The City of Roanoke received two awards at the recent Virginia Statewide Neighborhood Conference held in Chesapeake on Sept. 20-22.  The Hurt Park Healthy Living Program was selected for the Project of the Year award and Old Southwest, Inc. was chosen for the Organization of the Year award.

The Hurt Park Healthy Living Program, started during the fall of 2006, was designed to enhance the health and livability of the Hurt Park School neighborhood by promoting lifetime walking activities and healthy behavior patters among the 80 to 100 children and staff participating in the program.  As a result, the number of students who always eat fruit for lunch jumped from 27 percent to 38 percent, and the number of students who said they would very likely be physically active three to five times a week jumped from 31 percent to 40 percent.  The program has also created an increase in cooking nights, family nights, and aerobics nights by 300 percent due to demand.

Old Southwest, Inc. is a neighborhood organization that was begun by concerned residents in the early 1970's to protect and maintain the historic integrity of the Old Southwest neighborhood.  Most recently, the neighborhood has partnered with the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority in their restoration of 17 homes on the 400 block of Day Avenue, providing a focus on the restoration of each home's historical features while incorporating modern, energy efficient systems.  As a result of this project, the neighborhood has seen a decline in crime that once was prevalent in this area.

The other 2007 award recipients were Advocate of the Year, Juanita and Linwood Snead, Norfolk; Youth Individual Effort of the Year, Corbin Henderson, Danville; and Youth Group Effort of the Year, Blacksburg Middle School, Blacksburg.

The Virginia Statewide Neighborhood Conference is an annual event that brings neighborhood residents and local governments together to learn best practices and network together to share knowledge, experience, and vision to make all neighborhoods in Virginia the neighborhoods of choice.

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