Elton Gatewood: The Movement That Strengthens Neighborhoods

For more than half a century, a quiet but powerful movement has been helping Americans strengthen their urban neighborhoods. The organization at the center of that work is Neighborhoods USA (NUSA)—a national nonprofit dedicated to connecting neighborhood leaders, sharing ideas, and strengthening community engagement across the country.

Few people know the story of NUSA better than Elton Gatewood, a longtime neighborhood advocate who has attended 48 of the organization’s 50-plus conferences and spent decades working to build stronger neighborhoods in Tacoma, Washington.

For Gatewood, neighborhood work is not simply a profession. It is a lifelong passion.

“It has been a passion to me,” he said. “My first meeting was in 1978. A lot of the history isn’t written down but my recall is still very good and my focus is on the future as well as the past.”

The Origins of a National Neighborhood Movement

The roots of Neighborhoods USA go back to the mid-1970s, when federal housing policy began shifting from urban renewal toward community development and citizen participation.

Cities receiving federal housing funds were required to involve residents in planning decisions. But at the time, many governments struggled with how to make citizen participation meaningful.

Gatewood saw the gap firsthand.

Working as an urban planner for the City of Tacoma, he noticed that participation often meant little more than holding public meetings.

“In government we fulfilled the requirements,” he explained, “but it did not meet what I considered as being citizen participation. We would hold meetings, go back to City Hall, and we thought we knew what was best for the people.”

Around the same time, neighborhood advocates across the country were asking similar questions. According to Gatewood, the spark that became NUSA came when community leaders decided to convene a national conversation.

“A guy named Howard in Washington, D.C., had received a Ford Foundation grant,” Gatewood recalled. “He and a lady from Kansas City started talking about convening a meeting and an organization that dealt with neighborhoods. They met in Kansas City and created a steering committee. That was the beginning of Neighborhoods USA.”

The idea quickly gained momentum. Neighborhood leaders, planners, activists, and city officials began gathering annually to share strategies and learn from one another.

The goal was simple but ambitious: strengthen neighborhoods by strengthening the people and organizations that serve them.

“NUSA is a national nonprofit organization built to strengthen neighborhood organizations,” Gatewood explained. “It encourages networking and information sharing in order to facilitate partnerships among neighborhood organizations, government, and the private sector.”

Learning From Each Other

From the beginning, the heart of NUSA has been its conferences.

Every year, hundreds of neighborhood leaders gather to share ideas, solve problems, and learn what is working in other cities. Some of the largest conferences have drawn more than 1,200 participants, including record attendance in Madison, Wisconsin and Phoenix, Arizona.

But the real value is not just the workshops—it is the connections.

“What you’re doing in Missouri,” Gatewood said, “somebody else is doing somewhere else. By meeting at these conferences you gather information that you can use to fulfill the needs in your own community.”

Gatewood became famous within the organization for the personal network he built over decades of participation.

“I’ve got a cigar box full of cards I’ve accumulated over the years,” he said with a laugh. “If someone calls me and says, ‘Elton, I’ve got this problem,’ I can say, ‘Hold on a minute. Sam Jones in Tupelo, Mississippi has the same problem. Why don’t you connect with him?’”

That simple exchange of knowledge—neighbor to neighbor, city to city—has helped communities across the country strengthen their neighborhood systems.

Recognizing the Power of Neighborhood Leadership

One of the most visible contributions NUSA has made to neighborhood work came in 1984, when Gatewood helped introduce what is now one of the organization’s signature traditions.

“When we hosted the conference in Tacoma,” he said, “we introduced the Neighborhood of the Year Award. It has become one of the highlights of the conference.”

The awards program celebrates neighborhoods that have successfully organized residents, improved local conditions, and strengthened community connections.

Over time, additional awards were added to recognize innovative programs, partnerships, and leadership.

But for Gatewood, the deeper value of these awards is the inspiration they provide.

“It encourages people to become more actively involved and be an agent of change in their city,” he said.

A Global Idea

While NUSA began as a national network, the ideas behind neighborhood organizing have resonated far beyond the United States.

Gatewood recalls delegations from countries such as Japan, Sweden, South Africa, Bahamas and the Philippines attending conferences or exchanging ideas with American neighborhood leaders.

At one point, he even coined a phrase to describe the global nature of neighborhood work. “I called it ‘globalhood,’” he said.

Despite cultural and political differences around the world, the needs people express at the neighborhood level are remarkably similar.

“People want safe homes, food, clothes, shelter—regardless of where you live,” Gatewood said. “The response or the answer is the same.”

Why Neighboring Matters

For Gatewood, the importance of neighborhood work is not theoretical. It is rooted in lived experience.

As a child growing up in Memphis, he saw firsthand how decisions were often made for communities rather than with them.

“That people decided things for me without asking me—it’s a common courtesy,” he said. “We thought we knew what was best for ‘those people.’ I always despised that phrase.”

His response was to spend a career helping governments and residents work together.

“I believe in establishing relationships with people, learning how to collaborate,” he said. “Everybody falls into a win-win situation if they have time and patience.”

He often begins community meetings with a simple question.

“I would say, ‘The city is proposing to do this. What are your thoughts?’ You’d be surprised what people tell you. Some positive, some negative, some scratching their head—but that’s real participation.”

The Human Side of Democracy

Ultimately, Gatewood believes neighborhood engagement is about more than planning or community development.

It is about the practice of democracy itself.

“This thing we call democracy is a practice,” he said. “It’s forever growing and strengthening if we allow that to happen.”

Neighborhoods are where that practice begins.

“We all live, work, pray, and play in our neighborhoods,” he said. “Everybody has something to contribute to the better good of what we are working toward—safer and healthier communities.”

Passing the Torch

After decades of involvement, Gatewood remains optimistic about the future of neighborhood work. But he also believes the next generation must step forward.

“We need a new generation of people,” he said. “We can put the organization in place, but it takes people to run it.”

His hope is that organizations like NUSA will continue to grow, bringing together people of different backgrounds, regions, and perspectives.

“If we are a national organization,” he said, “we need to be representative of the nation as best we can.”

For Gatewood, the legacy of neighborhood work is ultimately about people helping people.

“I’ve had such a marvelous time with NUSA,” he said. “You only pass this way once. Give it your best.”

Why the Work Continues

More than fifty years after its founding, Neighborhoods USA continues to convene neighborhood leaders from across the country—sharing ideas, celebrating successes, and helping communities solve problems together.

The tools may evolve. Conferences may move between in-person and virtual formats. But the mission remains unchanged.

Bring people together. Strengthen neighborhoods. And remind communities that the power to shape their future often begins right outside their front door.

See my video interview with Elton Gatewood on YouTube.

Learn more about NUSA and register for the annual conference online.

WRITTEN BY

David L. Burton

Take the Engaged Neighbor pledge and become part of a movement! The pledge outlines five categories and 20 principles to guide you toward becoming an engaged neighbor. Sign the pledge at https://nomoregoodneighbors.com. Individuals who take the pledge do get special invitations to future events online and in person. Contact the blog author, David L. Burton via email at dburton541@yahoo.com.