Colin's Artist Statement

The Walnut Way area once endured a history of decline from a vibrant, culturally rich community to a wasteland of poverty and hopelessness, suffered through hardship, prejudice, neglect, and poverty. In the face of this, an almost miraculous turnaround in economy and the outlook of the residents has been accomplished. I wanted to explore this positive side of the story. As someone who is heavily involved with economic development programs for business development through my career in the railroad industry, I was interested in exploring the role that the various economic development initiatives at work in the Walnut Way community had in the revival of the neighborhood. The effort that the community has gone through to get to the point where they are at now shows great optimism and a determination to succeed against great odds, this is what I sought to highlight and record through this project. I was inspired in particular by the efforts of the founder of the Walnut Way Conservation Corporation, Mrs. Sharon Adams, who has guided the neighborhood back from the brink of despair in less than 10 years. I also wanted to provide useful information for Walnut Way residents to continue the revitalization process by summarizing the different economic programs at work in the area. Initially when I began this project, I researched the individual economic development organizations at work in the area. I attempted to track down information from representatives of these organizations, but I soon realized that this would probably be too great of a task for the scope and timeframe of this project. My thought was, why should I try to figure out on my own what role all of these different organizations played in the revival of the neighborhood, when I could just find out from the central figure? I then attempted to contact Sharon to get a firsthand account of what has made the community become successful, and what the future holds for the residents. My attempts to contact her directly did not have much success, so I contacted Nicole at the Walnut Way community center to assist me with arranging a meeting. Sharon was very gracious and helpful in taking the time to talk with me even when she was in the middle of a busy schedule, I cannot thank her enough. I was interested in finding out about the revitalization from her perspective, so in the interview I asked her rather broad questions so that she would have the freedom to highlight what aspects she thought were most important. Marta and Lawrence also participated in the interview and asked her questions as well. Once the interview was done, I took the video of her comments and combined them on a topical basis. I thought it was very interesting how much the revitalization process has centered around the production of crops, from remediation of the soil to providing a source of income to forming a common bond within the community. She was also able to provide information on how organizations such as WHEDA and the local Business Improvement District are working in the community, as well as the neighborhood plans for the future. Hopefully what I have created does justice to the accomplishments that the community has achieved.