Dear friends:
We’ve been so lucky to be part of a “community-first” planning process. Our associate director, Hudson Vaughan, has been at the lead on this initiative but, in his inimitable way and in “the way” of the Jackson Center that we keep re-discovering, this has really been a process of learning from as wide and deep a range of constituents as possible. Indeed, some community members who did not previously know about the Jackson Center have emerged as dynamic precinct captains and neighborhood advocates. Some community members who did know about the Jackson Center happily did not wait for an invitation to join the Compass Group and took their seats at the table. An independent subcommittee has designed imaginative, memorial gateways to the neighborhood that announce and welcome pride. Young people have assumed leadership in civic media and at Town Hall. We are now working with the new school district (anticipating the opening of Northside Elementary!) and Town design and planning teams in equally energizing, equally beneficial partnerships. A Resource Group of over 35 additional partners from across the town, county, university, and region has gathered around the Northside Planning Project and our Center for Community Self-Help friends at its core.
Above: Jackson Center staff joins with our coalition of residents and community leaders at the reception of our INDY Citizen Award.
The currents are flowing in both directions. The relationships that are the beginning, middle, and end of all good oral histories are expanding to create new community where great community already was. It is simply stunning to witness the community remaking itself once again.
We started with ahousingproblem: multiple homes and whole sub-neighborhoods were and are at risk of predatory sales, expensive development, and a demanding student market. We’re creating a somewhat surprising solution: a strategic plan for saving and making homes.
Hudson has led with fiery responsiveness to input from a dizzying array of invested community members. Brentton has stepped up to coordinate precincts and to advocate for homeowners. Monica has more than earned the new title of “Managing Director,” which, among other things, reflects her role at the hub of community organization. We are so fortunate to have been able to welcome Elizabeth McCain on board as our new head of public history. Elizabeth is a UNC alum but got her much critical training from listening, listening again, and then listening again to histories told and concerns expressed by our neighbors in the Rogers Rd./Eubanks communities. She is now answering community calls for local history curricula, exhibits, and celebrations: for mobilizing the histories that, if you’ll excuse the all-too-true cliche, make a house a home. Jasmine has taken the lead on Fusion Youth Radio. In so doing, she is helping young people make a home for themselves in their town, on our airwaves.
Above: Jackson Center Staff member Jasmine Farmer performs a spoken word poetry piece at the Civil Rights in Chapel Hill Celebration Dinner.
Home-building. We’re coordinating resources, laying foundations, and nailing a few planks. And yes, that’s a helluva lot of work. But perhaps the hardest and most gratifying part is yoking ourselves to community members’ vision, insight, hard work, and deeply invested leadership.
Thanks for listening,
Della
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