Page 24 RAIN March/April 1984 perspective on RUNT's relationship to the neighborhood. "We wanted to relate city-wide, but being part of a neighborhood, we also needed to be responsible to that community. Most residents are excited that the project is in their neighborhood because it adds to the identity of the area. It says that Eliot is an important, worthwhile place." Peters adds that, in her opinion, the project has "changed the block it's on. When we first started, you used to see only blackberry bushes in people's yards; now you see many gardens. There used to be more abandoned houses, now there are houses that are being renovated or improved." Mrs. Howard, the Eliot Energy House's next-door neighbor, has lived at her home in Eliot for almost eight years. She gives credence to Peters' belief: "Well, I have improved my home. I probably would have gotten the 'At the beginning, there was a lot of vision; people got excited. The trick lies in keeping that vision alive.' new roof and gutters anyway, but I have also enlarged my house. Seeing that house improve so very much, I said to myself, 'Well, I can improve mine some too, because that house was really run-down.'" Referring to the greenhouse she adds, "And that penthouse is really nice. You can see it from the corner there as you come up Williams Avenue; it just lights up the block. Now, I would love that for my house." Mrs. Howard thinks that the project "is a really great thing," even though she has never actually been in the house. "That house stood there vacant with all the windows out and doors open, and I was always afraid that some criminal would be in there. It has improved the neighborhood; I know so." Physically improving the neighborhood and actually having people from the area accept the project and feel a sense of ownership are two distinct issues, though. Annette Osso, the current director of the CEP, says, "It will be a gradual process, but I think people will begin to feel that it is something that belongs to their community, especially if we are good about getting people from the neighborhood on the board and the CEP advisory council. Then, I think people from this area will be having an impact on the project." Osso points out that of the three neighborhood members on the board, one is black. This continues a pattern of under-representation of blacks. Throughout the history of the project, there has never been more than one black person serving on the board at any one time. In a neighborhood considered to be part of the black community, this is hardly representative. It is something the organization has struggled with since its inception. "I think the old idea of involving this house in the neighborhood is now beginning to happen," says Osso. "Maybe it just couldn't happen in the construction phase." At present, future plans for the Eliot Energy House and Neighborhood Garden are uncertain. "The interesting thing to me," notes Perry, "is now that the house is done, the energy level of the organization seems to have died. Here we had all this adversity and all these problems, and we could get 20 people out on a weekend to work on the house. Now we have it made, and nobody shows up." Conti, an ardent student of the community-development process, observes, "A project, or different aspects of a larger project, need at least one person who identifies with it so strongly that if the project fails they feel like they failed. RUNT doesn't have that right now." According to Conti, "The important thing is that RUNT owns the house. It is a visible product; the tool is now complete." The current board of RUNT has many new members and is struggling, as it has so often in the past, with debilitating financial problems. It is also trying to rekindle the energy needed to develop the house as the community resource it was originally intended to be, to recruit volunteers, and to plan for the future. Although no specific plans are in the making, ideas are brewing in people's minds. Osso says, "I'd like to see RUNT do more community-development work. For example, to be a neighborhood housing service which could provide low-interest loans to low-income neighborhood residents for housing rehabilitation." Conti believes, "Energy-education programs for children are especially important, and I would like to see RUNT move in this direction. Not so much for the technological aspect, but rather to impart values about living with the earth." ^ According to Howard, "It would be a good idea if people could come and get training, because a lot of people need it. Like my son—he is in job corps. A lot of young people would like to do something to help themselves." Peters says, "I don't have a lot of pie-in-the-sky ideas for it. Td like to see it as a center for organizations that are doing energy and social-change stuff—just what it is right now: an educational resource center." RUNT has received numerous requests from groups around the country seeking advice on how to start a similar project. Five years of experience has been a hard lesson in the realities of undertaking such a project, and members are cautious about encouraging other groups. To Peters, it was "a worthwhile project, but I don't think there are any guidelines. Tm an optimist; 1 think it would be wonderful if every city did this type of thing, but it's expensive and hard to accomplish." According to Chicvara, "Any group intent on taking on such a project would need an abundance of resources such as money, skilled and unskilled labor, and access to tools. All these things need to be lined up in advance." For those persistent souls who have set their hearts on developing such a project. Perry offers this advice: "My impression of the way a project like this could succeed is if a handful of people took it on as the only
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