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Topics: Community

Index

Story: Dudley Street Becomes a "Street of Hope"
Case Study: The DSNI Revialization Plan: A Comprehensive Community Controlled Strategy
Case Study: Urban Village Vision Process: Towads a Wholesome Community
Case Study: Holding Ground: The Rebirth of Dudley Street

Contents

Case Study: Urban Village Vision Process: Towads a Wholesome Community
Case Study: Holding Ground: The Rebirth of Dudley Street

Case Study: Urban Village Vision Process Towards a Wholesome Community

Summer 1996

DSNI Mission

To empower Dudley residents to organize, plan for, create and control a vibrant, high quality and diverse neighborhood in collaboration with community partners.

Profile of the Urban Village

"Together, We'll Find the Way"

The Beginnings
In 1984, Dudley residents came together to resist the patterns of abandonment and gentrification that had already pushed low income people out of the South End and the West End. Red-lining, disinvestment and arson fires combined to physically and spiritually devastate the community, the devastation symbolized by 1,300 vacant lots. We refused to accept these conditions. At DSNI's founding meeting, residents declared our intention to control community land and services for the benefit of the community.

The Vision - Our Urban Village
Turning planning on its head, we created the vision for the neighborhood: the 1987 plan for an urban village. It laid out comprehensive strategies for the physical, economic and human development of a vibrant, diverse, empowered community where people could live, shop, work and play.

Our vision for an urban village built on the community's greatest asset - the rich diversity of cultures, talent and willpower of residents.

Dudley Village: A work-in-progress

Dudley village is work in progress. Early organizing victories against illegal dumping and trash transfer operations lead to hope that seemingly impossible barriers to progress could be removed. Hope replaced dispair. As we came together and started to develop a village spirit, more accomplishments followed:

• The City of Boston's adoption of our plan as its redevelopment plan for the Dudley area.
  
• Eminent domain authority to assemble parcels of vacant land for development.
  
• Long-term control of land through a community land trust (Dudley Neighbors Inc.) to ensure neighborhood benefit and to prevent speculation.
  
• Over 225 new affordable homes built according to criteria set by residents.
  
• More than 300 units of housing rehabilitated.
  
• Over 300 of the 1,300 vacant lots transformed into attractive homes, safe play spaces, gardens and community facilities.
  
• The "Unity Through Diversity" mural, designed and painted by neighborhood youth.
  
• Improved environmental safety from lead-contaminated soil, hazardous wastes and illegal dumping.
  
• A DSNI Board of Directors elected by, representative of, and accountable to community residents.
  
• A full youth summer camp program ran by "Bird Street Community Center" at Mary Hannon Park, and the park upgraded by the City.
  
• The Multi-Cultural Festival in September, an annual community building event, sharing cultural pride and contributions through food, music and crafts.
  
• Collaboratives of human service agencies and other organizations to achieve coordinated services responsive to residents' needs and priorities.
• The opening of the Dudley Town Common at Dudley, Blue Hill and Hampden, serving as an elegant gateway to Dudley village.

A number of key features to the village are in the works:

• Conversion of the old Dudley Mill Works building into youthbuild Boston's training headquarters and charter school, DSNI's new office, as well as commercial space.
  
• The City of Boston's commitment to renovate the old vine Street Municipal Building (the Cape Verdean Community House) as a community center.

A Vision For the Future

Out of the rubble, Dudley residents have dreamt, fought and built. We have new housing, community gardens, play spaces, multicultural festivals, new neighbors and friends. We also have a new spirit of hope and possibility.

We are now taking the next steps in defining and realizing our urban village. It is time to take our vision to the next step based on what we have been able to accomplish. Our understanding of what we want and need has changed and grown as the neighborhood has changed and grown.

This report is about the steps we just took to update our shared vision. Over a period of eight months, we designed and carried out a community visioning process. Residents from throughout the neighborhood have met together in several groups to develop an updated and shared vision. Many of those in the earlier sessions came back; many long time residents participated for the first time; and many new neighbors joined in; participants and workers at some of the area's businesses and agencies also took part. Some spoke English; some spoke Spanish; some Cape Verdean Creole.

