Evansville, Indiana is home to a diverse range of citizens.
Business owners, young married couples and families inhabit this unique city. Evansville is known to be a large trade area for Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois. The city has many charms; from the beautiful parks overlooking the Ohio River and a unique Main Street downtown that takes on the shape of a winding snake. However, change is occurring in Evansville. Two downtown buildings will be renovated for public housing, thanks to a generous private investment company taking interest and made possible by an Obama administration policy. Three additional properties will also be renovated due to this new initiative.
Evans public housing with the help of Flaherty & Collins Properties decided to reinvest into their properties over the next 18 months to create more suitable accommodations and to integrate with the existing Evansville communities. Evansville will have a total of eight locations for public housing, and will affect over 500 people thanks to the many upgrades some buildings will receive.
In lieu of this amass in reinvestments; Evansville housing has upped their game when it comes to community programs. There are five distinct community programs currently available for all residents. The programs for children and adolescents range from the Boys and Girls Club to the YMCA, which have amazing after school programs, tutoring and summer feeding programs made available. There is also a very unique program called YouthBuild.
According to the Evansville housing website, YouthBuild is a program for those that are between the ages of 16 and 24 who are working toward getting their GED or high school diploma, that involves building homes in the community.
This program gives members a chance to learn construction but most importantly to give back to the community and pay it forward. The Senior Program has fun activities such as shopping trips and classes that range from knitting to various exercise classes such as walking, Zumba and Tai Chi. There is also a fantastic resource for residents who want to learn a trade, a vocational training program
These efforts from Evansville to try to enrich the lives of current and future residents, show a very hopeful outlook for the future of public housing.
Craig Dodson, who is recent years founded Richmond Cycling Corp, was inspired to change the lives of youth living in Richmond’s public housing and got many to join his cycling program to get them off the streets.
Both Dodson and the community in Evansville, Indiana are showing a positive initiative in attempt to change public housing. By receiving all these resources, the residents will hopefully be able to leave public housing.
These initiatives are very inspiring and should motivate us all to reach out to donate our time to our communities. We can also try to change the way public housing is seen; by coming up with new ideas and programs that would not only benefit those in public housing but the entire community. By taking the initiative to change the way public housing is PERCEIVED, we can make a huge difference.
