As communities struggle to find balance and recover from the impacts of COVID-19, high unemployment and social injustice, NeighborWorks organizations are working to balance the need for change and supporting equality while also keeping residents united and safe.
Following are the reflections of two NeighborWorks organizations on where they are now, examples of unity and resilience, and how their communities are coming together in the spirit of neighbor helping neighbor. We will continue have conversations with network organizations and will share their insights on an ongoing basis.
Community is stepping up
Aeon is a NeighborWorks organization located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the city where Floyd was killed. Savina Proykova is Aeon's marketing and communications specialist.
What's happening: "A lot of our residents live in neighborhoods that have been damaged. They now live in food deserts. And they have to choose between rent or food."
Response: "We've had a few folks organizing everything from food drives to cleanup. During [George Floyd's memorial service] we had about 10,000 bottles of water. I can't believe the amount of people who have raised their hands and stepped up. Older people. Younger people. We had residents out there painting on boards. It was a good moment of reflection, something for them to come together for after months of being in quarantine. It was a traumatic moment but a huge community building experience. Our resident connections team was already helping with food resources, but they really stepped up, coordinating food drives on the North side and South side of Minneapolis."Impact: "It's all over the place with everyone." Stores have been boarded up, she says. "We've been having all-staff meeting where we hear from property operations folks. They're seeing residents who are scared daily."
Message of hope: "It's bringing people together. I hate that it's in times of crisis and traumatic moments, but you see this incredible response. I'm blown away at how everybody has stepped up, and we're all seeing each other after months of working from home; we're seeing each other as we collect food and hand out water bottles. We're seeing each other again in this powerful moment in our city. In the darkness, you find the light. I'm at a loss of words when I think about how everybody responded so quickly. And everyone is willing to do even more. Everybody is looking for something to contribute, something to do. It's very hopeful. It's what's keeping us moving forward when we're paralyzed with emotion, grief and feelings."
How to help: "Donating to our organization right now is really important. This will help run our resident support services, working on food drives and the needs of our residents, from providing unemployment resources to wellness check-ins. I talked to a woman at one of our area properties. Her childcare was in a retail area hit by looting. She doesn't feel safe or know what to do. Giving to our organization now would provide her with support to keep her children safe and healthy and get food on the table. That's just one example."
Aeon has portraits of George Floyd and murals on the boarded windows of their Minneapolis properites, including East Village Apartments, which are across the street from the church that held Floyd's memorial service on Thursday. Jen Small, housing development associate at Aeon, says it was all made possible by the community."I fired off a midnight email to a few of my colleagues to get a ‘green light' on putting out a call for artists. By Tuesday night, our resident services team had contacted resident artists, the East Village site manager was coordinating with youth artists from the neighborhood, and I was put in touch with Face Me Por Favor, a group focused on murals and community storytelling. On Wednesday, we all just showed up. We had some paint and a few ladders, and people came that were brought in by friends. It was beautiful how people came together. Everybody wants to heal and to feel good and to play a role in this reckoning that has sprung across the country. The beautiful thing about Minneapolis is that everybody's finding a role they can play."
Unified in purpose and character
Beatrice J.E. Rider is the interim executive director of New Kensington Community Development Corporation (NKCDC), a NeighborWorks organization in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
What's happening: "We cover multiple neighborhoods. Our commercial corridors saw very different impacts. One saw serious damage and looting, including a fire that burned down the … equivalent of half a city block. There was a counter protest on Monday night with some white men who said they were engaging in the protection of [police in the] Fishtown neighborhood. They carried weapons. Part of our neighborhood saw looting and the other part saw white people waving their privilege around. It was very upsetting for our staff and our community. It's been exhausting for all of our staff and our neighborhood in general. It's been multiple days of destruction. There's a feeling of abandonment in our neighborhood." (Cleanup photos left and below are courtesy of Lowell Brown/NKCDC.)Response: "There's been a lot of solidarity. Our community had a cleanup on Tuesday; we're helping with businesses that need to be boarded up, and we're working with other partners in the city to form a plan to help small businesses with their needs going forward."
Impact: "It's been a big drain on our very diverse staff. We lost our executive director suddenly in February. We've been adapting to the pandemic. We're feeling emotional and overwhelmed. We're trying to do our best to listen and give space to people and support them in this time. All of this is part of our mission. We're part of the greater city of Philadelphia."
Message of hope: "I think the bright spot, and it's definitely come out over the later days of this week, is that our neighborhoods are more unified in purpose and character than they might have been otherwise. The amount of support that's come out across multiple neighborhoods has been encouraging. We'll get through it. We'll get through it together."
How to help: "We're still trying to figure out how to leverage the volunteer spirit into something useful and sustainable and helpful for the neighborhood. We're doing a lot of assessment since the needs are so varied."
