New Castle County’s Building Better Communities Initiative is ramping up, starting its work in Claymont’s Knollwood neighborhood.
The initiative works with underserved communities to address historical inequities exacerbated by the pandemic. It seeks to take a multidisciplinary approach to address inequities in underserved neighborhoods that were made worse by the pandemic.
County Special Projects manager CJ Bell says the commission overseeing these efforts realizes making this work requires communicating closely with neighborhoods selected.
“Outside of the initial where we kind of do some data driven research on our own, from there it’s like ‘hey what do you need,’ because what I see on paper can be completely different that what you’re experiencing, front lines, day in and day out,” said Bell.
He also noted that one of the reasons they chose Knollwood first is the groundwork already laid there by the county’s Project SEED program.
“Being able to engage with different town halls, different events, that Project SEED is already doing has allowed us a leg up, I would say. Especially for our initial neighborhood, which you know, a lot of eyes are on you so you want to make sure that you do it right,” Bell explained. “And, you know, Knollwood is a community where it’s small, but at the same time it has problems that the community can address, so that’s why we picked them first.”
The BBC commission is accepting grant applications from organizations and community members that can provide prevention programming, access to youth services, and physical and mental health programming in Knollwood.
Applications are due April 15th and can be found online.
The commission is currently looking for the next neighborhood to work with - and plans to take a data driven approach to choose one that would most benefit from the additional assistance.
If you’re a community member who would like more information or to contribute your ideas, the Building Better Communities commission meets every 4th Tuesday at 12pm in person and via Zoom.
