Elmwood group continuing 94-year-old Nelson's legacy

Nov. 1—DANVILLE — As longtime Elmwood Community Playground and Civic Group community leader Owen Lee Nelson turned 94 on Monday, the group is looking to continue her legacy in the Elmwood Park neighborhood on Danville's east side.

The group and family members celebrated with Owen on her 94th birthday on Monday.

The group also last month had a neighborhood cleanup, and on Saturday, the group had a Treats and Treats event for children to receive candy, chips and hot dogs at the Owen Nelson Community Center on Victory Street.

The neighborhood group is revitalizing to improve the neighborhood and hopefully make way for affordable family and senior housing projects.

Those with the group are impressed by the number of residents who are participating, and they'd like to see more.

Group Chaplain Ivan Smith said the Elmwood group has been around for about 68 years. Smith said his aunt and mother were involved with the group.

"(Nelson) has been holding the torch up for a long time," Smith said. "We're not going to let that legacy die. Matter of fact, we're going to build it up better than what it ever has been."

Smith said Nelson never gave up. He said they want to make sure Nelson and everybody else's legacy is preserved.

"She's been a dynamic strength of this group," Smith added of Nelson.

The group was down to about six members and now it's up to about 22, he said. Celester Brown is president of the group.

Their goal is 50 members by December.

Smith said they already have the history and they're going to thrive.

He said some of the services they're looking at are housing opportunities, financial legacy training, FICO enhancement and other programs. They are partnering with Woodforest National Bank inside Wal-Mart for financial counseling.

Smith too talked about working with the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA), a housing advocacy group across the country. It's a non-profit, community advocacy and homeownership organization. NACA's primary goal is to build strong, healthy neighborhoods in urban and rural areas nationwide through affordable homeownership. NACA has made the dream of homeownership a reality for thousands of working people by counseling them honestly and effectively, enabling even those with poor credit to purchase a home or modify their predatory loan with far better terms than those provided even in the prime market, according to its website.

A NACA mortgage allows NACA members to purchase their homes with no down payment, no closing costs, no fees, no requirement for perfect credit and at a below-market interest rate.

"They look at how you pay your bills and determine from that," Smith said.

If someone would want to put duplexes in the Elmwood neighborhood, a person could live on one side in getting the duplex built, he said.

In order for anyone to build, they need to go through the Illinois Housing Development Authority for tax credits.

Another community member who has been volunteering for about 25 years with the group and neighborhood has been resident Dee Ann Ryan.

She said she's been part of the group to preserve and revitalize a forgotten neighborhood which has a rich history of community action to take care of elderly and children since 1954.

At 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, the group is meeting with Amy Bashiti, a community revitalization planning specialist from the Illinois Housing Development Authority, to talk about how IHDA can help with organizing and planning for preservation and revitalization of this historic neighborhood. Some city and also county housing officials are expected to be in attendance.

They plan to get information about how IHDA can help the neighborhood.

"We hope to make sure that this neighborhood remains in the city consolidated plan and has attention as the group moves forward," Ryan said.

"We don't want this neighborhood to disappear. There's just so much history," she added.

The group plans more events, such as food drives and food giveaways and other activities to help residents.

Smith said they want to recognize the senior citizens and youths in the neighborhood.

"I'm proud to be a part of this group," Smith added.