Jamestown Post Journal Articles

Northside PRIDE Receives HonorBy Kristen Johnson kajohnson@post-journal.com

Northside PRIDE has been chosen as this year's
recipient of the Parker Award for Social
Justice. February 2010

The award will be given during Sunday's 10:30 a.m. church service at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown on Prendergast Avenue.

Now in its 20th year, the award was established in 1985 as memorial for T. Richard Parker, a leader in the Unitarian Church of Jamestown. It is given to a person or group that voluntarily works for social justice through efforts to protect the civil rights of racial, religious and ethnic minorities, to protect the civil liberties of individuals, to extend economic or political opportunities to poor or socially disadvantaged groups, to deal with the problems of world hunger and world peace, to protect the natural environment and to stop environmental pollution, or to improve deteriorating neighborhoods.

''(Northside PRIDE has) done tremendous work in starting a movement to rehabilitate at least one neighborhood in Jamestown,'' said Bruce Anderson, who chaired the committee that selected Northside PRIDE for the award. ''They also serve as a model for others interested in doing the same thing.''

Anderson said Northside PRIDE was recommended for the award by a number of different people. ''It's just a thrill to be chosen for this award,'' said Northside PRIDE vice president Kurt Carlson. ''We've worked so hard over the years to combat the problems of blight and promote neighborhood revitalization. It was such a surprise to be chosen and everyone is very, very excited by this.''

It is said that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery - and that's true, too, when one considers the other neighborhood revitalization groups, such as the Lakeview Avenue Community Action Project, that have cropped up and have tried to imitate Northside PRIDE.

''We're so encouraged by that,'' Carlson said. ''Jamestown is our home and we want to do as much as we can to improve the quality of life here. It's wonderful that we have inspired others to step up and work hard for their neighborhoods.''

Northside PRIDE, which was established in 2006, focuses on the neighborhood along Liberty, Lincoln and Grant streets between Sixth and Eighth streets. The target area includes about 120 homes, just 39 percent of which are owner-occupied. The remaining 61 percent are so-called ''investment properties'' - properties purchased by someone who wants only to rent the property and typically cares nothing about the home's maintenance or property upkeep.

One of PRIDE's biggest accomplishments has been the creation of public-private partnerships that include partnerships with the city of Jamestown and the state and federal governments. It is thanks to those partnerships that the city of Jamestown has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in Community Development Block Grant money in the neighborhood. With that money, new curbs and sidewalks have been constructed. More than 100 new, young trees have been planted and more are planned. An empty lot that had become a trash dump was purchased, cleaned and landscaped, three houses have been demolished and 20 new street lights have been erected.

PRIDE also works closely with the Chautauqua Home Rehabilitation and Improvement Corp., or CHRIC, and Chautauqua Opportunities, Inc. Thanks to those partnerships, 12 properties have been rehabilitated and work on several others is in the planning stages.

A Lincoln Street home was donated to Chautauqua Opportunities, which renovated the home from the inside out, placed it on the market and sold it to an eligible first-time homebuyer. CHRIC, which owns several homes in the Northside PRIDE area and has been busy with rehabilitation efforts of its own, renovated a home on Grant Street from top-to-bottom - a home that's now owner-occupied.

As this year's winner of the Parker Award, Northside PRIDE joins a long list of community-minded individuals who have donated their time and effort. The list ranges from Anna May Cole, who was recognized for her work in literacy education with prisoners, to Russell Tilaro, who was recognized for his work to establish programs to help Jamestown-area residents with AIDS.