More information about the organization is also available online. They’re also exploring ways to enhance their social media presence, including creating tutorials and other videos for how to use certain tools or share other information. Mainly, Wyatt just encourages anyone with questions to contact them. Even if it is regarding a service NEH doesn’t provide, they can often connect people to other organizations who can help.
“There’s no dumb questions in our work,” Wyatt said. “If you are looking for a resource and you’re not sure where to go, we’re often really connected in that way and we can point people the right way or make introductions. Or even if they have an idea and they just kind of want to bounce ideas off of us and say like, ‘I don’t know if this could be a project, but I’d like to chat with you about it.’ Reach out and we can set something up. We like to say we work for residents.”
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