ARVID OLSON introduced Lori Walters, Executive Director of Faith Community Development Corp. She explained that Faith Christian Church and the City of Lafayette are wisely using HUD funds to provide affordable housing assistance in older Lafayette neighborhoods. While rehabbing their first house with volunteer help in the Lincoln neighborhood, they learned about the neighbors and the needs of the neighborhood. To help build a sense of community, they offer classes on a range of subjects, ranging from finances to counseling.

Stefan Nitzschke and Joey Wright were introduced to tell us about their role in the Hartford Hub project. The neighborhood kids need a place to be other than the streets. So the old Kooler Keg has been torn down and will become a very nice playground/park. Across the street on the corner of 6th and Hartford, a building is going up right now to serve as a community center. Stefan and Joey will live in the neighborhood and facilitate programming generated by neighbors. That could include a community garden, parties, play days, youth parties and other events. They also want all neighbors to belong to a neighborhood association. Developing the leadership to create a sense of community is a top priority. We saw photos of the building under construction (wrap around porches to match the front porches of the houses in the neighborhood) which is to be complete by the end of June. A grand opening is planned for August.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK:
“It may be true, as Lincoln supposed, that you can’t fool all the people all the time, but you can fool enough of them to rule a large nation.”  Will Durant, historian and author, along with his wife Ariel, of the popular series titled The Story of Civilization.