Inside Out Project: Northeast Hartford

We want to create an Inside Out Project in Northeast Hartford, a Connecticut neighborhood that faces blight and unemployment and lacks access to primary healthcare resources and healthy food. We are working with local partners and community members to beautify the neighborhood, which will help address our goal of making the neighborhood safer, healthier and more prosperous. 

We plan to create an Inside Out Project featuring life sized photos of residents on the fence of our property there, which surrounds a building that we are in the process of transforming into a community hub. We have already taken the photos, we just need to raise enough funds to print 30 four foot by four foot black and white photos. We will then have a day where the community will help us tether their smiling pictures to the fence to help beautify a public space. 

We hope that this project beautifies a public space near a busy road in the neighborhood, but we also want it to be something that the community can be proud of and take ownership of. We want to create a space and a project that makes people want to know one another, be outside together and discuss ways in which they can make their neighborhood thrive.

We have already taken professional photos of residents at a recent spring parade that we held with our partners in the community. Now, we have to raise $2,500 to cover printing these photos on weatherproof material. Once we do that, we will plan a day when the community can help us tether these photos to the fence around the property that we are revitalizing. We are hoping to complete this project and have the photos hung by July at the latest so we can feature the photos while the weather is still nice. 

Success will not only be measured in completion of the project, but also by residents' drive following the project. We want them to be eager to take on more projects like this that they can play a significant role in and have something beautiful to show for their hard work.

We would like to create a project that brings the community together in various ways. We are aiming to draw them outside to activate the sidewalks in their neighborhoods and we also want them to meet one another. Stronger neighborhoods are generally woven by the people who make up the fabric of the community connecting with one another. We want to create a space in Northeast Hartford for that to happen. 

A community project like this one can spur the desire to keep improving ones neighborhood and play an active role in one's community, which is part of what will help push Northeast Hartford toward becoming a healthier, safer and more prosperous neighborhood.