This is what we mean by community engagement

Last Friday Piedmont Housing, together with the Jack Jouett Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) celebrated Constitution Day with youth who live at Friendship Court Apartments.  Our own Shelley Murphy, housing counselor extraordinaire and member of the DAR, arranged for the activities, which included a mock signing of the Constitution, a reading of the preamble, and food and games like those that were enjoyed in the late 18th Century when the Constitution was ratified.

During the reading of the preamble, some of the youngsters stumbled over the strange 18th century wording.  In one of those instances, a teen member of the audience got up to help his young friend.  You see a photo of that moment captured here.

Just this week, Piedmont Housing Alliance announced that we would begin a community engagement process to integrate what is important at Friendship Court into its new design.  These young people have shown us what is important–helping each other out, being a friend in need. Those are the values we are looking to include as we pursue a new vision for Friendship Court.--ktk.  Photo by Tyrabia Womble, UIP Intern 2015.