The American Way to Change: How National Service and Volunteers Are Transforming America by Sagawa Shirley

Author:Sagawa, Shirley [Sagawa, Shirley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Business
ISBN: 9780470565575
Google: U-zNjwEACAAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 9402011
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Published: 2010-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

Source: Josephine Pacheco, Winner, 2008 Youth Essay, Contest for Habitat homeowner children.14

Houses, of course, don’t exist in a vacuum. The neighborhood around them determines their value and often the quality of life for the people who live in them. The Alliance for Community Trees (ACT), with the hope of improving the environment while supporting livable communities, tackles one part of the challenge of building healthy urban neighborhoods. Many cities have lost more than a third of their forest canopy in recent decades. ACT’s NeighborWoods trains local community organizers to lead volunteer tree planters and connects them through an online community so they can collaborate and share success strategies.

Baton Rouge Green is one local partner. According to Iman Fahmee Sabree, it all started when he and other business owners and residents from the community began to take a closer look at Washington Street, where crime had gotten out of control: “Drug dealers, drug users, and prostitutes were operating in broad daylight with no fear—many were young kids hiding from their parents—and the vacant houses and lots were being used as drug and sex dens.” Sabree and other community leaders gathered to discuss how trees and flowers in other communities had been transformational. “You could see in people’s faces a certain sadness and fear just disappear. People began talking with each other, came out more.... That was the beginning,” he noted. To transform their own neighborhood, the group planted crape myrtles and colorful flowers along the street, in front yards of houses, in vacant lots, and at local businesses. They also put in picnic tables and built brick flowerbeds. “It didn’t take long before neighbors started coming out to the picnic tables playing chess and checkers, criminals stopped coming out as much, new customers even started coming to the barbershop and the other businesses,” Sabree observed. “Owners of non-vacant as well as owners of vacant properties now plant trees on their property.... When the trees are in full bloom, it’s just beautiful. Baton Rouge Green started the community going with trees, but business owners, neighbors, and the interfaith collaborative have expanded the re-greening work.”

As a result of the effort, according to Sabree, crime is down compared to similar neighborhoods and the value of property is up. “It just makes sense that in the nicer neighborhoods things are more beautiful, because people take care of their surroundings. And that’s not a welcome environment for crime,” notes Sabree. “These efforts are leading the neighborhood back to a time when it was a close-knit community, when neighbors looked out for each other.”16

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