14 Jul The Northeast Oklahoma City Neighborhood Coalition

 The Northeast Oklahoma City Neighborhood Coalition
A look inside the group providing healthy, safe and flourishing NEOKC neighborhoods 

The Oklahoma City Innovation District is a 1.3 square-mile ecosystem of collaboration, innovation and economic growth located in historic Northeast Oklahoma City and surrounded by internationally acclaimed organizations spanning Oklahoma’s diverse sectors: healthcare, bioscience, aerospace & unmanned systems, specialized manufacturing, academia, technology and energy. 

And among those internationally acclaimed organizations sits the more important locally uniting districts that make up the Northeast Oklahoma City community – the neighborhoods. The homes, sidewalks and streets lived in, walked on and connecting the families that have called Northeast Oklahoma City home for generations. 

Insert the Northeast Oklahoma City Neighborhood Coalition, a group of neighborhood association leaders with a vision to provide safe, healthy and flourishing Northeast Oklahoma City neighborhoods, while working collaboratively to enhance the quality of life, safety and sustainability in Northeast Oklahoma City communities. 

“For the past five to seven years, community engagement facilitated by various local organizations and outside consultants has been ongoing across Northeast Oklahoma City neighborhoods, and the Northeast Oklahoma City Neighborhood Coalition, alongside other organizations, is partnering to create a more inclusive future where the community flourishes,” Denyvetta Davis, the President of the Northeast Oklahoma City Neighborhood Coalition, said. “This has provided opportunities to collectively build community awareness & appreciation, embrace cultural heritage & identity and honor our unique community assets.” 

Ms. Davis also speaks to the homage paid to the community’s rich history in the physical nature of recent developments that have dotted Northeast Oklahoma City neighborhoods over recent years. 

“The community has seen a Northeast Oklahoma City renaissance with lots of new development projects in various stages from beginning to completion,” Ms. Davis said.  “The rich history of Northeast Oklahoma City shines throughout the community, while many of the new and renovated developments, buildings and spaces have been named after Northeast Oklahoma City pioneers, creating an expectation that urban planners and architects will continue to design developments in a way that celebrates our past, embraces our future and reflects our rich histories.” 

The neighborhoods the Coalition encompasses are the areas bounded by NE 1st Street to Wilshire Boulevard and N Walnut Avenue to Sooner Road in Northeast Oklahoma City, including neighborhoods inside the Innovation District, and it’s in this area the NEOKC Neighborhood Coalition seeks to promote communication, cooperation and partnerships between the neighborhoods and organizations in a way that fosters a sense of community. 

“Although only three of the NEOKC Neighborhood Coalition members are within the boundaries of the OKC Innovation District (Culbertson East Highland Neighborhood Association, Harrison Walnut Neighborhood Association and the John F. Kennedy Neighborhood Association), the Coalition considers the Innovation District a community partner,” Ms. Davis said. 

The OKC Innovation District and NEOKC Neighborhood Coalition have worked hand in hand to support one another over the years, and each has helped the other make strategic connections along the way. 

“We have been invited to talk with the Innovation District about the types of community programs and events that could be incorporated into the new Innovation Hall development to ensure it’s a space for everyone, and we have been a guest organization at the Innovation District’s Walk Over Wednesday events.” Ms. Davis said. 

The NEOKC Neighborhood Coalition even connected with Metro Tech at a Walk Over Wednesday event, and as a result of the connection, we were invited to tour the Metro Tech Springlake Campus and to participate in Metro Tech’s 2025 Strategic Plan discussion, with plans to tour other Metro Tech campuses in the Fall of 2022 or in early 2023.” 

An additional partnership Ms. Davis has seen unfold between a Northeast Oklahoma City neighborhood and an Innovation District partner has been one between the John F. Kennedy Neighborhood Association and the University of Oklahoma’s School of Civil Engineering & Environmental Studies.  

“As president of the JFK Neighborhood Association (a neighborhood located within the Innovation District), I reached out to the OU School of Civil Engineering to gather information on testing the air, soil, water and noise quality of our neighborhood to see if those factors were killing us due the environmental issues,” Ms. Davis said. “A capstone class was assigned to the JFK neighborhood for the 2021-2022 academic year, and a final report with recommendations was presented to us by the students that May. 

“The capstone class report exceeded our expectations, and the recommendations included both short and long-term goals with an expectation to continue our partnership with another capstone class in the 2022-2023 academic year.” 

The Innovation District’s tagline is, “Where collaboration creates innovation,” and Ms. Davis believes this is a mission that residents living and working in Northeast Oklahoma City are beginning to embrace and to align with the Coalition’s own tagline to, “Empower neighbors and transform communities.” 

“I believe (NE OKC) residents are beginning to understand the mission of the Innovation District,” Ms. Davis said. “They are beginning to understand that the District is here to provide resources and programming, while focusing on collaboration, innovation and economic growth – not on acquiring property or displacing homeowners.” 

Because when one truly sees the vision behind each organization’s tagline, one begins to see that the two taglines are ultimately colliding and working together to propel not only Northeast Oklahoma City, but the entirety of Oklahoma City, forward. 

At the time of this article’s publication, the Northeast Oklahoma City Neighborhood Coalition includes the following neighborhood associations: 

-Capitol View Neighborhood Association 

-Capitol Courts Neighborhood (*Associate Member)

-Culbertson East Highland Neighborhood Association 

-Forest Park Neighborhood Association 

-Garden Neighborhood Community Council 

-Harrison Walnut Neighborhood Association 

-John F. Kennedy Neighborhood Association 

-Lincoln Terrace Neighborhood Association  

-Martin Luther King Neighborhood (*Associate Member)

-Medical Community Neighborhood Association 

-Northeast Renaissance Neighborhood Association 

-Park Estates North/Cashions Wildwood Neighborhood Association 

-Ross Heights Neighborhood Association 

-Thompson Woodland/Burr Oaks Neighborhood Association 

-Wildewood Cashions Neighborhood Association 

-Wildewood Hill/Heights Neighborhood Association 

*Associate members are working to organize or reorganize their neighborhoods

Special thanks to Denyvetta Davis, the President of the Northeast Oklahoma City Neighborhood Coalition, for her help with this article. Learn more about the Coalition at www.neokcr.org/neokcnac.