Northside Neighborhood Association (Missoula, Mont.)

The Northside Neighborhood Association (NNA) was a community-based organization that worked through the Missoula City Council to solve the problem of pedestrian access to the Northside, which is separated from the rest of Missoula, Montana, by numerous railroad tracks. The NNA began as an unofficial "Northside Steering Committee"; the interest of the community generated formal organization. The NNA was officially recognized by the State of Montana on July 15, 1992. Bob Oakes served as the first president of the organization and was follwed by Caitlin DeSilvey and Kathy Crowley-Haywood. In 1996, the NNA merged with the revivied Westside Neighborhood Association to create the North-Missoula Community Development Corporation (NMCDC); the corporation was declared non-profit in 1998. The NMCDC representative area, which is north of the Clark Fork River from Madison Street to Russell Street, includes three neighborhoods in Missoula: Downtown, Northside, and Westside.

The NNA, and later the NMCDC, worked with the City of Missoula and Montana Rail Link (MRL) to fund and construct two pedestrian crossings to the Northside. The Northside Railroad Pedestrian Overpass was constructed in 1999 and allows pedestrian access from Railroad Street to North 1st Street. That same year, the city constructed the California Street Bridge, a pedestrian bridge spanning the Clark Fork River.

The NMCDC has grown to address multiple issues shared by the neighborhoods, focusing mainly on overcoming the stigma of poverty. A few of the programs that have grown from community involvement are Project Playground, constructed in 1998 adjacent to Lowell School; the Northside Greenway Project that builds trails and pocket parks in the North and Westside neighborhoods; and the School Nurse Health Aide Project, which helps the neighborhood schools control head lice. The Land Stewardship Program allows low-income families to purchase homes in the neighborhood. One of the most important accomplishments has been the Missoula City Council's ratification of the Joint Northside and Westside Comprehensive Neighborhood Plan, a citizen-initiated, government-funded and democratically crafted plan for the neighborhood's future.