Design Plan Rationale No Royal Farms for Hamilton (also called NoRoFo Hamilton, or simply NoRoFo) is a community organization aimed at deterring the development of a large Royal Farms location featuring 12 gas pumps and a convenience store at the intersection of Harford Road, Old Harford Road, and Glenmore Avenue. The scope of the proposed development is the size usually seen just off a major highway; however, the location is in the middle of a residential and small business district.
The intersection in question is already home to a 7-Eleven convenience store, an Enoch Pratt library location, and features five-way traffic. Due to the complex traffic pattern, which has resulted in over 100 automobile collisions in the past five years, the city has enacted a traffic calming scheme, narrowing the road from four lanes down to two. The addition of a busy gas station would further increase traffic flow and add to the danger of an already precarious intersection. NoRoFo is working to mobilize the community in letter-writing campaigns to the Baltimore Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals (BMZA) and to attending hearings at city hall. Thus far, there have been a number of efforts to communicate with local residents, including neighborhood organization meetings, demonstrations at the site, and small-scale door-to-door canvassing.
This course will train NoRoFo members and supporters in canvassing and messaging techniques that will increase the effectiveness of NoRoFo’s efforts. Target Population The participants in this training will be adults who live in Hamilton-Lauraville and surrounding neighborhoods. They are largely homeowners, but vary greatly in personal and educational background. The participant will have already become familiar with the issue but may not have any experience in public speaking, community organizing, or canvassing. Course Description This course will take place during a semi-casual meeting either in a conference room at a community center or the living room of one of the members and serve between 6 and 12 participants. It should take around 1 to 1 ½ hours. The course will focus on the basics of canvassing and guidelines for designing informational flyers. For the portion covering canvassing, the instructor will cover body language, the “rap" (the brief speech the canvasser gives at each door), clipboard control, and the KISS (keep it short and simple) principle. The portion of the training covering flyer design will serve as a very basic introduction and cover layout, use of bullet points, inclusion of white space, and getting right to the point. Job aids will be provided for both sections of the training. Objectives Terminal Objective 1. Given a lecture, job aid, and role-playing practice, the Community Canvassing and Communication participant should be able to demonstrate how to canvass one house within three attempts without error.