It was a fun and creative process. We challenged each other to think boldly, to push the limits on traditional barriers and expectations. We encouraged each other to dream and to treat those dreams as things that we can and will accomplish together. We envisioned a whole and wholesome community:

• One which builds on and respects our rich cultural diversity and our sense of community values.
  
• One in which we, the residents, have political and economic power.
  
• One with a planned environment that is physically beautiful, environmentally sound, green and clean, affordable and safe for everyone.
  
• A neighborhood based on a profound respect for lifelong learning.
  
• One with a full range of recreational, educational and cultural activities.
  
• One with safe, reliable, accessible and affordable transportation.
  
• One where there are strong partnerships with public and private institutions that share our vision.

Please take a look at what follows - at all the ideas - big and small - that, together, will create the entirety of our village. discuss it with your neighbors. Add to it. Because this is a guide of our minimum expectations.

Perhaps the best way to describe what we think in a few words is in this poem:

You're What it Takes (To Make a Village) by Paul Yelder Some will claim It takes stores and shops Others believe We need more bus stops These are important That's for sure But You're what it takes For a Village to endure Houses with yards Some will say Safe places where Our children can play These are important Yes, indeed But You're what it takes For a Village to succeed Mail-boxes, tot-lots Malls and park benches Clearing up vacant lots Eliminating foul stenches These are important I will admit But You're what it takes For a Village to be legit You're what it takes For a Village to be real Sharing with your neighbors A love you can feel Yes, You're what it takes Both young and old You give us true worth More than silver, More than gold

Village Visioning

Groups met throughout the neighborhood. Using the type of scenarios that are on the next page, we dreamed about what we wanted in out future village, and shared these dreams within our groups. We drew, we talked, we wrote. We told stories. We recorded our best ideas on "post-its" and put them on the wall. Some of us took a field trip to other "Villages" and neighborhoods in the area. Some talked to friends and relatives about their vision. We added more of "hot ideas".

Then we grouped or clustered the ideas that came up with cluster names. We recorded everything publicly - so the entire group could see, discuss and make our changes together. We were weaving the fabric of our community to create something truly shared. We asked ourselves, if this is what we want, then what do we need? We tried to understand the relationship of the clusters to each other, and came up with some new insights.

Here are a few samples of the initial dreaming that we did:

Scenario:

Imagine . . . It is a pleasant Saturday morning in May. You are meeting a friend at the Dudley Town Common - the village gateway - for a leisurely stroll down Dudley Street.

Describe what you do, where you go for the next hour or so.

We talk and gaze at the beautiful flowers that the neighborhood planted. We sit at the Common and plan our time - what to do for the next two hours. We decide to go to the movies. Before that we go have an ice cream near the Commons in the ice cream parlor. We walk in the neighborhood stores, gaze around and buy nothing. We chat with other neighbors whom we meet along the way. We buy some popcorn in the neighborhood pop corn shop and watch the neighborhood kids swing, play ball and cheer them up. We could even go to visit the beautiful animals in the zoo close by your house

-Bahjah Zarinah Muhammed and Raheil Bernard

. . . For the most part, Dudley Street today is cleared of traffic. I notice the monorails soaring swiftly and silently overhead . . .

As I continue my trek to Dudley Common, I pass the Dudley shopping Mall which is really sort of a plaza. I see the parking area reserved for electric cars. Instead of gas stations, I see the service station designed for electric cars. Actually, all it is is a picturesque stone wall that is fitted with electrical outlets for customers to recharge their cars while shopping, if necessary. . .

-Warren Brown

I see shop owners sweeping the front of their stores. The street cleaners and cleaning trucks are sweeping and washing the streets. What a time we had with the City getting the contracts so that these residents could have these much deserved jobs with the right pay and benefits.

