July-August 2005 RETURN TO HOME PAGE FEEDBACK

Day Street resident and parent Mina Kenvin wanted to network with other parents. And she wanted to be able to respond to trouble as quickly as parents in the Fairmount/Glen Park area did after a drive-by shooting in their neighborhood in June. So she and some friends formed the Noe Valley Parents' Network.

For now, they'll keep their organization exclusively online so that parents of small children can tap in to the network after the kids are in bed or anytime during their busy days. "It's hard to get to meetings, so this is a way of not having formal meetings," Kenvin says.

"It's a forum for daily kinds of things," she says, "like a play group going on, a sale, sharing of information, or recommendations of things in the neighborhood that are good for children."

But the organization is also a way for parents to get to know one another and to respond quickly to neighborhood crises.

"The response has been great," Kenvin says. In late June, the Noe Valley Parents' Network had 45 families participating after just two weeks as an organization. Folks found out about it by word-of-mouth. "Everyone knows five people," Kenvin says.

She does not have specific plans for the organization, but says she suspects the Upper Noe Recreation Center will get some attention from the group.

"Nobody really knows what's going on [there], but everyone uses that place," she notes. "But [the network] will be whatever the members want to make of it." Who knows? They might even meet in person someday.

Kenvin asks that people not join or use the group for solicitation or advertising purposes, but says all parents who live in and around Noe Valley are welcome to join the network. To participate, just e-mail Kenvin at minaken@gmail.com.