Springfield BUILD Initiative launches

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - The BUILD Springfield initiative kicked off this weekend and aims to improve blight and public safety.

BUILD stands for Beautification, Unity, Innovation, Leadership, and Development. For the initiative, city leaders utilized multiple data sets to determine which area to focus on.

One of them is the ShotSpotter data, which shows the hotspots of where crime has occurred recently. The other data set came from the Office of Public Works, and included information like repetitive code violations and fly dumping.

The initiative kicked off on Saturday with a large event in the target area. This helped people connect with their city leaders and and share what help they need.

"It is our responsibility to make sure that the citizens of Springfield are as connected with us as possible and don't feel like we're some kind of outside entity that can't be reached," said Ethan Posey, the Director of Community Relations for the City of Springfield. "One thing that we've seen a lot as an administration is people want the resources and don't necessarily know how to acquire them or don't know where to find them."

Posey said the city thought it would be convenient to bring those resources directly to residents. One of the ways they did this was to knock on every door in the Pillsbury area and check in with homeowners.

The program will focus on the Pillsbury neighborhood, with the official boundaries being North Grand Avenue to Carpenter Street, and 9th street to 19th street. The initiative utilizes several elements to improve the area.

Each city department had representatives at the event so that residents could ask questions.

"People loved the fact that you could come out here and interact with the mayor or any of the directors, or the chief of police, or the fire chief, and we'd answer any questions that you had," said Posey. "I feel like a lot of times when it comes to government officials, people don't get a chance to speak to them just as people as members of the community or as citizens of the city."