How sustainable is your Orange County neighborhood?

In an effort to drive Orange County toward a more sustainable future, Mayor Teresa Jacobs launched a Neighborhood Challenge from Feb. 21 to June 12.

Neighborhoods can compete using scorecards provided by the County to assess their communities in three categories — health, green practices and community involvement.

“It’s a request for communities in Orange County to answer some questions that will help them figure out if they’re on the right track for being green, healthy and involved,” said project coordinator Emily Hanna.

Hanna said that neighborhoods participating in the competition are encouraged to not only assess where they currently stand, but to plan further action to improve their communities.

In addition to the scorecards, the Orange County website includes a toolkit for any residents who are looking for ways to improve their communities, including links to volunteer opportunities, educational resources and how-to tips on a wide range of topics, from reporting a code violation to reducing your carbon footprint.

“We want communities to be able to use this toolkit even when they’re not in the challenge,” Hanna said. “We wanted to have a one-stop shop for people who are looking to improve their neighborhoods.”

Although no organizations within Baldwin Park have registered for the Neighborhood Challenge yet, president of the Residential Owners Association and Neighborhood Watch, Denny O’Neil, says that there are many existing ways for residents to help improve the neighborhood. O’Neil suggests participating in ROA elections and volunteering for community organizations such as Neighborhood Watch, the Traffic Committee and the Architectural Review Committee. In particular, the Neighborhood Watch program is in need of more block captains.

Baldwin Park residents can learn more about volunteer opportunities within the neighborhood by reviewing the committees at baldwinparknetwork.com, or by emailing [email protected].

Although Baldwin Park isn’t currently in the race, its neighbors in the Audubon Park Garden District have joined the competition. Executive Director Jennifer Marvel says the neighborhood has many ongoing projects related to each of the categories, as well as developing projects inspired by the competition. Among the community’s efforts to promote community wellness are numerous workshops, meet-ups and volunteer opportunities. Marvel said that Audubon Park’s residents log over 2,500 volunteer hours a year — a notable amount considering the neighborhood’s size.

After the competition closes in June, one winner will be chosen from each scorecard category and announced at the 2015 Community Conference on July 18.

Prizes are still being secured, but Hanna says that they will likely include a plaque and a block party hosted by Orange County.

The Mayor’s Neighborhood Challenge was developed as part of a Mayor Jacob’s sustainability plan, called “Our Home for Life.” Hanna said the Neighborhood Challenge brings the objectives of the greater initiative to a neighborhood scale in order to allow communities to determine their objectives and track their goals.

Although this is the first year of the challenge, Hanna says the County plans to continue the competition each year, adapting its scorecard questions to promote further growth in Orange County neighborhoods. As the competition evolves, the County will be able to track how communities improve over time.

Hanna says that ultimately the mayor hopes that the challenge will encourage residents to embody the principles of the challenge — health, green practices and community involvement — to create more sustainable communities.

“In order to be sustainable, you have to learn about the things that make up your community in a nutshell,” Hanna said, “And we hope that by creating these scorecards we can help communities discover where they’re at and what direction they want to go in.”

Communities can register for the challenge by emailing [email protected] or learn more by visiting Orange County’s website at http://bit.ly/1PJv54V.