The Fabric of Community
Picture it! Sicily, 1922!
Just kidding. Actually, picture Norfolk almost 30 years ago. I was born not too far from what is now the Fort Norfolk section and the Sentara Loop of the trail at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in August of 1996. I’m a product of Norfolk Public Schools, having attended Sherwood Forest Elementary, Ruffner Academy, and Lake Taylor High. (go Bulldogs and Titans!), leaving NPS in June of 2014 to go through the tube to Hampton, where I earned a Master of Architecture in May of 2019. After graduating, I worked in the architecture field for a little over five years, after which I walked away from the practice of architecture altogether to pursue my true passion: public service.
Several of my interests overlap with the trail’s mission: sustainability, resilience, ecological protection, infrastructure and the built environment, community engagement, and connecting people of all walks of life. I also enjoy advocacy, community service, and learning more about how things work. Whether it’s a quick Google search about how 8-track players worked back in the day to how to repair totaled vehicles on YouTube, I’m committed to remaining a lifelong learner; life is boring if you aren’t being challenged in some way to grow as a person. Many people in Hampton Roads may recognize me from the community work I do all across the area and around the Commonwealth. I’m glad to hone in and bring my talents home in a new way.
As I’ve grown to learn more about the trail, I see where we can bring not only people and businesses to Norfolk, but also how we can help address some of the structural problems that have existed in this city for years. While our current ten and a half miles does not include all of Norfolk, but it does touch almost 30 neighborhoods of varying racial and socioeconomic classes, and is something that users of the trail and the Foundation can be proud of; the community connectivity the trail brings to this city is something that cannot be ignored.
I’m originally from the Villa Heights neighborhood; I lived in an apartment complex that is now known as Villa Terrace. I can recall the names of people who formed the support network for my mother to be able to provide for me as a young, single parent. Their influence has not faded at all as I’ve grown, moved away, and even as some of them have passed on. I remember that my first time using public transit was with Mrs. Arlene, (affectionately known as my surrogate great grandmother), to travel to Downtown Norfolk, while our more usual trips were across Church Street to the 7-Eleven at the corner of East 26th and Monticello. I remember her sister, Mrs. Mabel, and other community fixtures like Mr. BoJack. I even remember Mrs. Sandra and have the pleasure of interacting with her still to this day.
All that to say that while my story is foundational, intrinsic, and a forms highly fond memories for me, there are countless stories like that throughout our city. I believe that the ERT can provide that link to connect communities and enrich the stories of current and future generations to look fondly on their time spent in Norfolk, and can help bring people back to a city with a level of potential that cannot be matched anywhere else locally or regionally. We are the seventh densest city in Virginia and the most densely populated in Hampton Roads, and with the ERT working with all of these communities, we can connect communities in an unprecedented way.
Being a new addition to the ERT family is about adding to the fabric of the existing community and bringing my lived experience to enhance our programming, connections to communities, both on and off trail, and provide a new perspective as someone who knew of the trail, but never really utilized it because I figured it did not have any amenities for me. As I’ve grown to know, adopt, and appreciate the trail as it stands now and looks to the future, I was surprised to see that I have unknowingly been using the trail for years! That is the critical part of furthering our connections and bringing people together on the trail; sometimes you don’t know you’re where you were supposed to be the entire time.
