Jeannie Tidy is founder and vice president of Community Visions Unlimited (CVU). Jeannie founded the nonprofit organization in 1993 after she and her husband bought a house in Faubourg St. John. When Jeannie moved into her new neighborhood, she discovered that it contained over 100 blighted houses. In its first year of operation, CVU assisted 15 new home owners to find funding to purchase their homes; the organization also helped them get settled into the neighborhood. As Jeannie notes, “Ethically, I feel like to rebuild a community, you have to get people to come into that community who want to stay.” The new home owners that CVU assisted became ambassadors for the neighborhood and within three years, CVU had played a part in helping people buy and occupy 75 previously blighted homes. In addition to her work rebuilding the neighborhood, Jeannie is also the mastermind behind the beautifully painted utility boxes around town.
According to Jeannie, “What this project does is give artists money and gets their work noticed, and it also helps eliminate graffiti.” To learn more about CVU, go to cvunola.org.
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