Mid City Walk and Talk

What do you want your neighborhood to be? Through a pilot project with the Jackson Association of Neighborhoods, Operation Shoestring, Revitalize Mississippi, the Mid City Community Development Corporation, and Mid City residents, we asked that question. Through resident meetings and walking the neighborhood together, Mid City residents were able to identify opportunities and the changes they want to see in their community. Listening and elevating the voices of residents was central to this project, letting them lead the way. From this work, a toolkit is being created so that the JAN Neighborhood Strengthening Committee can help replicate this asset-based community work in other neighborhoods around the city.

Neighborhood Strengthening

Leading up to a culminating community event, community partners, stakeholders and Mid City residents gathered monthly at Operation Shoestring to discuss the neighborhood’s history, its current assets and to envision its future. Residents identified issues and changes including the need to replace street lights, repair potholes and address safety issues. Residents also wanted to see their local park reclaimed as a cultural center of their community as a safe space for family-friendly events, sports and cultural activities. Residents and community stakeholders of the Mid City neighborhood also conducted on-the-ground inventories mapping assets, needs, blight and opportunities. After months of neighborhood meetings, the project culminated in the Walk and Talk community event. Part asset mapping, walkability assessment and community visioning charrette, this event put residents in the driver’s seat. By walking the streets together, residents collected information and generated ideas, focusing on identifying specific, location-based needs and possibilities. The success of projects like this is focused on residents coming together and deciding how they want to shape where they live. This resident-led event can make what feels like impossible change into actionable goals, allowing residents to tackle their own issues one step at a time. This also allows for residents to work alongside community-based organizations and institutions with resources, technical assistance and systems they can access to implement their own ideas.

What’s Next?

Mid City residents continue to organize to improve their parks, engage with their youth, take care of their elders, and tell their own stories of transformation. The Jackson Association for Neighborhoods will use lessons learned from the pilot to create a toolkit for neighborhoods to replicate this process across the city to implement local change.

A true collaborative effort, additional partners supporting this pilot program include: Northminster Baptist Church, Briarwood Arts Center, Stewpot Community Services, the Mississippi Chapter of the American Heart Association, the Mississippi Department of Health. America Walks, General Motors, Volunteer Mississippi and the Baptist Health Foundation provided additional financial support.