What does your $30 do?

Some benefits of FPCA membership are easy to see. Some are not.

By Scott Biggs, FPCA Volunteer Coordinator

Thank you to everyone who has already joined the Forest Park Civic Association this year. We are below our membership goals for 2023 and we are doubling our efforts to invite more households to join.

As of September, only a fraction of the nearly 3,000 households in Forest Park are members of the civic association.

I am asking you to join today so we can continue our work to keep Forest Park a great place to live. You can join the FPCA online right now.

Across Columbus, you can see the difference between neighborhoods that have an active civic association and those that do not.

We are not a homeowner’s association. We do not enforce neighborhood rules. We are a civic association that works to benefit all Forest Park residents.

Membership in the FPCA is only $30 per household. The FPCA is entirely run by volunteers who are residents just like you. That means every dollar is used to directly benefit our neighborhood.

We are dedicated to transparency and publish our Treasurer’s Report every month in The Forester newsletter. Our volunteer treasurer also provides an update at every FPCA monthly meeting (I invite you to join us for our next meeting).

What do you get for your annual membership contribution? Some benefits are obvious because you see them every day.

Benefits that you see:

We pay to maintain the landscaped islands at the Satinwood Pl. entrances at Karl Rd.
We recently paid to replace all Welcome to Forest Park signs at all entrances to Forest Park East and West.
We pay to print The Forester newsletter every month and pay for the bags which allow volunteers on your street to hang the newsletters on your door.
We pay the professional supplemental security patrol officers who regularly drive through the neighborhoods in their marked cars. Planning a vacation? Every FPCA member can request free home checks with the form in each Forester newsletter, at www.fpcivic.org or by emailing our volunteer Supplemental Security Coordinator Daryl Van Mercetta at dvanmercetta@gmail.com.
We pay for the welcome folders and printed materials that we drop off to new residents who just moved into our neighborhood. These packets include information about Forest Park, maps of the streets, nearby businesses, voter registration information, and other helpful items to make our new neighbors feel at home.
We pay for programs that recognize neighbors for their beautification efforts in the annual Beautification Contest, rewarding our neighbors who enrich our streets with improvements.
We pay for supplies to build our float for the Northland Fourth of July Parade.
We pay for awards for kids who decorate their bikes and trikes in the Fourth of July Parade.
We pay for printing and postage to mail our annual Membership Packet to nearly 3,000 households, encouraging residents to join the FPCA.
We pay for advertising to promote two Community Garage Sales each year, attracting buyers from around Central Ohio.
We pay to design and print the Forest Park Directory, which is updated every several years and delivered to all member households.
We pay for neighborhood social events, including the Easter Egg Hunt, Block Parties, and the Halloween Party. These events were cancelled during the pandemic, and we are reviving them in 2023.

Some benefits are not obvious but are just as important.

Benefits that you do not see:

We pay dues to the Northland Community Council. The NCC is a critical organization that represents 26 area civic associations and organizations in the Northland area. The NCC represents more than 100,000 households and ensures that the City of Columbus recognizes Northland as an important political voice. Two FPCA volunteers currently serve on the commission and provide detailed reports at every FPCA meeting. The NCC is our most effective connection to the City of Columbus and makes recommendations to the city on behalf of Forest Park residents. Among many other services, the NCC protects us from many development and zoning plans that would harm our neighborhoods and maintains a direct two-way channel to city officials.
We pay for insurance that is required for our non-profit organization.
We pay for a P.O. Box and office supplies that are necessary to conduct our operations.
We pay for payment processing fees that are necessary for online membership payments.