A Virtual Groundbreaking!
Welcome to 2020- the year of the virtual! You might be saying to yourself “How can a groundbreaking be virtual, exactly?” Well, the team at Civilitude figured out a way to make it possible. We provided VIP attendees their own miniature “dig kit” with a personal engraving. That way, everyone involved was able to be part of this historic moment in Austin! So, as fun as in-person groundbreakings are, this virtual one for our newest affordable housing project was just as interesting… if not better! According to Mayor Steve Adler, in fact, it was the “coolest groundbreaking ever.” Why thank you, Mr. Adler, we thought so too.
Some of the other invitees included Congressman Lloyd Doggett, Travis County Commissioners Jeff Travillion and Brigid Shea, Austin City Council members Greg Casar and Leslie Pool, along with many others. Overall, we had about 70 individuals joining us for this event!
So why was this moment so historic? The project was financed in part through public funding from the historic affordable housing bond approved by voters in 2018, and is the first to break ground under allowances passed by Austin City Council as part of the “Affordability Unlocked” ordinance. And what’s really special about this project is that it is headed by a husband and wife duo, Eyad Kasemi and Kenda Dawwami, that immigrated here from Syria about 10 years ago. They are very passionate about providing affordable homes for other immigrants like them, and so they are so excited to get to undertake this new project. And we are excited to watch them do it!
In Kenda’s message at the groundbreaking, she said, “It is not easy to be far away from your home. Yet, Austin welcomes so many people from outside the country and we are very thankful for its open hands. From Eyad and I, we are grateful to Austin and all of the community leaders here for giving us the chance to assist others in finding a place to call home.” Are you tearing up? We were!
The construction and engineering for this project were both performed under Austin’s COVID-19 safety guidelines. The homes are set to be completed in April 2021.