A “carcass” is a dead and lifeless form. It’s also a word that residents of the Slavic Village neighborhood of Cleveland now use to describe the growing number of foreclosed properties that lie lifeless, stripped of any remaining value.

The number of abandoned properties here has grown so rapidly in the past 10 years, it’s become an emergency for the residents who remain. Amidst the waste, their own properties lose value and become difficult to sell. Crime and other related issues move in, and the quality of life here is diminished from its former days as a productive working class neighborhood.

For the survivors of any emergency, there is always hope that help will arrive. But residents in Slavic Village aren’t waiting anymore to see if a miracle from outside will alter the devastation. Sometimes it takes desperation to burn away the old reliance on past visions and plans – a break with the past that permits a revision or a change from within. Thinking becomes creative, and even perceptions get turned upside down. For residents in Slavic Village, this is precisely what’s taking place.

A recent community conversation on the foreclosure emergency hosted by Neighborhood Connections, The Cleveland Foundation's grassroots grantmaking program, showed how residents here are tapping into their own resilience, transforming adversity into a new vision – and a new relationship - with their community.

Tom O’Brien, Program Director of Neighborhood Connections, says these conversations are designed to put the spotlight on what resident led initiatives are doing to affect an issue, and how individual change can have the power to alter the face and even the feel of the community.

A handful of short 15 minute individual presentations brought attention to these possible solutions. Residents heard about strategies that a block club used to reduce crime and change perceptions of vacant properties on their street. They learned how a group of artists are using abandoned buildings like a canvass to bring vibrancy to the community, rather than another reminder of an abandoned carcass. They heard from a group of residents who used careful research to shed light on dishonest real estate sales, and to stop predatory practices. They learned how they could reach out to their neighbors in danger of foreclosure to connect them to trustworthy organizations that could help them keep their home.

O’Brien says the presentations serve as a “spark to meaningful conversations” of participants, who had ample time to talk in small groups and later share broad conversation around their new learning.

Of the 70 residents who attended, O’Brien said it was significant because “they can see something that works and that they can do with their neighbors, rather than just relying on calling the building or housing department or calling their council person and waiting for them to respond.”

He says it’s important to promote those resident-led strategies for change because residents in Slavic Village by this point are “pretty mistrustful of government, lenders, and folks they don’t know.”

The problems around foreclosure are overwhelming, and residents have been scammed a lot. So it’s more powerful for people to hear that they can make a small and impactful change on their street rather than just wait for government action as the solution.”

Lee Kay, a grantee coach and consultant through Neighborhood Connections agrees that the issue needs to be transformed from the perception of “overwhelm” to something that individuals see they can work with themselves.

But she says that’s difficult because “foreclosure is one of those things that can make people feel like they’re powerless because it has to do with large institutions, and so most people assume the solution lies in talking someone into giving them a break.” she says.

Kay says that when a group like this sits down to openly talk and share ideas, “the community begins to find a way to move closer together to support each other.”

One example of a shift in perception that O’Brien observes is the use that people are making of abandoned properties, refashioning them into useful and attractive garden spaces and passive parks. “It’s one of those creative ideas from people trying to re-imagine the city from a grassroots level,” he says.

But even in a deeper way, O’Brien sees that the focus on reinvention through action also has a way of changing the way that neighbors relate – and in turn how they see themselves as part of a community. He talks about one particular block club leader who is skilled at getting people excited to contribute to projects that might easily be seen as drudgery. “She makes it fun, and then the focus is more about the relationships and people getting to know each other, than about the enormity of the situation.”

“There are still a lot of problems that remain,” he says. “But when people are offered meaningful ways to participate to make even a small change, somehow through these simple actions they become closer with each other and more committed to their neighborhood. The relationships that develop, and these small victories, give hope.”