Can a Louisville neighborhood be transformed in a single day? That’s the goal of the Building Our Blocks (B.O.B.) initiative, a series of one-day events being rolled out across District 15 (D15) over the next four years. The goal is to improve local neighborhoods, sustainability efforts, and resident quality of life.
The initiative is led by the office of Louisville Metro Council D15 Councilwoman Jennifer Chappell. This includes B.O.B. Coordinator and D15 resident Alena Balakos and D15 Aide Amy Luckett. The first event took place Saturday, April 6 in the Lucky Horseshoe neighborhood surrounding Churchill Downs, a little less than a month before the 150th Kentucky Derby.
B.O.B. has a wide scope, including projects like tree planting, home repair, street safety improvements, beautification, and more. The project aims to achieve these goals by working with nonprofits as well as both individual and business volunteer efforts. They’ve made it a point to connect residents with city services they might not be aware of.
“With B.O.B., a big part of the work is to be a connector for people to their government,” Balakos said. “So that they can access resources available to them to create their own communities, feel safe, thrive, grow, and love the neighborhoods where they live.”
Chappell and her team see the initiative as an opportunity to show up for the community members they represent and serve. “We want people to see that Louisville Metro is working for them and cares about their quality of life in their home and in their neighborhood. It’s our opportunity to be proactive instead of reactive.”
Planting the seed
B.O.B.’s inspiration was born from a desire to greenify Louisville’s neighborhoods, and grew in scope thanks to the many services and organizations offered throughout Louisville.
“There’s a lot of great things happening in our city and a lot of really great folks driving those initiatives, so we’re glad we can help promote that,” said Chappell.
The initial idea came about thanks to Councilwoman Chappell’s experience volunteering for Louisville Grows, an environmental non-profit and neighborhood-based urban forestry program focused on rebuilding the urban tree canopy. Louisville Grows’ neighborhood tree planting events and the canvassing beforehand gave Chappell an idea. What if her office could employ a similar strategy to offer tree planting services to her district? Why not include even more offerings like rain barrel installations, native garden plantings, and installation of recycling receptacles?
Then, after attending one of Mayor Greenberg’s Mayor’s Night Out events, Chappell realized that the event she’d been envisioning could be expanded even further to include a myriad of city services from animal vaccine and microchip clinics to smoke detector installations.
Going door-to-door in Lucky Horseshoe
With Derby just around the corner, the Lucky Horseshoe neighborhood was an obvious choice for the pilot program. Chappell’s team hoped that the upcoming event would bolster enthusiasm and excitement. However, other factors also played a role in choosing Lucky Horseshoe, including its size, location, and degree of need. It’s both the smallest neighborhood in D15, the center of the district, and has the greatest need for services.
Part of determining the needs and services included a survey sent to residents as well as door knocking and engaging one-on-one with locals. This initiative was spearheaded by Balakos who spent the weeks leading up to the event talking with other community members. With the help of volunteers, she went door-to-door handing out bags with donated supplies and gathering feedback from residents.
“At the doors, many residents expressed that they simply did not know about the services our city provides such as Metro 311, smoke detector installations, exterior home repairs, and radon testing services,” Balakos said. “The list of completed projects, resources and information provided through B.O.B. is exhaustive.”
Chappell says she sees the door-to-door engagement as the most impactful piece of the program. There’s no substitute for getting the community’s direct input and interfacing with residents one-on-one.
Balakos agrees. “As a District 15 resident, I know and see firsthand how special residents of this district truly are and how take care of one another,” she said. “This work has been fueled by my passion for ensuring residents feel pride in where they live.”
A successful start
Throughout the course of one week, B.O.B. volunteers planted over 60 trees, installed speed humps, renovated homes, unveiled a Gallopalooza horse, and built a Little Library. They also hosted a resource fair, litter cleanup, alley cleanup, a Louisville Metro Animal Services vaccine clinic, UofL Health checks, and a whole lot more.
With their first event recently concluded, the B.O.B. team is happy with the community reception and are proud of their progress.
“You can see a tangible impact being made,” said Chappell. “The community has had an overwhelmingly positive response to B.O.B. We have folks asking us when it’s coming to their neighborhood and other council members are trying to bring B.O.B. to their district.”
Barbara Hall-Gonzalez, a 6-year resident of Lucky Horseshoe, attended the April 6 event. She received pet food, gun locks, rain barrels, and “some really great swag.” She thought that the event had a great turnout and was full of neighborhood pride.
“Just having the focus on our little neighborhood was heartwarming,” she said. “We really do have some great neighbors. We love our neighborhood and want to keep it nice and just keep improving.”
What’s next for B.O.B?
After a successful first event, the B.O.B team is looking towards the future. “The goal is to make sure that we bring BOB to every resident in District 15,” said Chappell. “Right now, we have a plan to accomplish this by the end of 2028.”
They plan to make an official announcement as to the next B.O.B. neighborhood sometime after Derby, but planning is already in the works and a date’s being set for sometime in November. The team is excited to build on their successes and motivated to adapt their plan to fit the specific needs of each individual neighborhood.
“One of the beautiful things about B.O.B. is that each event will be the same but just a little different. For example, the next neighborhood has more commercial properties, so we’re excited to see how we can work with departments like economic development to enhance our small businesses.”
If you want to get involved, reach out to Alena Balakos at [email protected].
Coordinator Alena Balakos and volunteers hand-delivered supplies to all 435 homes in the Lucky Horseshoe neighborhood.
