A Lot to be Thankful For: Deer Park Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative Progress

Greetings All,

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I wanted to use this month’s An Exciting Future to announce that Habitat for Humanity of Omaha (HFHO) scheduled the demolition of a condemned home within Deer Park for Wednesday, November 23. I am pleased to announce that this will be the second blighted structure tore down in Deer Park this month as part of Habitat for Humanity of Omaha's Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (NRI). Next year, a newly graded lot will make way for a new home, making this the sight of the first Habitat house in Deer Park.

The photos included in this post show the demolition of the first condemned house in Deer Park that occurred last week. The removal of these condemned structures marks that positive changes in the condition of housing in South Omaha are underway.

This hint of progress should be celebrated, but remember this is only the beginning. The Deer Park Neighborhood Association and HFHO are taking back our neighborhood one condemned house at a time, but we have a long way to go and really need your help. If you know of a vacant and or condemned property around your part of the neighborhood, please let us know so we can look into it. If you know of a neighbor that could use some critical exterior home repairs, tell them about Habitat’s Roof & Repair program that offers zero interest loans to qualifying home owners. If you see a new neighbor moving in on your block, go and say hi and tell them about DPNA.

DPNA has shown that we not only care about housing, our youth, our neighbors, and our neighborhood we live for them. Please tell as many people as you can about the great things our organization is doing to improve life in our neighborhood. Share these experiences with us and others by spreading the words that we know so well, that our neighborhood and its’ residents will make a positive difference.

It is a great feat for our neighborhood to begin to see these condemned structures tore down and make way for new families to move into the neighborhood. Even better is that this has come to fruition around the Thanksgiving season. These events remind me that I am very thankful for all the great things going on in our community because of neighbors like you and community partners like Habitat for Humanity.

As always, please let us know if you have any questions about anything our organization is doing in the community. We love your input and especially your encouragement.

Kindest Regards & Happy Holiday’s,

Oscar Duran