Housing tenants get involved, build community
By Jill Henricksen | At a recent community meeting held with residents of Beacon’s Kimball Court, the decision was made to convene a Community Advisory Board (CAB) as a venue for residents to share their thoughts and ideas as well as to voice their concerns about their home at Kimball Court.
During the first meeting, we discussed what the concept of "Home" means and learned about the various options for structuring our advisory group. We concluded by asking residents to sign up if they were interested in being on a core working group that would meet in between the community-wide meetings. We had 8 people commit to the working group!
The working group held their first meeting March 8 and made decisions that they would have an informal structure with rotating resident facilitators, and that they would create four different committees:
- Building Maintenance
- Safety and Security
- Social and Educational Activities
- Welcoming New Residents.
Residents who are involved in the CAB have commented that they feel so relieved to have a place where they can come together to voice their opinions and work together to find solutions to problems. One resident commented that they feel empowered by the CAB meetings and she looks forward to getting more involved.
