Who We Are: The Real Communities group in LaGrange is currently leading a Roving Listening Project in the Hillside neighborhood. Hillside is a socioeconomically, educationally, and racially diverse neighborhood with a rich history and wonderful people.
Roving Listeners plant a community garden.
Neighborhood kids with and without disabilities enjoy a weekly art club.
Yard movie night brings the community together.
What We Do: The Roving Listening Team is committed to meeting neighbors both old and new and collecting their stories via notepad and audio recording. Commonalities among neighbors are then discovered and relationships are built. Barriers within the neighborhood are also discovered and addressed. The Roving Listeners partner with multiple organizations and residents within the community to host monthly trust building events like yard movie night, monthly clean-up initiatives, a neighborhood collective that gives voice to people's concerns and questions about their neighborhood, and a weekly art club for neighborhood kids with and without disabilities. Most recently, the Roving Listeners have started a community garden to give residents better access to fresh, locally grown produce.
Who We Are: Re-Cycle Macon is a program provided by Centenary Community Ministries that receives donations of bicycles and gives them to people in need of transportation. The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) supports the program as a Real Communities partner.
Volunteers...
Who We Are: The Colquitt County Arts Center has received an Open Studio for All Grant from the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities. These funds will support the Arts Center’s mission to be a creative cultural resource that makes quality visual and performing art available to a...
Who We Are: ConnectAbility is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization in Dahlonega, Georgia with the mission of creating communities where people of all abilities are valued, included and empowered. We seek to create an inclusive atmosphere for people of all abilities and from diverse backgrounds...
People know they are being included when they are:
Invited
Welcomed
Valued
Respected
Supported
Active contributors
Involved in decision making & change
Engaged in power-sharing
Building Inclusive Communities
Real Communities Partnerships were launched statewide in 2010 by the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) to partner with local groups working to build more than just communities. It's a thoughtful, action learning approach that equips...
Who We Are: New Neighbors Network in Comer, GA is a developing organization of refugees, immigrants, and American citizens who seek to foster community, build strong families, and contribute positively to our neighborhoods.
What We Do: As we walk with our refugee neighbors through complex...
Who We Are: Located in LaGrange, GA, the Hillside neighborhood once was a thriving mill village. Changes in the textile industry and housing demands left a shell of the former community. After decades of disinvestment, Hillside was in need of revitalization. In 2003, D.A.S.H. (Dependable Affordable Sustainable Housing) for LaGrange began purchasing substandard properties owned by absentee landlords. Since 2003, D.A.S.H. has eliminated 132 substandard structures through rehabilitation or demolition and has started the process of reviving the neighborhood.
Paint The Town project was implemented by DASH
Volunteers help low-income homeowners paint their homes
Hillside Fun Fest celebrates the community
Neighborhood revitalization generally conjures up visions of physical improvements – bricks and mortar and landscaping. The sustainability of these improvements over time, however, is largely dependent on the people who live in the community and who are invested in its future. In 2012, DASH began implementing Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) strategies within the Hillside neighborhood. The goal is to discover and mobilize the resources of a community and build relationships that can bring about holistic change. Residents have united around common interests and concerns since the new approach began, but DASH is eager to widen the circle of engagement to include all members of the neighborhood to reflect better and celebrate the community’s rich diversity.
Before and after pictures of neighborhood revitalization
What We Do: Starting in July 2016, DASH will launch the Hillside Roving Listeners Program in the Hillside Neighborhood. The Roving Listeners program will be designed to maximize input from diverse voices. The team will intentionally work to encourage residents from areas of the neighborhood that have not been active to have a voice in the planning of neighborhood activities and initiatives, and ultimately in the future of their community. Isolation is the greatest challenge facing every group or community that has been marginalized by their race, economic class, gender, or disability. The project aims to unify these residents holistically and by doing so uncover leaders in the Hillside community. The listening experience intends to widen the circle of influence continuously by asking the question, “Whose gifts and voice are missing?” which mandates that safe places for trust to be built. Click here to visit our website.
For more information about DASH and the Hillside Roving Listeners Project, please contact Director of Community Development, Ben Wheeler
Who We Are: Abilities Discovered, Inc. (ADI) is a responsible and respectable organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of individuals with disabilities through employment and personal support. Abilities Discovered, Inc. is a private non-profit United Way agency founded in 1987 that serves...
