The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Neighborhood gathers for block party
Event aims at building relationships within community
Residents of the 1900 block of West 22nd Street in Lorain gathered in the spirit of community Aug. 31 at a special community block party and cookout.
The event was held in partnership with Lorain Ward III Councilwoman Pamela Carter and The Community Foundation of Lorain County as a way to build relationships with the community and to celebrate the success of the ONE Lorain County pilot program which took place in the neighborhood.
According to Linda Styer, senior program officer for the foundation, this neighborhood was actually the second neighborhood in the county that the program was piloted in; the other is Ward V in Elyria.
“We did a pilot project to engage the residents to make connections, to figure out what some of the things they would like to do to build up their neighborhood,”
she said.
The Lorain project began with community meetings in April to bring the neighbors together and gather ideas for grant projects, according to a release from the foundation.
The ideas they came up with were to install potted planters along the road and to purchase a lawn mower for the neighborhood.
The materials used in the project were purchased through El Centro de Servicios Sociales Inc., which acts as an intermediary between the foundation’s grants and the community, the release said.
Carter had been involved with the project since the beginning, according to the release. She said the block party and cookout served as a thank-you to those neighbors who participated and to bring those who did not into the fold.
She said the event wasn’t about politics or trying to get the residents’ vote but really about the community doing something positive.
“(The pilot) was something positive,” she said. “The ones that were on the block that participated in those meetings were there, and they were excited. Just the flower pots that they planted got them excited.”
Sharon Tomaszewski, 68, lives in the neighborhood and by all accounts took the lead on the flower pot project.
She said the project, as well as the party, shows that there are still good people in the city who care about their neighborhoods and little touches like the plants make the area a more inviting place.
“This is a really good neighborhood,” she said. ”I don’t like when people assume I should be afraid to live here. (Afraid) of what? I know my community has my back.”