Ernecia Coles

In 2016, a developer approached the City of Danville with plans to redevelop Westmoreland Park into apartment buildings. Because of its historical significance in connection with the former Westmoreland Elementary School and Langston High School, residents strongly opposed the project. After development plans were successfully stopped, the Westmoreland Neighborhood Organization focused their efforts on improving their historic park.

The work began in 2017 when the organization conducted a neighborhood survey which confirmed that residents had a strong desire to preserve and update the park. They also applied for and received a Make More Happen grant from the Danville Regional Foundation for $25,000 to hire a consulting firm for planning and design assistance. The resulting master plan utilized resident input to create a vision for the future of the neighborhood park. Located at the center of the neighborhood and adjacent to Head Start and the Westmoreland Senior Apartments, the plan proposes recreation and entertainment opportunities for people of all ages. Planned improvements include an update to the basketball court, installation of new playground equipment, construction of new shelters and seating areas, and the development of a walking path. The plan also proposes ideas for community gardens, fruit trees, an outdoor entertainment area, and an expansion of the park along Poplar Street.

The organization has since partnered with the City’s Parks and Recreation Department and connected with some interested sponsors. Clyde McCoy, president of the neighborhood organization, hopes that continued progress on the development of the park will attract additional sponsors that can help the organization complete its improvements. He believes the park will be an important site for recreation and community gatherings for residents of Westmoreland and an asset to the City of Danville.

Made possible by a Make More Happen Grant from the Danville Regional Foundation, the Cedar Terrace community will enjoy new community seating and public art this coming Spring. Cedar Terrace is located on the northern edge of Westmoreland along Memorial Drive. The resident association chose three (3) residents to design the artwork  under the guidance of local artist, Billie Jean Jones. These young ladies also happen to be leaders among the community’s youth.

Rasheeda “Che Che” Valentine, Moneisha Canada, and Miya Anderson along with the help of other young residents of Cedar Terrace are working to provide safe and fun activities for kids through their organization, Project Youth. After years of watching outside groups come to their neighborhood to clean up and host community events, they asked themselves, “Why can’t we do this for our own kids?” They recognized a gap in opportunities available for school-aged children in their community, and wanted to be able to provide activities such as field trips, community play days, and picnics as well as events such as senior days and neighborhood clean ups.

The public art effort will be Project Youth’s first major project.  It consists of two murals – one for the wall and one for the street and a new community seating area. For the murals, the women worked together to imagine the design, and Che Che used her artistic ability to turn their vision into a drawing. She described the design for the street mural as “a tree of knowledge” including inspirational words and pictures representing the activities that kids enjoy such as art, music, and reading. It is currently being manufactured in weather-resistant thermoplastic and will be installed this upcoming Spring.

The wall mural, which reads “Teamwork Makes the Dream Work” will be painted with the help of resident youth at the same time as the street mural installation. The work will culminate with a neighborhood celebration planned by Project Youth.

The young leaders of Project Youth hope that the murals will bring attention to their work and additional support for their group moving forward. They hosted a successful hot dog sale fundraiser in July and have distributed informational fliers to community members, but they are seeking more formal support and partnerships so that they can implement their ideas. While they plan to focus on Cedar Terrace initially, they hope to eventually expand their group to serve youth throughout all of Westmoreland and the rest of the city.