Our Community Development team works to ensure that our community is safe, clean, and connected. In order to remain connected with the community, our team has been working to start a neighbor-led council. There were a few hurdles related to follow-up from potentially interested people. In order to help solve this, Darius and Krista reached out to community leaders to join and form the council, because they understand what the residents of the South Allison Hill neighborhood want.
After reaching out to a few community leaders, the council was formed of three leaders who are passionate about creating positive change in South Allison Hill! The council was formed in May, and since then, they have been working on determining what areas they want to focus on. Based on the perspectives of neighbors, the three areas they decided upon were crime, safety, parking, and litter!
As part of their first goal, safety and health, they hosted two seminars focused on sickle cell disease, as well as breast cancer awareness. By focusing on health, the council is helping people become aware of preventative healthcare and self-care. After this, the council will focus on another one of the challenge areas they identified.
Darius Davenport, our Community Planning Coordinator, hopes that the council will be able to focus on advocacy in the coming months to help implement policy change in South Allison Hill. His favorite part of working with the council has been being able to see action taken rather than just talking about the problems facing the neighborhood.
As the council moves forward, we are excited to see how they approach the problems identified in the community with creativity and passion. If you are in South Allison Hill and have some ideas for the council, we would love to hear them! Reach out to Darius Davenport at ddavenport@cactricounty.org.
