I offer a short piece about two area nonprofits; one old and established, and the other a start-up promising to breathe new life into the SBC area.

Providence House
To gain better insight into the work of Providence House, I spoke with Suzanne Sims, the Providence House Director of Development. Sims is an incredibly impressive woman; intelligent, knowledgeable, and compassionate, she is herself an embodiment of and a testament to the success of Providence House.

“I would say it’s a commitment level from the people in this community and from the people that work here – to the mission,” said Sims of the nonprofit’s longstanding success. “Our goal is to imagine a community where no family is homeless and I think the people who work here, for sure, and those in this community who consistently support, really do dare to imagine that there could be a community where no one is homeless.”

Eighty-four cents out of every dollar goes directly into meeting the immediate needs (food, clothing, and shelter) of the families Providence House serves. Families who graduate from their program have a 92 percent success rate of attaining homes.

Luminous Community Development
William Awagu and Sadique Dabale started Luminous Community Development in an effort to meet the needs of underserved communities in the Shreveport area, focusing on urban farming and providing affordable housing in an effort to make these underprivileged communities more self-sufficient through projects such as urban farming and local business development.

The communities Luminous is reaching out to include Queensborough, Lakeside, and downtown Shreveport. They’ve purchased three lots in Queensborough, two in Lakeside, and are in talks about property in the downtown area. Eventually they’d like to convert some of the abandoned buildings downtown into affordable housing.

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“We’re about being a voice for the youth. A lot of things are happening in Shreveport but, by and large, the city doesn’t know about this,” said Awagu. “It’s about us being a change, a force, to make the city know that the youth, as a people, have a voice in the city and we want to be heard.”

At ages 26 and 24 respectively, Awagu and Dabale strive every day to prove that the youth in our community can and should try to improve our home.

If you would like to talk to Awagu and Dabale more about their work, feel free to email them at William_awagu@yahoo.com and Ozoro.dabale@gmail.com.

It’s easy to become discouraged when faced with problems such as extreme poverty and homelessness. Organizations like Providence House and Luminous Community Development, however, have the ability to re-imagine Shreveport into what it could be without ignoring the realities of what it is. Since I moved away from home at 18, I’ve traveled all over the world and rarely, in my experience, does saying that you’re from the South illicit a positive response. Others expect you to join in their exasperation with the problems of the South and consider you uncultured if you don’t. This bad reputation is something organizations like Providence House and Luminous Community Development are challenging, by daring to imagine something better. Both organizations are appropriating Southern hospitality in a wonderful way, extending worth and a shared sense of community to those often viewed as outcasts in society. No longer am I afraid to tell people I’m from the South; it excites me to be a part of a place so full of brave people making such beautiful dreams as a community without homelessness a reality.

In the photo: William Awagu and Sadique Dabale of Luminous Community Development