If you've ever experienced the huge burst of inspiration that often accompanies a work-related seminar, you've probably also suffered the inevitable psychological let-down that tends to occur as the daily grind gets in the way of your best-laid plans. It's something even the most dedicated among us have experienced, and that's exactly why the story of Kensington Farms and the upcoming Green Wall Project is so inspiring.
The story starts with a visit of community leaders to a training session held annually by
NeighborWorks America, a government-funded community building organization. The conference aims to help residents "come up with one good idea for their neighborhood," explains Ade Fequa of the
New Kensington CDC.
And yet the team organized by Fequa and his colleague, Tom Potts, took that challenge one step further, and settled on two good ideas. Potts is heading up the Green Wall Project, which will use low-flow planters and wire mesh to literally create green, flowering walls alongside three neighborhood structures this spring, including
Johnny Brenda's and
Eileen's Hair Salon. The project is being paid for with a $2,000 grant from NeighborWorks, although Potts says other business owners in the area will soon be able to sponsor similar green walls on their own buildings for roughly $600.
The goal of Fequa's Kensington Farms project, meanwhile, which is being covered by a separate $2,000 NeighborWorks grant, is to convert a vacant lot at the corner of Frankford and Cambria into a garden operated by local residents. And although no deal has yet been inked on that particular lot, Fequa says he'll look elsewhere in the immediate area if need be. "There's a great disparity of fresh food that's available in the area," Fequa says, "and there's lot of drug activity and bad things happening there. We want to focus as many resources there as possible, so we can try to turn that area around."
Source: Ade Fequa and Tom Potts, New Kensington CDC Neighborhood Advisory Committee
Writer: Dan Eldridge
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