An effort to improve the quality of life in low-income Peoria neighborhoods is expanding its reach across the river.
The Local Initiatives Support Corporation or LISC held its first community meeting Tuesday in East Peoria’s Richland Farms neighborhood.
East Peoria City Councilman Dan Decker says some residents have expressed skepticism about an outside organization coming in and recommending improvements:
“You know, ‘is this just another idea someone has? is it something that someone has the next best thing on what we should do?’ And I have been completely transformed in my own thoughts like that,” Decker said.
He says learning about LISC’s work in Peoria’s East Bluff and South Side neighborhoods helped sway his position.
LISC calls itself a “grassroots” effort because it engages residents to make the improvements they wish to see in their neighborhoods.
LISC Program Officer Brittany Brown says the Richland Farms group is meeting with residents to compile the community’s needs. They expect to have the list completed in March.
The neighborhood, steps away from Caterpillar's East Peoria plant, is home to about 750 people.
Belinda Young grew up and raised her kids in the area. Young affectionately calls it “the bottoms.” She says that identity comes with a stigma:
“You know, ‘oh, they’re from the bottoms, they’re not as well-to-do,’ and you know, maybe behavior," Young said. "But I think when you’re provided with little resources and a lack of things to do there are behaviors that come up with that.”
Young volunteered to be a community leader for LISC’s offices in Richland Farms. She’s expected to meet with the organization weekly to help identify and compile residents’ needs. Young says she thinks one improvement she’d like to see is more activities and opportunities for area kids.
Several residents at the meeting spoke up about concerns about LISC's focus on improving properties and bringing homes up to code . But LISC's Brown says the organization will work with tenants and landlords to give them a “hand up” in building improvements through sweat equity and financial counseling.
"After all, it's your neighborhood, not ours," Brown said.
LICS says between 60 and 70 percent of Richland Farms homes are rental properties. The average home price is $60,000. The average income is $37,000, that's $15,000 below the surrounding East Peoria average.