More than 50 people were able to beautify and improve their neighborhood thanks to an initiative provided by the City of Erie.
A City of Erie initiatives to empower residents to take pride in their neighborhoods is coming to a close after a successful summer.
The Love Your block project has provided small home repair mini grants to residents on the city’s east side.
Officials worked with Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation to make this possible.
“They provided the funding to hire staff and to provide mini grants but also provided technical assistance, training for our staff and the best practices in community engagement and grant management,” said Erin Carey, neighborhood planner for the City of Erie.
This is the second year of the Love Your Block Project and it continues to grow and expand in the process.
According to the neighborhood planner, they were able to get rid of 9,834 pounds of trash and complete 94 home repairs.
After a long summer of hard work and dedication from the volunteers of Love Your Block, this is one home of many that went through a transformation.
This home belongs to Patricia Poston who is grateful for the help after she’s has been unable to complete home projects on her own. Poston had to have an amputation.
“I wouldn’t be able to do it myself, I’ve been waiting for some years to get it done. I tried but it wasn’t possible financially and otherwise,” she said.
Volunteers took debris, power washed and painted but the one thing that Poston said that she benefits the most from is the installation of a new railing.
“Patricia is one of our block champions,” Carey said. “She was actually really helped us out and delivered the application to her neighbors and got 13 other people on her block to apply.”
“Our whole block really is nice, it’s clean but they made it even better by beautifying it, fixing up stuff that was damaged building it up giving it a look where the value is better of these houses so yes, I love my block,” Poston went on to say
Volunteers have also been able to assist veterans, retired union workers, and stroke victims to name a few.
