Thursday, August 14, 2014

Sankofa: The Soul District


The South Salina Street corridor, a once thriving neightborhood on Syracuse, New York’s Southside, is now troubled with crime and economic hardship. In the past 30 years, little has been done to help revitalize this historic neighborhood. That's until now.

The City of Syracuse, the Southside Community Coalition and other neighborhood groups have come together to transform the area and bring it back to what it once was. The corridor will now go through a renovation period that will include the repaving of streets and the construction of a brand new community park. The entire project is being called Sankofa, which is a word from the Akan language of Ghana that translates to “reach back and get it.”

Officials decided that first step in rebranding the area was to add new banners with the word Sankofa and an image of a bird with its head turned backwards taking an egg off its back that is often associated with the word. Downtown Decorations was contacted to produce these banners and we couldn't have been more proud to help out with this project. Our banners now line the streets of the corridor, inviting change and rejuvenation. We hope they will help breathe new life into the area and aid in bringing this neighborhood back to the thriving community it used to be. To learn more about the Sankofa project, watch this report from WSYR-TV.


1 comment:

  1. Cosmetics are necessary but will there be incentives for economic investment. How about living wage jobs so residents can pay taxes and make home improvements. Or is this another meager payoff to the community while the bulk of funds are spent in more " desirable" areas with the explanation "it will make the city more attractive to investors and that benefits all areas"..











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