BLOCKWORK 2015 ~ Call for Volunteers!

The award-winning BlockWORK program is coming soon to a neighborhood near YOU! BlockWORK 2015 will be in the Chestnut Hill Neighborhood on Saturday October 24th!

What is BlockWORK? 

The City of Salisbury’s Community Appearance Commission hosts the BlockWORK Neighborhood Improvement Project annually. BLOCKWORK is grass-roots program of the Community Appearance Commission's Neighborhood Leaders Alliance (NLA) designed to bring community supporters together to promote cleaner and safer neighborhoods - one block at a time. Neighborhood leaders submit applications for a block of their choice to compete for an intensive work day with volunteers, similar to the United Way’s Day of Caring. After careful review of applications, a selection committee chooses a block based on potential impact to the community, feasibility of the project and neighborhood support.

Neighborhood leaders, project site managers and city staff meet with property owners to evaluate needs and design work plans. Projects include exterior repairs like painting, porch repair, decorative fence installation, sidewalk and landscaping work, and a major student art project. Crew leaders are recruited to direct the specific projects and help finalize the work plans.

Over 100 neighborhood and community volunteers provide labor for the work teams during the event. Property owners and residents will participate on the teams and contribute to the purchase of materials if able.

Four successful BLOCKWORK events have been held since 2010, including the initial event on South Shaver Street which earned the City a 'National Make a Difference Day' award and a $10,000 prize! Hurrah for BlockWORK!!!

CHESTNUT HILL NEIGHBORHOOD

Chestnut Hill is one of the earliest subdivisions in Salisbury. It grew out of the large farm of Samuel R. Harrison that was known as Chestnut Hill. The house, torn down in the 1960s, sat a distance back from South Main Street on a significant amount of land owned by Harrison. In 1892, the Dixie Land Co. purchased Harrison’s acreage and divided it into 103 lots.

The Chestnut Hill neighborhood, which includes the city-owned cemetery of the same name, extends roughly between South Main and South Fulton streets from Thomas Street to the cemetery. South Jackson, South Church, McCubbins, South Main, Chestnut, Harrison and Johnson streets represent the main arteries. The neighborhood has roughly 150 properties, many turn-of-the-century cottages with rocking chair porches.

People in Chestnut Hill have been talking about the need to revitalize the neighborhood for several years. People need to know the neighborhood is safe, well-lit, has good streets and sidewalks, and is a good place to raise a family. With that in mind, the Chestnut Hill community aims to establish a neighborhood watch program, has formed a neighborhood association, and is working with the city to address streetlights and signs.

The Chestnut Hill Neighborhood originally submitted their BlockWORK application asking only to have a critical and highly visible vacant lot turned into a neighborhood pocket park. After reviewing applications, and visiting the neighborhood, the BlockWORK selection committee deemed it feasible to perform the more typical repair and landscape work to the entire length of the 800 & 900 blocks, as well as incorporating some of the pocket-park proposed ideas into that lot. This BlockWORK project is expected to make a lasting imprint upon a neighborhood on the cusp of revitalization!

VOLUNTEERS:
 

BlockWORK attracts volunteers of every race, creed, and age to help transform a community! There is an activity for anyone who wants to participate! Not only does BlockWORK utilize the skills of those who understand carpentry, masonry, painting, and landscaping, but folks just interested in helping to register volunteers, hand out t-shirts (Yes! Volunteers get a free BlockWORK t-shirt!), or help with breakfast and lunch (Yes! Volunteers are fed ~ and thank goodness for morning coffee!)!

Site Managers are a special breed of volunteer ~ and a role that someone you know can surely fill!
Each home along the selected block, or this year BOTH selected blocks, has a site manager that reviews and itemizes the work needed...and steers worker-bees towards those tasks on BlockWORK Saturday!

Even artists are welcome to the BlockWORK project! Each year, an art project is incorporated into the neighborhood improvement work. Know of artists who'd like to make a difference? Send them to BlockWORK!   NOMA's Sean Myers (www.photogator.com) participates annually, documenting the process of each project with his wonderful photos! 

North Main Neighborhood (NOMA): 

It might be a fun neighborhood activity to get NOMA residents together as a BlockWORK team! If you would be interested in creating a NOMA team to work together as a neighborhood project, please contact BlockWORK Planning Committee member Sue McHugh at suemch @ aol.com. 



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If you are 16 or older and interested in volunteering, contact Lynn Raker in the Community Planning Services Department by October 16th at (704) 638 -5235 or lrake@salisburync.gov.

No special work experience is required – just a willingness to make a difference in the community!

The North Main Neighborhood (NOMA)
www.Facebook.com/NOMAnorthmain www.NextDoor.com