Issue link: https://alabamapower.uberflip.com/i/497617
T 12 Think bACk on The neighborhood you grew up in. For many of us, there are memories of neighbors carpooling, sharing meals or simply talking at the mailbox. There are children riding bicycles and playing games in the yard. There are families who depend on one another, share life together and build a com- munity together. Unfortunately, many neighborhoods across Alabama, once thriving with commu- nity and activity, have been abandoned. Such is the case for Garden Square in downtown Montgomery. A once-flourishing community, Garden Square is now nearly deserted, with little to offer its residents. Enter Transformation Montgomery, a faith-based community development organization that originated at Frazer United Methodist Church to change lives locally and internationally. Three years ago, church members began Transformation Montgomery to pro- vide affordable housing to the city's working poor while investing in the community of Garden Square. Now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with its own board of directors and entities, Transforma- tion Montgomery's mission is "Transforming our city one family, one house, one neighborhood at a time through affordable home ownership, holistic life skills training and relational community renewal." Transformation Montgomery STORY BY ALLISON WESTLAKE PHOTOS BY JOE DESCIOSE Alabama Power Service Organization volunteers remove debris from a home in the Garden Square community in Montgomery.