Sussex Housing Group partners with a community to make improvements
SUSSEX Co., DE – A Sussex County community will soon be getting a bit of a makeover thanks to a new partnership with the Sussex Housing Group.
The Coverdale Community/Messick Development was recently awarded with the partnership.
Evelyn Wilson, a Coverdale Community member and the Executive Director of Just a Hand Up Community Navigation Association said, “I want to wow the people when they come through like, ‘Oh, look what happened, look what happened!’ You know? And be glad to come to Coverdale, instead of being glad to get out.”
The Sussex Housing Group is working on adding things like new street lights, new sidewalks, a new entrance sign and some new playground equipment as part of their partnership with the Coverdale Community/Messick Development.
Wilson said, “I’m real excited about it because our community needs improvement.”
The Sussex Housing Group is made up of nonprofit, government and corporate organizations dedicated to improving housing and community conditions in Sussex County.
Lillian Harrison, the Sussex Housing Group Chair said, “All of our partners around the table, we give our time, we give our resources to come in, volunteer after hours, any hours, to be able to bring those resources to the community.”
Each year, the group accepts applications for their partnership program where they work to provide any needed services to a community that’s dedicated to improvement.
We’re told they chose to work with the Coverdale Community/Messick Development this year because they liked that the community was already taking initiative, which goes to show they can keep on improving even after the partnership has ended.
Harrison said, “Sussex Housing Groups, we want to partner with them. We don’t want to come in and do it for the community because when we pull out or the RFP is over, we want them to be able to continue.”
Several legislators were in attendance at Tuesday’s partnership signing to show their support.
Sen. Tom Carper (D) said, “I said here earlier today, there’s an old African proverb that says if you want to go fast, travel alone. If you want to go far, travel together and the folks here in Delaware, it’s a little state, and we sort of figured out how to work together and get things done.”
Organizers of the redevelopment project say they hope the effort will inspire surrounding communities to follow suit.
Work has already begun in the community. The Sussex Housing Group is introducing street lighting in the area. The group has already helped out two other Sussex County communities and they have plans to help even more.
