Pride in Provo Program

In the Spring of 2004 my first year on the Council we were asked to appropriate funds to buy and rehab run-down homes by our Redevelopment Agency and or Neighborhood Housing Services. I felt like it was a very slow process of just buying and fixing up one home here and there. The Council had been doing it for about 5-6 years and just barely were they seeing the fruits of their labors.

I wanted to make a bigger impact over a larger area so as to speed up the process to reclaim some of our "tired" and aging neighborhoods. I proposed a plan where the Council could appropriate $150,000 (the average amount we were spending on purchase rehabs) and we could leverage that CDBG funding with the private sector and volunteer groups and personal home owner investment and really make a difference in a several block area. Pride in Provo was a brain child of mine in respond to the desire to get the job down faster, involve lots of people and get people helping people solve their problems rather that rely on government for everything. PIP approved and the money appropriated.

We decided to start with an area the North Provost Neighborhood area that was showing signs of decline and disinvestment. We wanted to stop the slippage of home ownership before it got started and became an unhealthy and undesirable neighborhood.

I organized a Neighborhood Strategic Committee with the following residents: Anine Mack, Tim Jeffcoat, Brandi Daniel, Dave Abbott, Lonette Stoddard, David Gilliland, Maxine Barfoot.

We teamed with the Provo Redevelopment Agency under the direction of Paul Glauser and Neighborhood Housing Services and Executive Director Sharlene Behunin. She assigned a full-time staff member, Karen Collings, to help coordinate the efforts.

Under my direction we met for a year before we had the actual project on five Saturdays beginning on April 30, 2005 and continuing each Saturday for the until the first Saturday June.

The real estate community was excited because it helped improve neighborhoods and property values and one real estate agent, Robert Hulme, from Exit Realty Solutions became the volunteer coordinator by helping gather more than 900 volunteers including other realtors from Utah County, personal friends, family and acquaintances and a stake of youth who made it their youth conference service project. We also had many volunteers calling to help from local businesses, church groups, student groups, random residents throughout the city who just wanted to be a part of something bigger then them.

We applied for a grant to have a team of eight volunteers from the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps. These young people came from all over the country to spend six weeks working full-time for Pride in Provo. They were responsible for the prep work necessary to accommodate the hosts of volunteers who would show up on each Saturday.

We approached 300 homeowners to see if they wanted to participate. They were assisted with basic an emergency home repair, and maintenance to decrease the risk of further neighborhood decline and increase confidence again in investment in their properties and the neighborhood as a whole.

As a result of our first Pride in Provo:

• 67 homes were rehabilitated!
• 36 homes were painted
• 22 yards were cleaned up and beautified
• 2 full driveways were totally replaced
• 2 driveway approaches that were crumbling were replaced
• 2 roofs were replaced
• 1 wheel chair ramp was constructed
• A safety fence was installed to protect children
• A home received a window courtesy of Jones Paint & Glass to replace one that had been broken by vandals
• Flower beds were readied and planted
• Neighbors got to know neighbors
• The Provost neighborhood became more attractive to look at and more attractive to future home owners
• It caused many people to decide to stay and invest rather than move out and see the neighborhood decline further
• Property values increase as a result of well maintained neighborhoods and more confidence in personal and private investment is evident
• A neighborhood network of working together has allowed them to come together and solve additional problems that arise
• The enthusiasm for investment has continued and sparked even more interest and pride in keeping up and improving properties

We learned a lot from our pilot year and in 2006 we held a Pride in Provo in the Carterville Neighborhood. It was on a smaller scale but had the same type of results and had a wonderful volunteer spirit.

Our goal was to take it to a different neighborhood each year and hopefully create a one week period every Spring that we declare as Pride in Provo Week and let neighborhoods organize themselves and help one another to spruce-up, fix up and come together for a common cause.

I has been extremely gratifying to me to see the power and strength of the people of Provo and the desire and willingness they have in helping others succeed and help the neighborhoods improve.

Call it a service project on steroids.

~ Todd Hollingshead
Salt Lake Tribune

The end result is worth all the hard work, seeing how people are affected, seeing tears in people’s eyes when you do something for them they cannot do themselves. I can’t wait to do it again next year.

~ Robert Hulme
Real Estate Agent

We had a marvelous turnout. We were able to really assist the neighborhoods doing an exterior makeover on several homes, and it was incredibly rewarding for both volunteers and homeowners.

~ Sharlene Behunin
Executive Director
Neighborhood Housing Service

One family had over one hundred volunteers cleaning up their yard at one point during the day. We also cleaned the yard of a family with a terminally ill child. They were so grateful and emotional at the outpouring of love shown by the volunteers.

~ NHS Newsletter October 2005