Sister Neighborhoods program breaking down barriers

Residents of Crestwood North and Oak Ridge Park have taken the first step in building a closer relationship between their neighborhoods as part of a new Birmingham program.

Global Shapers, started by the World Economic Forum, is a group of people around the world working on projects to improve their individual communities. In Birmingham, the Global Shapers members have come up with the Sister Neighborhoods program as a way to connect neighborhoods that may be close geographically but distant socially. 

This was the case for Crestwood North and Oak Ridge Park, said Crestwood North Neighborhood Association President Darrell O’Quinn. A 15-year resident of the neighborhood, O’Quinn said he already was friends with his counterpart in Oak Ridge Park, Myeisha Hutchinson, but their communities were not connected.

“Her neighborhood … historically, was segregated for black people, and ours has historically been a white neighborhood,” O’Quinn said.

And while segregation laws are no longer in effect, many Birmingham neighborhoods still have a similar racial makeup. “This was a very small step toward breaking down some of those historical barriers,” he said.

O’Quinn heard about the program through a friend in Global Shapers, and residents from both communities were open to being part of the Sister Neighborhoods program and getting to know their neighbors better. These are the first two communities to try the program.

“A lot of people want to talk about it and want to make people who don’t look like us feel welcome in our community,” O’Quinn said. “I hope that all of the history doesn’t overshadow what’s possible now.”

The program started with a group of Crestwood and Oak Ridge Park residents touring the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in June. Global Shapers planned the event, and neighbors also used the day as a chance to discuss future Sister Neighborhoods events.

Those events, O’Quinn said, could include community meals, porch parties or simply spending time together as individuals. He wants to see Crestwood North and Oak Ridge Park “come together, talk and just do what neighbors do.”

He said a big goal he has discussed with Hutchinson is a sidewalk on one of the streets connecting the two neighborhoods and making it easier for them to spend time together.

“That would at least establish a greater physical connection and encourage people to venture in each direction,” O’Quinn said.

The Sister Neighborhoods program is starting with a small number of residents, but O’Quinn said he expects the program to grow and have an impact throughout both neighborhoods.

“I think that if you can get a half dozen people from each neighborhood talking with each other, that’s a good start,” O’Quinn said.