The Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative that Habitat has organized in SE Raleigh’s Long Acres and Apollo Heights neighborhoods is making great progress. A resident-led coalition of over 20 organizations and city departments is meeting regularly to address the needs of the neighborhoods. Habitat is getting ready to break ground on the first of nine new homes thanks to a City of Raleigh Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant. There is a sense of positive change in the air. Our board of directors has asked, what is the tipping point for a neighborhood in decline? What is the point at which a neighborhood shifts from being one in decline to one that is recovering and improving? There are 158 single-family housing units in Long Acres. Habitat has plans to build 8 new homes, do exterior repairs on 10 others, and to acquire five vacant homes. That’s a total of 23 housing units impacted or 15% of the total. Is that enough to “tip” the neighborhood in a way that it will continue to improve? At our Connected Capitalism event last week, Gary Davis of Dorrier-Underwood shared a video that powerfully depicts a “tipping point” playing out in a few minutes. Check it out: http://sivers.org/ff
