Resilient Communities/ Resilient Families (RC/RF) is Nuestra's current place-based organizing initiative. RC/RF builds on the strengths of our organization and the people we serve, our ability to implement organizing strategies, and our experience with community building activities in an effort to define and tackle the challenges facing the Warren Street corridor of Roxbury and North Dorchester.
Resilient Communities/ Resilient Families will take place in three phases over the course of three years. 2011-2012, the first year of this initiative, will involve a qualitative needs assessment to uncover what residents feel are challenges in the Warren Street corridor. Nuestra’s Lead Organizer for Community Planning and Action, Paul Francois, and a team of residents will conduct approximately 150 interviews with local residents that reflect the demographics of the community. Nuestra will collect and aggregate the findings and will present the information at a town hall meeting.
The goal of this meeting is to have the community members produce a community action plan based on the findings that will be implemented the following year. Because the actual outcome is community driven, we don’t know what the actual outcome will look like or what issues the community chooses to address. For this initiative, Nuestra and our project partners are tools under the direction of community members who will decide, develop action plans, and implement strategies to make the Warren Street Corridor a vibrant place to live, work, and travel.
Nuestra is one of the lead agencies for this initiative and will serve the Warren Street Corridor with support from our strategic partners, including La Alianza Hispana, Madison Park CDC, Project RIGHT, Boston Rising, Teen Empowerment, LIFT-Boston, and ABCD (Grove Hall). Major funding is provided by the Boston Local Initiatives Support Corporation.
Please check back for updates on our progress and upcoming events!
If you'd like to get involved with Resilient Communities/Resilient Families, please contact Paul Francois at 617-989-1200 or pfrancois@nuestracdc.org.
