The Neighborhood Revitalization Jedi

Orientation has come to end, and I have started to transition into my work at Habitat for Humanity.  My first day at work was Wednesday, and I spent the day with my supervisor, Danny, getting to know the ins and outs of Habitat Tucson.   Danny showed me around the office and introduced me to all of the Habitat staff, who by the way are so nice and very welcoming!  We then spent some time talking about statistics and the people and community that Habitat Tucson serves.  After absorbing as much information as possible in one sitting, Danny took me out to the neighborhoods that Habitat is currently building in and the neighborhoods which are a focus for Neighborhood Revitalization.

I will be spending the majority of my time (about 28 hours a week) this year working on Neighborhood Revitalization in the development department and the rest of my time helping out the construction and design department.  I am really excited about the opportunities that are in front of Danny and myself through the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (NRI) this year.  NRI is a new focus of Habitat Tucson, and I will be working alongside Danny to initiate projects that go beyond building homes for Habitat clients and community members.  As Habitat for Humanity has historically been focused on building homes for families, they are currently revisioning their mission to think about "Families Served" instead of "Homes Built."

The reality of our economic climate is affecting the amount of homeowners Habitat is able to secure, so we will be using our efforts through NRI to help families raise their quality of life by assisting them with home and neighborhood projects.  Since NRI is so new to Habitat Tucson, I have come into a situation which is pretty much wide open in terms of my work scope.  This is a little scary, but also exciting!  Danny and I will be trying a lot of new things to reach out to the families living in Habitat neighborhoods in order to help the residents to create a sustainable and pleasant living environment.

To start out we are directing our attention to a specific Habitat neighborhood, Sunnyside, and will be focusing on graffiti clean-up efforts, starting a tool lending library and conducting a program called "Brush with Kindness."  Sunnyside neighborhood is a low-income area which is hit pretty hard with graffiti vandalising.  We are working with police and community members to report the vandalism, clean it up and possibly brainstorm some ideas on how to help those doing the tagging get a positive, outward expression of their feelings instead of using graffiti tagging.  We are in very early stages of starting a tool lending library, but the main principle behind starting one is to enable community members, who do not own tools, to personally care for their property and instill a sense of pride in their neighborhood.  Lastly, Brush with Kindness, is a program that pinpoints a few properties in the neighborhood that are in critical need of work (home repairs, painting, weatherization, gardening, etc.).  We are securing volunteers to spend Saturdays going to those homes to help the homeowners with the work on their property.

We are in the initial stages of our NRI efforts, and I would love to hear from you if you have ideas for revitalizing neighborhoods.  Like I said before, the scope of our work is wide open right now.  As an organization we are seeking to put God's love into action by bringing people together and building homes, community and hope.

On a last note, I have titled this post Neighborhood Revitalization Jedi because that is my 'unofficial' title at work.  Danny and I were trying to come up with a title so that I can get business cards, and we were throwing ideas around.  We really liked Neighborhood Revitalization Jedi, but didn't think it would be appropriate. So to the public I am a Neighborhood Revitalization Specialist, but in the walls of my office I am the Neighborhood Revitalization Jedi.