'Rock the Block' Event To Revitalize Norristown Neighborhoods

NORRISTOWN, PA -- One of the largest one-day community improvement programs in Norristown is coming on September 17.

Habitat for Humanity's Rock the Block will enlist more than 250 corporate volunteers, neighbors, college students, elected officials, school children, and community leaders to beautify private and public properties, according to a press release.

“This is a great time for Norristown and efforts like Rock the Block are key for our image and our pride,” said Norristown Council President Sonya Sanders. “Bringing volunteers from outside the community to work side by side with residents sends a powerful message that says ‘hey, folks do care about Norristown.’”

Now in its third year, Rock the Block includes seven hours of volunteers cleaning, painting, planting and repairing properties in Habitat’s Neighborhood Revitalization zone and beyond, a press release states.

Public properties include the Norristown Library, Norristown PAL, Gotwals Elementary School, the Christian Network United Church of Christ and Montgomery County Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC). Volunteers will also work on homes on Powell, Chestnut and West Basin Streets, Habitat said.

“In the first two years of the event, we focused primarily on an eight block radius in and around Cherry Street. This year, in an effort to better understand and respond to the community’s desires, we talked to the organizations that provide vital services. They told us, ‘If you can help us maintain our physical spaces, we will be even better equipped to serve our neighbors,'" said Habitat Montco Executive Director Marianne Lynch. “This is an exciting expansion of Rock the Block and a true example of collaboration.”

In April, Habitat kicked off a Neighborhood Revitalization program in Pottstown with its own Rock the Block.

“It’s great that Pottstown and Norristown are using similar models for neighborhood revitalization,” Lynch added. “Now, we’d like to do a collaboration with Pottstown, to improve and enhance one another.”

Image courtesy Habitat for Humanity.