Neighborhood revival is underway in Abilene, Texas

By Emily Peters
Abilene Reporter-News

A nonprofit organization is seeking four qualified families to purchase subsidized homes in the North Park subdivision of Abilene, where residents say the older neighborhood has bloomed with a new community spirit in recent years.

Connecting Caring Communities has plans to build as many as 10 new homes, a public park and a new neighborhood Friendship House on a centralized lot that used to hold Milam Elementary School just north of Hardin-Simmons University.

Those living nearby hope the construction can restore the lot so it can once again be the hub of neighborhood life it was before the community’s beloved Milam was closed about 25 years ago.

“Residents talk about how that school was the lifeblood of North Park,” said Danyel Rogers, a worker with CCC who lives in the neighborhood Friendship House with her family. “We want to revive that.”

But neighborhood life has already seen a revival in the last five years, with some credit given to CCC for building community camaraderie and empowerment.

Rogers said when she moved to North Park five years ago, streets were deserted. Now children play outside and attend after-school activities at the Friendship House.

Neighbors look out for the son of a single working mother.

Drug-dealing squatters in one vacant house were evicted by neighbors empowered to overcome fear and work together.

Blighted lots filled with junk and brush have been cleared with the help of HSU students, increasing some home values.

Young families are moving in, but they honor the elderly who remain. When Charles and Ann Loyd aren’t feeling well enough to make the community potluck, someone brings them a plate. Widows call neighbors for help replacing light bulbs.

“The New Testament tells us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, so we kind of take that literally,” said Patry Bailey, president of the neighborhood association started with the help of CCC. She admits she used to be a “couch potato” in her house with no interest in connecting with neighbors.

“The Friendship House and CCC have really just changed my outlook,” she said. “We really care about one another here.”

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