Making a difference

(Northwards tenant Debbie Stephens)

Want to get more involved in your local community?

Debbie Stephens adores her daughter, her three labradors and her parrot. She also loves the community where she’s lived for almost 21 years.

Her love for Dam Head and Crosslee is such that Debbie wants to do what she can to make a difference in the area.

That’s one of the reasons she’s become chair of the tenants’ and residents’ association.

Building a sense of community

Debbie said: “I want to get people talking to one another and build up the sense of community. I want to build relationships with the youths on the estate. I like to help people if I can.”

As vice-chair of Friends of Bailey’s Wood, a neighbourhood watch co-ordinator, and a member of Northwards’ Tenants’ View, Debbie is already well-known in the area.

She regularly gets a knock on her door from neighbours in need of help with things like ASB. And she knows she’s got large shoes to fill, taking over from former chair Joan Fitzgerald, who sat on the shadow board when Northwards was set up and played a big part in Dam Head getting the country’s first over 60s ‘playground’.

But Debbie knows all about over-coming challenges, having had her own health battles and a kidney transplant six years ago, and she’s certainly ready to make a difference.

Get involved!

Would you like to have a say about your area and help to make a difference, like Debbie?

contact our resident involvement team