A city of neighborhoods: Fort Howard

Part II in a series

GREEN BAY – Not only is Fort Howard Green Bay’s first incorporated borough —built by the British during the war of 1812 — it is also one of Green Bay Neighborhood’s most vibrant Neighborhood Associations (NA).
Ally Brown has only been president of Fort Howard’s NA for about a month, but has been hands-on since October.

And although Fort Howard has been an established Neighborhood Association for many years, Brown shared her wishes to see “everybody get a little more involved and show a little bit more of a presence within the area.”

Brown was happy to share one of the community’s favorite projects that their association hosts, their “Dumpster Days.”

Dumper Days is a summer event that community members can utilize to dispose of “anything they need to get rid of,” Brown says.

Brown also said that Dumper Days is a great way for people to dispose of items that are more difficult to discard, such as electronics, paints and furniture.

Fort Howard NA is proud of the impact that this project has made, and some of Green Bay’s other NA’s are now working on bringing the idea to their own communities this summer.

Another project Brown mentioned as one of her personal favorites is Fort Howard’s historic walk.

The historic walk tours the neighborhoods homes and landmarks, while giving a brief history of who had lived there previously.

“We are creating a program for the neighborhood associations to be able to find out historical information about the homes that they have in their neighborhoods and then be able to do those walkthroughs,” she said, about a project her and her husband, Dylan, are working on.

As for future projects, Brown is most excited about the beautification of their Fort Howard sign.

During the first few weekends in May, their NA will be planting flowers to make the corner of Shawano and Oakland “pretty and inviting,” added Brown.
Fort Howard is looking for six volunteers with gardening experience to help with this upcoming project.

Brown also said that Fort Howard has a lot of really great projects coming up in addition to the sign gardening, sharing that she is currently working on acquiring funding for electrical box painting for the community.

For more information on Green Bay Neighborhoods, visit gbneighborhoods.org.