Over this past year, Nuestra’s Community Organizing and Resident Services staff made a renewed commitment to community-based activism and organizing—the same activism and organizing that led to Nuestra’s founding nearly three decades ago—in order to better address the needs of a community facing destabilization and blight after years of positive growth. The foreclosure crisis brought with it a marked increase in neighborhood safety issues, as abandoned buildings fostered drug use, prostitution, and other criminal activity. Drawing on their strong ties with residents of Nuestra-owned properties as well as other members of the communities we serve, our Resident Service Coordinators organized a number of new initiatives, all designed to engage residents of the Dacia FIT area in finding solutions to these growing problems.
Organizer Paul Francois worked tirelessly to build a relationship between community members and law enforcement officials. Community members were urged to give voice to their concerns as well as take ownership of the means for addressing them. Nuestra also implemented a new model for social networking among residents based on the highly successful NeighborCircles model developed by Lawrence CommunityWorks. Neighbors come together for informal potluck dinners to share their stories and personal visions for change in the community. Eventually, these groups become autonomous bodies of engaged citizens making the voices of their communities heard.
The Ann and George Macomber Community Learning Center successfully completed its first full year of operation with a number of classes that engaged a variety of community members in enriching activities and personal growth. These included Tae Kwon Do for children as well as intergenerational arts-and-crafts and sewing classes that paired young women with senior women who served as both mentors and creative partners. The Learning Center also served as the forum in which many important community meetings took place and hosted a number of events, including a Mother’s Day luncheon for senior residents of Nuestra properties and our annual Toys for Tots–sponsored Christmas party. Learning Centers Coordinator Jackie Davis worked with a consultant to conduct a comprehensive survey of current and potential Learning Center clients in the summer of 2008, and is already working to implement new programming based on suggestions and feedback. |
David Price and residents participating in a NeighborCircle. |
