Nashua's Bronstein Apartments

The city of Nashua, New Hampshire is making some major changes in my neighborhood. It has built a brand new park with garden swings and climbable rock sculptures, and it’s in the early stages of constructing a $64.5 million parkway to offer better access to and from the area. Also, the city plans to tear down the Bronstein Apartments, a public housing complex where 198 people live.  

The Nashua Telegraph has been covering this story for months, trying to bring to light information on the plans, which city officials have not been quick to divulge. The paper is now planning a series about the project’s residents, the city’s plans and what would happen to people in the complex if it were demolished.  

The project I’m seeking funding for would add an additional element to the Telegraph’s coverage. I’m a local blogger who writes about people in the neighborhood, in and out of the public housing complex. I would write a series of articles for the Telegraph that flesh out the relationship between Bronstein and the area around it, including photos in all stories and video with some. This will include: ·   

• A profile of the HeadStart program at Bronstein, which brings people from the surrounding neighborhood into the apartment complex.
• Interviews with residents of an upscale apartment complex located near Bronstein about how they see the neighborhood—what do they like or not like? And do young adults living there want to settle down in the area?
• Profiles of families around the same income level as Bronstein residents who live in the nearby neighborhood. (Both Section 8 recipients and people paying market rates.)
• A report on one of the work skills classes offered for Bronstein residents.
• A profile of one of the small stores in the area, touching on how local residents who don’t have cars deal with food shopping.
• Interviews with parents inside and outside of Bronstein on what they want for their kids, and interviews with kids on their hopes for the future.

I’ve written one story for the Telegraph to test out how we might work together (here). The Telegraph’s stories about Bronstein are collected here, and this is an example of a blog post I’ve done that touches on the topic.  

This project is also a sort of pilot program testing how the Telegraph can incorporate more community voices into its coverage. It could lead to more joint efforts with local bloggers, local college students and others, broadening the way the newspaper interacts with the public.