MID CITY STUDIO

The community engagement event held this past Sunday was a huge success in my eyes. Seeing the community come out and support our cause was a great way of interacting and communicating with the locals that live in the neighborhood. Through this we now have a better understanding of their thoughts and opinions about their community and what problems they think should be addressed. Visiting the site multiple times before, I knew this neighborhood was a close community of local residents that engaged each other, but I was not sure if and how the community would react to our event in a supporting manor or not. Thankfully, the community seemed to embrace our ideas and was very supportive in the cause by providing their input and feedback for us. It really seemed like the public really enjoyed the idea of bringing a grocery store back to the area, but not so much behind the housing aspect, skeptical of the people it would bring to the area.

Leading up to the event, four community engagement boards were put out to the public for community input around the area. I don’t know if I would keep the same idea of the chalk boards because most of the comments were not serious, but a lot of writing nothing to do with the boards that we worked hard to create for the residents. I think a more efficient way of informing the community and getting their feedback could be employed in the future. But in all, I applaud all the hard work for all the student groups that it took to make the event the huge success that it was, and the result was a rewarding experience that taught me about this great community in Mid-City.