Native South Park girl-makes-good Theresa Gasper has had quite an impact on the neighborhood that five generations of her family have called home. Where some people might make their fortune, leave and never look back, Theresa has done quite the opposite.
She found a way to use her means to a positive end by buying and rehabbing 30 homes in South Park over the last five years. Houses with “good bones” have been given new life. And if that wasn’t enough Theresa actively seeks “cool people” to live in these homes–people like herself who value community and work to keep and enjoy the close-knit fabric that makes South Park so special. Two of her grown children live here, in cottages she has lovingly restored.
Her work continues, too. With her company, Full Circle Development, she will be fixing up some of the old commercial buildings along Wayne Avenue, a street that was once filled with bustling independent shops serving the locals. It would be great to return to a time when we weren’t so fuel dependent, but could accomplish our errands on foot!
Ms. Gasper’s story is so compelling–and she now has so much experience to share–that she has been chosen to speak at the 2010 Regional Neighborhood Network Conference here in Dayton, October 8 on the topic of “Information, Initiative and Dreaming Big: Making it Easy for Investors to Work in Your Neighborhood.” Her audience will coming from five states: Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Tennessee and from neighborhoods just like South Park, where residents are devoted to bringing their neighborhoods back from disinvestment. She will share how to they can make their neighborhoods attractive for investors.
Theresa is a rare example of choosing to do good and doing it well. To register for the October 7-9 Conference, visit www.2010rnncdayton.org