Interested in hearing what Madison neighborhoods do for fun? Concerned about crime in your neighborhood, or traffic speeding down your street? Wondering what neighborhoods in other cities do to involve residents and improve quality of life?

If so, Madison is the place to be this year! The City of Madison will host two neighborhood conferences over the next twelve months: a city-wide conference, Neighborhoods '98: Strong Neighborhoods, Strong City on October 3, 1998, and the nation's largest conference for neighborhood association leaders and activists, NUSA '99: Building Neighborhoods Block by Block, May 26-29, 1999.

Thanks to strong support from Madison Mayor Sue Bauman and back by popular demand, Neighborhoods '98 is the sequel to Madison's first city-wide conference held two years ago. This day-long conference will include a keynote address by neighborhood assets expert John McKnight, workshops, lunch, a networking reception and exhibits. It will be held at Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center.

NUSA '99 is a three-day conference that will bring together neighborhood leaders and staff from around the country. Hosting the NUSA conference is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to showcase Madison neighborhoods to a national audience. It is also a wonderful opportunity for Madison area associations to learn about what's going on in neighborhoods throughout the United States without having to leave home!

Neighborhood activist and member of Congress, Jesse Jackson, Jr., is the invited keynote speaker for NUSA '99. An exciting feature of both conferences is that Madison neighborhoods are doing much of the planning. Eighteen Madison neighborhood activists volunteered to serve on the conference Neighborhood Organizing Committee. This committee has been meeting regularly since February to develop workshop topics, recommend presenters and to promote both conferences.

The city also created a staff team to plan the conference and has hired Cheryl Wittke, the consultant who coordinated Neighborhoods '96 to coordinate Neighborhoods '98 and NUSA '99.

If you have comments or questions about Neighborhoods '98 or NUSA '99, Cheryl can be reached at 256-6713; 256-6795 fax; email cwittke@aol.com.


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