LAFAYETTE, La. — Habitat for Humanity hosted night one of its “Courageous Community Conversations” series Monday evening, drawing residents from the Oasis, Quiet Town, and Resilience Rise neighborhoods. The two-day event aims to gather feedback directly from neighbors, turning shared ideas into plans to strengthen communities in Lafayette's northside.
“We’re looking for results — visual results —but we also want to make sure the community is heard,” said Jessica Brown-Mason, a northside resident. “These community conversations are really important for us to gather information and get input from the community members themselves.”
Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Melinda Taylor said the nonprofit is focused on listening and learning. “We’re hoping that [residents] will come out and really give us feedback about what we’ve been doing, how they feel about it, what they’d like to see us do, how we could do better,” Taylor said.
Since 2012, Lafayette Habitat for Humanity has built around 150 homes, with more than 50 in the McComb-Veazey neighborhood — its original focus area, dedicated to helping renters become homeowners.
Residents at Monday’s meeting said they hope the conversations pave the way for long-term progress, including new housing developments and additional supportive services in their neighborhoods. “We’re hoping to see neighborhoods being shaped by our conversations as we move forward,” Brown-Mason said.
Taylor said the event is designed to ensure future plans reflect community needs as shared by residents themselves. “It’s the people who see, day to day, the homes we’ve built and the houses we plan to repair,” Taylor said. “They’re the ones who really need to inform what we do going forward.”
Another session is scheduled Tuesday evening for residents of the McComb-Veazey, LaPlace and Freetown neighborhoods.
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