This Saturday, while Mayor Baraka was unveiling the Better Block: Bergen Street Edition, La Casa de Don Pedro and the Lower Broadway Neighborhood Association opened their My Front Porch initiative on Crane Street with food, music, activities, and general community building. The event highlighted a project commencing NeighborWorks week, “a national week of community engagement that celebrates neighborhood change and brings awareness to community revitalization efforts.” Through ongoing activities in this new public space – starting with an open mic today, June 10th at 6:00 PM- the organization is inviting neighbors to connect in the outdoor recreation area.
The Lower Broadway Neighborhood Association is a community organization promoting resident involvement and development in the Lower Broadway area. Since 2012 they have been a positive force for community engagement, bringing in local activists like Yolanda Vann.
“LBNA is kind of evolving and changing. When it first came about it was a collection of block associations and I think right now we’re kind of seeing that it’s bigger than that.” Vann said, “We all represent our own little neighborhood within the neighborhood but come together to see what kind of change we can effect, whether it be knowing our neighbors a little better, or safety, to just doing things that people would enjoy.”
Vann thought of the idea My Front Porch after a NeighborWorks Community Leadership Institute training. She has bought some food from a restaurant and was sitting on the curb to eat it when a man invited her into a public garden she thought was private behind a different restaurant. “Why can’t we have a place like this?” she asked herself.
Together with The Lost Tribes Zulu Nation, the Rutgers Office of Community Partnerships, architects of NJ NOMA , local civic organizations No Free Time Inc. and the Columbus Homes Restoration Committee and a little luck they were able to find and clear a vacant lot and create a space with a stage, furniture, and even a fountain. Jumpstart also showed out at the event to keep the littlest guests entertained. What was most impressive was the true community nature of the project: local residents and businesses stepped up in a big way to lend a hang clearing the lot, constructing furniture, and moving reclaimed materials. “Most of the things there came from somewhere- the shop class from Barringer made the furniture and the stage, everything was material sourced from somewhere. Things fall through but somehow we ended up seeing some shipping pallets from down the street. There are a lot of little things and places we don’t even realize are there.”
Keep updated on on-going events at 57 Crane Street by following Lower Broadway on Facebook. If you would like to volunteer or or share ideas for My Front Porch, contact lowerbroadwaynewark@gmail.com!
Vann is hopeful that this will be a positive neighborhood force. “Most of the people here live in apartments. This is everybody’s place to be—when it comes to multipurpose space it’s something that we all need.”
Photos courtesy of Tim Dingman.
