SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 United Neighborhood Centers of NEPA (UNC) launched a new North Scranton neighborhood planning effort Tuesday with a community meeting focused on residents\u2019 priorities, local businesses and future revitalization projects.<\/p>\n
The North Scranton Community Meeting, held at Black Scranton Project on North Main Avenue, served as the kickoff for UNC\u2019s latest neighborhood initiative. Erin Zablocki, director of community revitalization for UNC, said the meeting was a great opportunity for residents, business owners and community members to talk about North Scranton\u2019s needs, challenges and goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday is really about building up our steering committee. That\u2019s our board for revitalization using the Elm Street approach in North Scranton. We will be talking about those committees, how people can help out, how people can come to community cleanups and events, and other ongoing projects in the community,\u201d said Zablocki.<\/p>\n
The Elm Street approach is the neighborhood revitalization strategy UNC is using for its work in North Scranton. The strategy uses community-based planning and is structured around simultaneous actions in five focus areas: Clean, Safe and Green; Neighbors and Economy; Design; Image and Identity; and Sustainable Organization. Together, those focus areas cover physical improvements, business support, neighborhood identity and volunteer-driven organizing.<\/p>\n
About a dozen people took part in the meeting, which opened with introductions and a roundtable discussion about what participants appreciate most about North Scranton and where they want to see improvement. Because it was the first gathering for the new project, participants were also asked to pitch logo ideas using landmarks, symbols and colors with meaning in North Scranton.<\/p>\n
UNC has worked on similar revitalization efforts in other parts of the city, including South Scranton and Pine Brook. Zablocki emphasized that the goal in North Scranton is to bring more engagement and visibility to the neighborhood while encouraging people to take part in cleanups, events, beautification projects and other community work.<\/p>\n
Two early projects highlighted during the meeting were the Pine Brook Business Spotlight and the Pine Brook Curb Appeal Project. The business spotlight is designed to feature a local business each week, while the curb appeal project recognizes residents whose home upkeep helps keep the neighborhood strong, safe and welcoming.<\/p>\n
Black Scranton Project hosted Tuesday\u2019s meeting at its headquarters inside the former bank. Glynis Johns, founder and CEO of Black Scranton Project, said the meeting offered a way to bring attention to North Scranton, Providence Corners and the businesses in that part of the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting an idea of what the community wants and how to support businesses here will be really interesting. I just think conversations about neighborhood improvements are really important. And it\u2019s really cool that we are able to use our space to facilitate those types of conversations and dialogue here in North Scranton,\u201d said Johns.<\/p>\n
UNC\u2019s next steps include forming a neighborhood steering committee, collecting volunteer and committee sign-ups, developing a North Scranton newsletter and creating a UNC of NEPA North Scranton Plan Facebook page. Those steps are part of UNC\u2019s broader goal to identify neighborhood priorities and build a shared vision for North Scranton\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
The North Scranton neighborhood planning group expects to hold monthly meetings as it works to involve more residents and business owners. Future meeting dates and locations will vary. Anyone interested in getting involved with North Scranton community improvement efforts can contact Zablocki at Ezablocki@uncnepa.org or Serena Saar, UNC community revitalization coordinator, at Ssaar@uncnepa.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 United Neighborhood Centers of NEPA (UNC) launched a new North Scranton neighborhood planning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-226445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}