CSO Dinner with Our Neighbor Ms. Valerie

This month's Community Self-Organizing Dinner featured our neighbor, Ms. Valerie Buchand.  Ms. Valerie has been a long-time resident leader in the Janie Poe public housing development at the north end of our neighborhood.  Her advocacy led to the mixed-income and mixed-use redevelopment of the area - now called Janie's Gardens.  One of the new streets in our neighborhood is named after her -- Valerie Way!

As neighborkids served pizza they had baked, Ms. Valerie told us about the kids of Janie Poe and Janie's Gardens who come to her house to make dinner together and play games.  They have named themselves the Mighty Mights, and they are figuring out how to organize themselves as a formal group, with officers and official meetings.

Ms. Valerie suggested that someday soon the two groups of kids could connect and work together as fellow neighbors.  Then I bet we'll be able to see all sorts of natural connections that already exist among the kids of Central-Cocoanut!