Polis continues talks in east Winter Garden

The institute held its second community revitalization networking meeting with residents April 26.

Amy Quesinberry Community Editor

Polis Institute has been working in the east Winter Garden community since last fall to create and strengthen relationships and organize a largescale collaboration plan for revitalizing the area.

The second Community Revitalization Network session was held April 26 with core revitalization stakeholders: city leaders, foundations, nonprofits, investors and the people living in east Winter Garden.

William Jefferson, director of community projects at Polis, said positive impacts already have been made on the east side. Polis has conducted extensive community canvassing and held a public dialogue series, youth sessions and outreach efforts in the community.

Jefferson presented a survey conducted that asked residents how they felt about the “East Winter Garden” name and about renaming it. An overwhelming number of folks were neutral — 52% and 50%, respectively — regarding both issues, with 4% hating the name, 17% loving the name, 12% strongly disagreeing with renaming the community and 12% strongly agreeing with the renaming.

Polis shared several of the residents’ opinions: “I prefer Winter Garden over East Winter Garden,” “What’s changing the name going to do?” “The name is perfect the way it is,” “It should all be referred to as Winter Garden” and “It’s unimportant; there is other stuff to worry about.”

Winter Garden City Commissioner Mark Maciel, whose district includes the east Winter Garden community, reiterated the importance of keeping the lines of dialogue open.

BY THE NUMBERS

3The number of community leaders and organizations provided with capacity-building coaching

5The number of community partners provided with community marketing support

15The number of community events for which Polis Institute contributed collaboration, logistics, staffing, planning or facilitation

225The number of community residents who responded to a neighborhood survey

490The number of households engaged through feedback opportunities and events

8,470The number of door-to-door connection points made by the Polis Institute Community Outreach Team in east Winter Garden

“Communication is going to be the savior of this community,” he said. City Manager Jon C. Williams gave an update on action taken by the city. This includes the city purchasing land and focusing on safety at the intersection of Tenth and Center streets. The city also has approved 30,000 square feet of space for retail and office tenants at the corner of Ninth and 11th streets, and officials are working with a developer to acquire more space for businesses.

Dr. Bahíyyah Maroon, a cultural anthropologist and CEO of Polis Institute, also shared information at the meeting. She provided a list of priority issues of concern to residents: economic mobility, housing, health care, education, safety, child care, mental well-being, career paths, social justice, transportation, food security, political representation, neighborhood infrastructure and environment.

Maroon asked participants to fill out a prompt based on a statement: “Five years from now the east Winter Garden community will …” The responses — which were made with each participating organization’s mission statement in mind — will help Polis set goals for the east side.

Participants discussed jobs and reducing and eliminating the generational cycle of poverty. The conversation included the importance of holding job fairs, finding jobs for people who need jobs, creating job opportunities, and offering resources for teaching skills for resume writing and interviewing.

MEETING SERIES

Sponsored by the city of Winter Garden and facilitated by Polis Institute, the Revitalization Network Series is a set of action-oriented events that give community leaders and agencies practical tools and steps that improve the community communication network to ensure all residents and all organizations have up-to-date information on activities, opportunities and services; establish shared goals that residents and organizations actively work toward together; and enhance a shared system of accountability so residents and organizations actively know what advances are being made in community revitalization and how everyone can best support the shared vision of a fully revitalized community.

The first meeting was held in September. Folks in attendance spoke about their organizations, and a master list was created.

“When we come and work with communities at Polis Institute … we want to leave communities better than when we came — and we leave the communities with all the capacity they need to lead themselves,” Maroon said.

Roper Y promotes healthy lifestyle at family celebration

The Roper YMCA celebrated local families at the 2023 Healthy Kids Day Saturday, April 29. Children and families flocked to the green space outside of the center to enjoy interactive activities, inflatables, community vendors and more.

Community vendors included Orlando Magic, Orlando Health, Healthy West Orange, Orange Observer, State Farm Agent Jo Barsh, HiLite Coaching and Consulting, and V’s Barbershop.

— ANNABELLE SIKES