Posts Tagged ‘Bridging Roving Reporter’

The Alley”'s Roving Reporter at the August 13 Bridging Event: What are examples of “Bridging” you have experienced in Phillips?

Muriel Simmons: “We worked on building bridges in the neighborhood; between the community and the police;  between corporations and neighborhood organizations; and between young people and older people.” Back then, drug dealers called police on me, that”'s when I knew I had their attention.  Respectful relationships were formed with the police.  Our home just about became a community center.” Back then, we started knocking on doors - asked people, are you aware of the crime around here, do you want to join the block club?  We invited people into our home, we didn”'t have much but made it clean and comfortable.  People began to trust me.  I gave myself a birthday party and invited everyone, including the police.” We created a “Seniors walk” on Friday nights.   They were scared but we wanted to take our sidewalks back.  We practiced looking people in the eyes.  It was like a bridge, people coming out [...]