Imagine A Neighborhood

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Imagine a neighborhood where neighbors look out for one another, where children can safely play, where residents take pride in their yards, where churches and businesses want to locate, where home ownership is the rule not the exception. Imagine a neighborhood where residents and other stakeholders join with community partners to transform blight into beauty, crime into safety, sickness into health and apathy into action.

This is the vision we want to bring closer to reality in more and more areas of our community through United Way's newest initiative called “Imagine a Neighborhood”.  This program was originally a Community Impact funded project of Partners for a Healthy Community but, after the merger, became a United Way initiative. Under the direction of the Strengthening Neighborhoods Vision Council this initiative offers training and the opportunity to apply for project funds and volunteer support to groups or organizations that have a plan for improving a neighborhood in Anderson County. The idea behind this initiative is to unlock the creativity and inspiration of grassroots leaders with the wider community support needed to make their dreams a reality.

In August 2011, 19 individuals representing 6 organizations completed the 2011 Imagine a

Neighborhood training led by the United Way of Anderson County and hosted by the City of Anderson. The following projects were selected by the United Way Strengthening Neighborhoods Vision Council for project grants.