Buena Park Neighbors is led by its board, composed of volunteers from the neighborhood who are committed to improving quality of life for everyone in Buena Park. Elections for President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary are held every fall, and applications for all other positions are open immediately after elections. Below, you’ll find BPN’s organizational structure along with descriptions for every role on the board.
Click on the drop-down icons below to explore each of our roles in more detail:
- President: The President serves as the public face of the organization and oversees the day-to-day function of the organization. As part of that responsibility, the President oversees all board members with functional roles, leads board meetings, and ensures that BPN is executing its goals.
- Vice President:* The Vice President assists the President with managing the organization and oversees board members with roles focused on the “Three Ps:” Place, Partners, and People. As such, the Vice President works with board members in Placed-Based Roles, Partnership-Based Roles, and People-Based Roles to ensure that the organization is advancing its mission.
- Advisory Committee: The Advisory Committee constitutes former presidents of BPN who act as advisors to the Executive Committee. Leveraging their institutional knowledge, Advisory Committee Members provide context on historical relationships, past initiatives, and more.
- Communications Co-Chair: The Communications Co-Chairs develop BPN’s communications strategy, as well as execute that strategy using BPN’s email list, social media accounts, website, and other communications assets. They also work across the organization to co-create content in support of events and initiatives led by board members.
- Events Chair: The Events Chair crafts and executes BPN’s seminal events, with a focus on events open to all community members. Historically, events range from movies and concerts in the park to members-only dinners at local restaurants.
- Treasurer: The Treasurer oversees BPN’s finances, including managing payments and reimbursements, preparing a budget, overseeing fundraising, and more.
- Secretary: The Secretary manages operations for BPN, including scheduling board meetings, managing software for the organization, and ensuring that the Executive Committee is communicating effectively with the General Board and BPN as a whole.
- Outreach Chair: The Outreach Chair leads BPN’s outreach to ensure that the organization’s membership reflects the community it serves and to boost overall membership numbers. The Outreach Chair also ensures that every aspect of our organization is welcoming to all community members.
- Beautification Chair: The Beautification Chair oversees BPN’s efforts to beautify the neighborhood through maintaining existing beautification projects and creating new ones. Historically, beautification events have ranged from gardening projects to general neighborhood clean-ups.
- History Chair: The History Chair ensures that the neighborhood celebrates its rich cultural and architectural history by creating content and organizing events that highlight what makes Buena Park special.
- Government Liaison: The Government Liaison maintains and strengthens partnerships with government offices that represent Buena Park and government agencies that have a presence in Buena Park, including the Chicago Public Library, Chicago Park District, and Chicago Police Department. The Government Liaison finds ways for BPN to partner with these offices and agencies by highlighting their initiatives on social media, inviting them as speakers to BPN events, co-creating programming, organizing BPN members to volunteer, and more.
- Non-Profit Liaison: The Non-Profit Liaison maintains and strengthens partnerships with non-profit organizations that are either based in Buena Park or serve those in Buena Park. The Non-Profit Liaison finds ways for BPN to partner with these non-profits by highlighting their initiatives on social media, inviting them as speakers to BPN events, co-creating programming, organizing BPN members to volunteer, and more.
- Schools Liaison: The Schools Liaison maintains and strengthens partnerships with schools that are either based in Buena Park or serve those in Buena Park. The Schools Liaison finds ways for BPN to partner with these schools by highlighting their initiatives on social media, inviting them as speakers to BPN events, co-creating programming, organizing BPN members to volunteer, and more.
- Small Business Liaison: The Small Business Liaison builds relationships with small businesses in the Buena Park community, ensuring that BPN provides support to help with their success as contributing to what makes Buena Park a vibrant place to live. The Small Business Liaison is responsible for managing business memberships as well as BPN’s 10% discounts at local restaurants on specific nights.
- Building Captain Liaison: The Building Captain Liaison oversees the Building Captain Program, which brings together BPN members from large buildings in the community to be points-of-contact for BPN within those buildings. Building Captains communicate information from BPN to their buildings, run BPN events for their building residents, and more.
- Parents Liaison: The Parents Liaison ensures that BPN is reaching parents and families in Buena Park as well as tailoring programming to meet their needs. The Parents Liaison also works with Buena Park Parents to ensure that Buena Park is a great place for parents and families to make their home.
- Young Professionals Liaison: The Young Professionals (YPs) Liaison works with Young Professionals in the neighborhood to build relationships, volunteer at local nonprofits, support small businesses, and provide professional support. To those ends, the YPs Liaison runs events, manages the YPs social media page, creates networking opportunities, and more.
