‘We can dream:’ East McKinney neighborhood leaders on mission for engagement

As development in East McKinney takes root, neighborhood leaders are stepping up to preserve the fabric of the area and strengthen the area’s sense of community.

Some key leaders — Deborah Bradford, Rosa Maxie, Maria McKinzie, Beth Bentley, Juametta Terrell, Silvia Escamilla, and her daughter, Maegan Escamilla — are establishing neighborhood associations in the five historic legacy neighborhoods that make up East McKinney in hopes of amplifying their voices and creating a sense of security, trust and support as changes loom. Other city leaders and McKinney residents are part of the effort too.

They’re close to establishing a framework that can help build and empower neighborhood associations and organizations and want to focus on garnering more involvement from neighbors.

While East McKinney had slow population growth over the past two decades — growing at an average rate of 0.8% per year — the city overall nearly tripled in size with the addition of roughly 76,000 residents from 2000 to 2010, according to the East McKinney Neighborhood Preservation Plan. From 2010 to 2021, the city’s annual growth rate was 4.3%.

Development in the area has historically lagged behind the rest of the city, but projects underway include improvements to Old Settler’s Park, design of the Lower 5 Plaza and construction on McKinney’s future City Hall, among others.

“Whatever problems we hear from the neighborhood, we can go back and report it to the main people and try to get some assistance and go to City Council meetings and try to get some help,” said Terrell, who was raised on Murray Street in the Rockwall neighborhood, one of the legacy neighborhoods. One of her goals, she said, is to implement more security measures in the area to increase safety. Other leaders want to focus on more community involvement and educating neighbors on how to access resources.

Establishing a framework for the associations

In December 2021, the city established the East McKinney Project Outreach and Communication Team (EMPOC) to give neighborhood leaders information about the redevelopment projects. Leaders were able to share the city’s plans with their neighbors and gather feedback to share with the city team.

In 2023, the Transitional Advisory Team was set up to provide support and guidance for transitioning the previously city-led EMPOC efforts to a neighborhood-led collaboration with the goal of establishing a framework that would provide a foundation for the neighborhood leaders to build their neighborhood associations.

Throughout 2023, the city met quarterly with neighborhood leaders and provided insight and feedback on possible structures for neighborhood associations, as well as training to learn how to conduct neighborhood meetings, feedback on current organization efforts and ideas on how to include members who may not be in organized neighborhoods.

“The goal is to build a framework or a foundation by which the neighborhoods could organize on their own,” said Assistant City Manager Kim Flom.

That framework is almost complete. Now the neighborhood leaders will focus more on organizing their associations, growing their reach and neighborhood engagement and identifying what needs they want to meet within their individual neighborhoods. They also set up their own meeting to discuss bylaws and structure for the associations.

“We’re shifting into the neighborhood leaders building what they want for their neighborhoods,” Flom said.

Long-term goals, city help

While a long-term goal is for each of the five neighborhoods to establish their own associations, the leaders have seen a varying level of participation based on the neighborhood, and geographically the neighborhoods are small. The leaders decided to continue to work together and, as membership grows, they plan to eventually split off into smaller neighborhood groups.

“We’re continuing to come together, and we’re continuing to collaborate — to knock on the doors, to hand out the flyers, to visit with the neighbors, letting them know, ‘Hey, this is something that we’re doing, and we actually have a voice,’” said Bradford, who has lived in McKinney since 1999 and served as a liaison for the Mouzon neighborhood.

The city has allocated funds to provide small grants to neighborhood associations. The Neighborhood Association Grant provides $1,500 maximum reimbursement annually for expenses related to entertainment for neighborhood block parties or social events, and supplies for neighborhood events, among others.

Further, a neighborhood planner position with the city was filled, and a neighborhood engagement administrator was added. The neighborhood administrator works closely with leaders to provide funding if needed, connects them with city staff and find ways to meet other needs like finding room space for meetings.

‘We can dream’

While the associations are only in their beginning phases, Bradford says it’s already having an impact.

“Before, as the redevelopment began, you didn’t really know which way this was going to go. This can kind of be like a sticky situation,” Bradford said. “But we are all very, very pleased to see how McKinney has worked with its residents and … something that we see in the community where there might have been some hesitancy in the beginning, you can see a lot of that lifting.”

Recently, the leaders coordinated an effort to drop off over 400 bags filled with holiday treats. They also planned and hosted a fall festival in an effort to bring the community together and share their plans with neighbors.

“We’ve also got our logo, and we created T-shirts, so that’s part of our organizing,” Bradford said. “I’m excited about the potential of what the communities East of Highway 5 can look like … we can dream. What is it that we really want to see in East McKinney, and then how can we work with our city government to bring these things to pass? We’re excited about having a voice in that.”