Holding Ground

Holding Ground

The documentary “Holding Ground” is about an organization called the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI). In 1985, The Riley Foundation, working with several other community building agencies, held a meeting at St. Patrick’s Church to discuss initiatives to rebuild the communities of Roxbury and Dorchester Massachusetts. These communities had been targeted as Boston’s poorest and most needy areas. This meeting was advertised in The Boston Globe and many concerned residents, determined to be a part of community change, attended. One resident, Che Madyun, asked a simple question; how many of you are residents of this community? At this point the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) underwent a huge transformation so that community needs could be determined by people in the community rather than people coming from “somewhere else”.

Homan, in "Promoting Community Change" writes that community change efforts should include the cultural perspectives, experiences, values, norms, and rituals of the people affected by the change. (Homan, p.50) In following this idea, the majority of the board of directors of the DSNI would be residents of the community, to be elected every two years. Each ethnic group would be represented by holding 3 seats each and the remaining members would be from local businesses, housing and human service agencies, and religious institutions. A director was hired and a community needs assessment began, with “knocking on doors” to complete neighborhood surveys. One of the most widespread concerns identified was the issue of vacant lots full of trash, broken down cars, and old appliances. 

Don’t Dump On Us

In 1986, the first campaign that DSNI tackled was born; “Don’t Dump On Us”. Residents rallied, sending out radio messages encouraging people to contact city hall and other state agencies to demand the clean-up of the city. Over 100 members of the community gathered at St. Patrick’s Church to demand action.  Mayor Ray Flynn, recognizing an opportunity to gain support from people of color, responded swiftly by providing public funds to support the clean-up.  However, a year later DSNI, unhappy with Flynn’s broken promises to clean up illegal trash transfer stations, rallied again with the threat of transferring this trash to the steps of city hall. This forced the Mayor to take action and he did so by padlocking the illegal dump site. This was a “symbol of hope” for DSNI.

The Dudley Triangle

In 1988, in another significant victory for DSNI, the organization was granted eminent domain power. This would provide 50 acres of private vacant land, owned by 130 different people, in the area identified as the “Dudley Triangle”. This was the DSNI’s target area. This project included over 200 people and included the goals of creating jobs, local businesses, affordable housing, educational and human services. Plans would also include two community centers to create safe spaces for youth. DSNI would not rely on outside planners to come in and dictate, in a top-down approach but rather utilize a bottom-up approach with major solutions and decisions coming from members of the community. This project was funded with 134 million dollars of public funds. It would take time, planning and hard work but eventually in 1993 a ribbon cutting ceremony was held to celebrate the completion of an affordable housing development, Winthrop Estates.

Take Back the Park

In1991, DSNI in collaboration with police and the local youth center, organized a summer program to take back the park. The park had become overrun with drug dealing and violence. Summer programming was created to provide youth with a safe place for sports and recreation. While DSNI recognize that this did not address the bigger picture of drug dealing and violence it was a short term step toward providing a safer community for youth. In 1993, DSNI reached out in the community again in an effort to address drugs and violence. The focus was on “working together” with those in the community struggling with these issues. 

Empowerment

Finally, one of the greatest aspects of this organization is the empowerment that comes along with activism. I was impressed by the formation of a youth organization and how the ones who were small children in the beginning stages of the DSNI felt they had a “voice” and knew how to use it! I was really moved by that. I was also moved by the way they set out to address drugs and violence in their community.

The empowerment of the disenfranchised community members involved them looking the “opressors” straight in the face and confronting them-the banks, the businesses, and the politicians, etc. I think it’s such an important piece of this puzzle and how it all came together. They did not deserve to be living in this type of environment.

Unity Through Diversity Mural

This is a mural painted on Dudley Street. This mural represents various people in the community and has become a neighborhood icon.

http://www.dsni.org/

References

Fraser, J., & Kick, E. (2005). Understanding community building in urban America. Journal of Poverty, 9(1). doi:10.1300/j134v09n01_02

Hardina, PhD, D. (2003). Linking citizen participation to empowerment practice: A historical perspective. Journal of Community Practice, 11(4). doi:10.1300/j125v11n04_02

Homan, M. S. (2011). Promoting community change. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Sen, R. (2003). Stir it up. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

http://www.dsni.org/