Out Bed and Breakfast place is always open. However, it's usually full. What a perfect spot for it in the middle of the village. . . .They can walk to the commuter rail if they want to connect to anywhere else in the state. Thank God that it was remodeled and we have that beautiful parking lot. So many of my neighbors own and operate everything in our community.

Well, we're still learning. There's a Board of Trade meeting at 7PM. We're looking over our guidelines and procedures for our new Resident Banking and Lending institution...

- JacQuie Cairo-Williams

Village Visioning

After all the small group meetings, a core team took the reports from all the sessions and put them together. We clustered the clusters and came up with the theme areas listed below.

This was a truly amazing process that allowed us to consider hundreds of ideas.

Themes From Visioning

Out of the many dreams, stories, and images of out future that emerged from these vision groups, these were the themes or goals that seemed to organize our ideas:

• Encourage lifelong learning
• Build and sustain unity through neighborhood activity
• Community economic power
• Physical and visual quality of life
• Harmony with nature
• Community security
• Community friendly transportation
• Self and group expression
• Political power
• Mutually supportive relationships

Within each theme, we listed "standards" - that capture values or principles that will ensure maximum community benefit - and "actions" - the concrete activities that will help us meet our goals. The ultimate "standard" by which every activity will be judged is that it must benefit the community.

Encourage Lifelong Learning

What is our community's "competitive advantage" in these tough times? One advantage that will allow us to succeed is that we value learning on every level - for young and old, in and out of school. We want the information, knowledge, and skills to control our destiny.

Standards	Actions
Family, community and personal values	Community information center: organizers and speakers with information
Respecting what's healthy for the neighborhood	Parent involvement - paid release time form work
Superior public schools	Kids and adults playing together from all cultures
Maximum inclusive access to school information and participation	Opportunities and safe place to play
Value all learning styles	Community schools - open non-school hours
Less theft, more respect for property	Families and kids going to Sunday school and church
	Community (including youth) evaluation of schools
	Earning and learning program
	Adults going to school
	Job training programs

"This is the first time that anyone has asked my opinion about anything of importance." -- Vision Pilot Group Participant

Build and Sustain Unity Through Neighborhood Activity

Our village is a culturally vibrant, active, people-centered, mutually supportive community with a sense of "can-do" optimism. We want play spaces, community gatherings, and a full range of neighborhood services, activities and activism.

Standards	Actions
Be inclusive	Community centers
Learn from our elders	Schedule for park activities
Productive meetings	Playgrounds
Build people/Build community	Integrational activities
Everybody work together across diversity	Seats and benches for elders
Take care of each other	Block parties
Intergenerational interaction	Bike paths
Encourage participation	Community meetings to inform the community
Everyone has a role	Foster grandparent program
Celebration of victories	Organized youth program
Highlight what we have	Monthly contributions to the emergency fund
Neighborly feelings	Build neighborhood associations
Encourage the "successful" to stay and come back	Local nursing homes
Communication among residents	Local medical clinic
Interfaith cooperation	Rehabilitation center for addicts
Resident-centered service delivery system	Swimming

"We lived here in the 70's, but we moved out. Now, we're back because the children want to be close to our family. It's so exciting to be here and see all the wonderful things that are happening." --Cape Verdean Creole vision group

Community Economic Power

We don't just want more jobs and businesses; we want ones that build the economic power of community residents. Our future village is a place where we can shop, eat, play, bank - right here. Our unique multicultural richness also attracts visitors.

Standards	Actions
Support local businesses	Technology to set up job bank
Businesses giving back to the community	Friendly banking and ATM
Resident priority in local jobs	Multicultural food court
Jobs for residents - people going to work	Ice cream parlor
Resident-owned business	Open air market
Convenient local shopping	Movie theater
Tourist attraction	Pharmacy
Chain stores, only if they give back to the community	Dry cleaners
	Laundromat
	No liquor stores
	Bookstore/international magazines
	Cultural clothing stores
	Bakery
	Outdoor cafe

"Once we all get together and stay together, we can do anything." --Jessie Farrier

Physical and Visual Quality of Life

Dudley Village is a planned physical community - one that is high quality, affordable, resource efficient and well-cared for.

