Brenda McAtee,

Norwood

Brenda McAtee is the current President of the Norwood Neighborhood Association. She moved to Norwood when she was 17, from a rural town in Kentucky where she was one of 23 children. She recalls the communal nature of her family in Kentucky, there was very little distinguishment between the family and their friends. This same energy is what she found in Norwood, she recalls as a now 50-year resident of the neighborhood, a community that treats one another like family. 

 She talks about her life in Norwood and her relative isolation from her community when she was working, but as she got older and had more free time, she realized that the problems affecting her neighborhood were ones that she had the power to help fix. She started organizing neighborhood cleanups, creating events and programming for children, and hosting a summer camp in the yard of her home.

She emphasizes in her history the importance of “working with people; not above them”, how in order to build community we must talk to people and create genuine relationships with them. She hopes to continue engaging the growing Latino population in the area; they are on friendly terms, but she would like for them to connect more with Norwood as a community. As a result, all ongoing programs in Norwood will be offered bilingually.

The second half of the interview is moderated by Kate Voss, McAtee’s longtime partner in neighborhood advocacy.