Residents in one of the last remaining “unorganized” areas of the city are forming a neighborhood association to build community and have their voices heard.

Although the official boundaries have not been finalized, the proposed new Fernwood Neighborhood will encompass much of the city south of 14th Street. Organizers are hosting a kickoff meeting at 6 p.m. tonight at Right Brain Brewery to discuss goals, structure and more.

“We just want to create a sense of community and meet our neighbors, and we want to bring everybody to the table and let them know what we’ve been working on so far,” says Sam LaSusa, who began conversations with some of his neighbors a few months ago. “We didn’t want to get too far into the process without making sure it was open to whoever wanted to be involved.”

Seeds for the new association were planted as LaSusa, who lives at 14th and Cass, painted a colorful “Love Thy Neighbor” mural on his fence in July. His neighbor Becky Cain painted her own fence soon after, and both had a chance to strike up conversations with several passers-by about their blossoming neighborhood.

“We met a lot of neighbors just as a result of being outside and doing the work, and Sam had already had a desire to get the neighborhood together on the same page,” Cain says. “We want to be able to have a voice.”

The name Fernwood was chosen based on the original name for the area when it was platted. The old church now known as The Circuit was originally known as the Fernwood Chapel, organizers say.

“I think it kind of got lost in the SoFo and the NoBo and all of that stuff,” LaSusa says. “Doing something historically based was much more well received.”

The Fernwood Neighborhood movement comes on the heels of the Base of Old Mission (BOOM) Neighborhood and the Indian Woods Neighborhood Association forming as the city’s ninth and tenth official neighborhood associations earlier this year. To be officially recognized by the city, residents need to propose a geographic footprint and identify board members or other representatives, and the city commission then approves the footprint and passes a resolution recognizing the association.

City officials praised neighborhood associations as a way for government to better connect with people in areas of the city that can be quite different from each other.

“While certainly the city wants to hear from folks whether they’re in a formal neighborhood association or not, they…provide a platform for folks to get together,” says City Clerk Benjamin Marentette. “More formally, with the city, they provide a collective voice that represents a particular area.”

That said, the recent growth in associations has put some stress on city government.

“I will say, and I mean it respectfully, that the expectation to have a liaison for all of these neighborhood associations is becoming challenging,” Marentette says. “There’s a different level of service that’s expected from different neighborhoods, and we only have so many folks to go around, but we’ll do all we can.”

It’s too early to provide a full list of the association’s goals and desires, but residents spoke of better pedestrian safety, reduced blight and other matters. They also want to have an organized say in any initiatives to improve 14th Street.

“Fourteenth Street is kind of the next opportunity zone for development and redevelopment, and we thought it would be great to establish something like this prior so we have a body that can provide feedback about what will happen on that main stretch,” LaSusa says.