Neighborhood Leader - Jacquelyn Pheanious

Jacquelyn Pheanious' concerns with the management company of her condominium association began not long after she bought her unit. She says the company was unresponsive to her requests for routine repairs and maintenance issues, and complaints from neighbors about suspicious activity in one of the units were ignored.

Pheanious should have been able to raise her issues with the condo association's board of directors. But the board of the New Haven-based, 77-unit complex had stopped meeting long before she bought her unit. Digging further, Pheanious discovered that the president on record with the Secretary of State had sold her condominium, and the remaining board members had sublet their apartments and moved out.

Deciding to take action, Pheanious started talking to neighbors about organizing a new board. She also reached out to the city for help in holding the management company accountable. To help strengthen her relationship-building skills and gain resources for her effort, she enrolled in the Neighborhood Leadership Program.

"It helped me build a level of trust with my neighbors," says Pheanious. "It gave me the opportunity to talk to more people. Now I'm able to fund our meetings with refreshments and get us organized so we can connect with the right people."

Since participating in the program, Pheanious has held several meetings and met with an attorney to start the process of forming a new board. She and her neighbors have also been attending neighborhood management team meetings, the official forum for bringing quality of life concerns to the attention of city officials.