Standards	Actions
Residents plan for a total physical environment	Store, residents, city sweep streets
Our fair share of city resources and services	Build and renovate more affordable housing
Environmentally sound housing (resource efficient)	Reception (function) hall
More affordable housing	Parks for kids
	Fix up sand box at Mary Hannon Park
	Nice bus stops
	Mail boxes
	Lights
	Only NYNEX pay phones
	Better looking St. Patrick's Church
	Streets plowed in winter
	Spray pools (fountains)
	More public trash cans
	Street improvements
	Parking lots

"I looked out my window last night and said, 'Oh what a beautiful light' and realized that it was the Dudley town common. It used to be so dark." --Jessie Farrier

Harmony with Nature

Our community is clean and green, and reflects our respect for our surroundings.

Standards	Actions
Seeing ourselves as extensions of the earth	Clean streets
Enforce laws that apply to a clean community	Signs to keep community clean
Able to sit anywhere and feel comfortable	Rubbish receptacles emptied
	No more graffiti
	Energy efficient housing
	Plan and maintain open space
	Adopt a tree
	Botanical gardens maintained by city
	Plants (not fences)
	Fruit trees
	Tree-lined streets
	Statues of M.L. King, Cabral and Mariana Bracetti
	Water fountains
	Apple trees

"This is OUR place! That's why we all take care of it." -- the original play "A Village Grows in Dudley"

Community Security

A truly safe and secure community will be an outgrowth of successful realization of out entire vision. Two of the foundations are, a village spirit of watching out for each other, and the establishment of this as a neighborhood where negative activity will not be tolerated. Villager and police must each do our part.

Standards	Actions
Safe community	Foot patrols
Rapid police response time	More involvement in reporting crime
Respect, communications between community and police	No drugs
Police do their job	Resident committee to watch over parks and public spaces
Able to leave car doors/ windows open	Seat belts on school buses
Positive activity replace negative activity	Supervision on school buses
	Signs that appeal to people's conscience
	Lights

"There's no better place to live. We don't need to be ashamed of living here. Our friends, family, children and older people all are here" --Jose Barros

Community Friendly Transportation

Dudley village is children and pedestrian friendly. Residents can move safely and conveniently within the neighborhood, as well as to other areas of the city.

Standards	Actions
Community voice on transportation issues	Better driver training
More affordable transportation	One fare/bus transfers
Reduce/restrict traffic	No potholes/smooth running traffic
Pedestrian friendly	Free shuttle bus to South Bay (from Uphams Corner & Dudley Station)
Reliable public transportation (buses and trains)	Dudley owned private transportation system
Good air quality	More school bus stops
Environmentally friendly vehicles	Train and bus shelters
	Trash cans at all bus stops
	Electric cars and buses

"We won't get all the things we want if we (e.g. Blue Hill Avenue) become just a thoroughfare for commuters" --Mt. Pleasant vision group

Self and Group Expression

The nourishing of the human spirit - on an individual, ethnic group and on a community level - is a critical part of a wholesome neighborhood.

Standards	Actions
Create a unique sense of place	Arts
More opportunities for public expression	Murals
Unity through diversity - promote community cultural pride	Dancing/Music
	Concerts on the Dudley Town Common
	Street Theater
	Live music in restaurants
	Cultural opportunities for youth
	Museum

"Everybody is dreaming for a better community" --Cape Verdean Creole vision group

Political Power

In order for our voice to be heard, we need to register to vote, vote, be informed and advocate for ourselves.

Standards	Actions
Be able to determine our own destiny - Vote!	Educate people about why Register to vote
Resident power!	Advocate for resources
	Inform people about elections
	Community phone to inform policy makers
	Groom local people to run for office

"We've never been shy to dream and never so faithless as to not take risks." --Clayton Turnbull

Mutually Supportive Relationships

We can't do it alone. It is through cooperation that we come to understand that anything is possible.

