Swella’s Ville is on a mission to bring enduring values to our neighborhood:
- Swella’s Ville Value 1: Community
- Swella’s Ville Value 2: Pride in Family
- Swella’s Ville Value 3: Neighborly Living
- Swella’s Ville Value 4: Personal Dignity/Integrity
- Swella’s Ville Value 5: Humility/Grace
This month, we are focusing on the value of Community.
Now, more than ever, our community needs to come together. We need to lend a helping hand to our neighbors if we see a need. We need to work purposefully to bring change to our streets. We need to remind ourselves that there is a legacy of pride and honor passed down to us by past generations of families who moved to South Bend for the opportunities that this community afforded them, and that the opportunities are growing in our community.
The city of South Bend is focusing on neighborhood improvement in 2019 and now is the time to make our voices heard, and to get involved in shaping what those improvements look like. That’s community—involvement, working together, speaking up.
Our community belongs to us. We are the ones who decide how our community works, what we value, and what our vision for the future can be. As a supporter of Swella’s Ville, this month we challenge you to make Community a priority. Here are some ideas for how to do this:
- Volunteer. South Bend has more non-profit organizations than any other community in the state (including Marion County) and there are many opportunities to join the cause that speaks to you most, and to make a difference in this community. What do YOU see that needs to change? There is probably an organization that works to solve that issue already. Let us know that you’d like to volunteer with Swella’s Ville if you’re passionate about the people and businesses on Lincoln Way West, Huey Street, and Olive Street.
- Get active. Pay attention to what’s happening in our community. If you think something should change, take action. Make sure to attend community meetings and see what you can do to voice your opinions and be heard.
- Speak to our Council representatives. On the west side, Common Council president Tim Scott is also our representative for District 1, and Regina Williams Preston is our representative for District 2.
Here’s a link to the Council’s web page: https://southbendin.gov/department/common-council/
We believe at Swella’s Ville that we can rise with hard work, and with the guidance of our elders. We believe that a community should actively support the dreams and visions of its members and work together with our leaders to provide the resources to make those dreams and visions come to life.
At Swella’s Ville, we want to make this a possibility by coming together as a community, by working together to move our vision forward so that it ultimately surpasses our dreams for what the Lincoln Way West Corridor could look like, and becomes greater than we could have imagined. Swella’s Ville projects will make it the number one priority to invest in our community so that it is a better place, a special place, for our children and future generations. We promise to keep you informed as we work. We’ll provide you with updates when we attend Council meetings, we’ll let you know when there are opportunities to speak up or to volunteer.
No matter who you are, you can take pride in being a member of our community, because we care about all of our neighbors. At Swella’s Ville, we work hard to bring opportunity and resources to our community. Our P.O.W.E.R. mission statement reminds us that opportunity comes from economic advancement and from educating our community members to be good stewards of the resources we have as a community. We’ll share more as we take action to create new resources and to provide new opportunities to our community members. So, keep following us. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. We all need to work together to make South Bend truly shine.