Standards	Actions
Cooperation with other communities	Government and residents working together
Leverage for neighborhood groups	Institutional support
$ (money)	Use media - get message out; fight stereotypes

"You know what's best? We ALL had a chance to help plan this village.
That's why it works.
That's why people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds feel like this is really OUR place!" --the original play, "A Village Grows in Dudley"

Next Steps

Building on our tremendous accomplishments, we have updated our shared community vision. We have dared to dream, and to believe that we can define our village, and have power over out destiny. We will continually lift the ceiling on our sense of possibility

This vision will provide the framework for the DSNI staff and committee work. We will now work to translate vision into reality. We will look for the resources, work with partners and implement a strategic plan to achieve our goals.

Along the way, there will continue to be many remarkable things - big and small - happening in Dudley Village. Some will be very visible, like new businesses, gardens, lights, new families moving in, tot lots, and, who knows, maybe even a greenhouse.

Others will be less visible, but no less striking - like a safer neighborhood with a positive community spirit, even greater participation in our community decision making process, and every eligible Dudley resident will be registered to vote!

If we all stand and work together, we will achieve our vision!

More Information

Gertrudes Fidalgo or May Louie
DSNI
617-442-9670

Case Study: Holding Ground: The Rebirth of Dudley Street

The award winning documentary about community vision, struggle, and change.Produced by Leah Mahan and Mark Lipman.

Holding Ground is at once a cautionary tale of urban policies gone wrong and a message of hope for all American cities. Through the voices of committed residents, activists and city officials, this one-hour documentary shows how a Boston neighborhood was able to create and carry out its own agenda for change.

Synopsis

From the Ashes
In 1985, angered by a neighborhood revitalization effort initiated without their participation, residents take charge of a community meeting. They create the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative.

Don't Dump on Us
To create a sense of community power, DSNI's first campaign forces the city to clear vacant lots of appliances, rotting food, and abandoned cars and to close two illegal dumps.

Turning the Tables
More than 200 residents create a comprehensive plan to revitalize their neighborhood. The city adopts the plan as its official plan for the area.

Take a Stand, Own the Land
For development purposes, DSNI asks the city for eminent domain authority over privately held vacant land in its area. In 1988, it becomes the first grassroots group in the country to have this power.

Not Just Bricks and Mortar
This segment depicts the broader social aspects of DSNI. The Young Architects Program provides youth with basic architectural skills that they use in building models for two planned community centers. DSNI also takes on a serious drug problem at the only park in the neighborhood.

Breaking Ground
Despite a lack of local bank and developer investment, DSNI breaks ground on new housing in 1993. Later, a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrates the completion of the first 6 of 300 homes. Homebuyer classes prepare residents to get mortgages, which usually have been denied in the past.

New Voices
Shortly after the completion of the first new homes, drug dealers move back into the park. At a winter vigil in the park, a teenager encourages all teens to become involved with DSNI. Young people take leadership in the multicultural festivals and together create a mural. The program ends as the community elects new DSNI board members, including neighborhood youth.

Holding Ground on Public Television Holding Ground is coming to public television in May 1997!

Holding Ground offers compelling viewing to people of all ages who are interested in the revitalization of America's cities. It will be of particular interest to:

Architects and urban planners Bankers Community development organizations Environmental Organizations Foundations Government officials

Human service providers Labor organizations Police and corrections officials Public health officials Religious organizations Youth organizations

It will be a welcome addition to high school, college, and university courses in:

Anthropology Architecture Community Organizing Criminal Justice Environment Film Studies Government Multiculturalism

Political Science Public Health Race Relations Social Change Social Policy Social Work Sociology Urban Planning and Urban Studies

A study guide is available.

Holding Ground is a New Day Films release.

Index

Story: Dudley Street Becomes a "Street of Hope"
Case Study: The DSNI Revialization Plan: A Comprehensive Community Controlled Strategy
Case Study: Urban Village Vision Process: Towads a Wholesome Community
Case Study: Holding Ground: The Rebirth of Dudley Street

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