Leaders Of Fulton: Linda Eagan

FULTON – When Linda Eagan moved to Fulton 35 years ago, she grew to love her community, and for the past five years has been working to make that community a more beautiful, safer and to create lasting relationships between neighbors through the Fulton Block Builders program.

Throughout her time in Fulton, she said as manufacturing left the city, more degradation became more and more apparent, and heard her peers saying they wanted to leave. She said she was too in love with Fulton to sit back and do nothing.

And so when she invited Paul Stewart from the Oswego Renaissance Association to speak at Sunrise Rotary club meeting in 2016 about the program to revitalize the neighborhoods of Oswego, she immediately knew what she wanted to do to help her community.

“Twenty minutes later, I’m like, ‘I got this. I can do this for Fulton. This is perfect; this is what I’ve been looking for,’” Eagan said. “And the reason being because it builds on the strength of the community, not the negativity of the community… I really like this approach because it looks at what’s going well and making that stronger and stronger.”

Eagan’s background is not in community development, but rather social work and criminal justice, specifically prevention of adolescent drug and alcohol use and teenage pregnancy. In that setting, she would seek to build on the strength of the group she was working with, and that is why the healthy neighborhood approach resonated so much with her.

“It’s so similar to how I managed my professional life in social work and human services that I could just see the transfer easily to community development,” Eagan said.

She began talking to community members about the program and how she wanted to start a similar program. She specifically asked for their feedback and ideas for the program in Fulton and to choose a logo created by Steve Chirello Advertising. 

In 2017, Fulton Block Builders had its grant to get started. In its fifth year now, FBB has been helping neighborhood blocks come together and build a community.

Eagan said her vision for the city is that every resident in Fulton lives in a supportive, safe and thriving community. 

“By creating these relationships in neighborhoods, I can see that blossoming more and more and more each year,” Eagan said. 

When a block participates, they conduct meetings, share resources and plan a celebratory event when the projects are completed.

“Doing so, everyone is getting to know new people in their neighborhood,” Eagan said. “

How it works: A cluster of neighbors apply to become a Building Block and make improvements on the exterior of their homes (must be a property owner, but tenants can work with their landlords as well.) FBB provides a dollar for dollar match up to $1,000 and participants can get discounts from certain hardware stores and gardening centers. 

Right now, participants are working on their exteriors, including new roofing, landscaping, windows, painting in historical colors, new sidewalks, steps and stairs, etc. Before and after photos of completed projects can be found here.

“Right from the very beginning of Fulton Block Builders when I was talking to people on their porches, people right away were going, ‘I’ll help you; I’ll volunteer; I’ll help,’ and I really wasn’t anticipating that, so the enthusiasm right away was there,” Eagan said. 

Additionally, FBB provides Pride Grants, which improve streetscapes, parks or within a neighborhood. A group, generally after they have done a Block Challenge grant, who wants to do more for their community can apply for a Pride Grant. A recently completed project using a Pride Grant is a city garden on Route 481 near Aldi’s. The city’s first Porch Festival was also a product of a Pride Grant.

FBB is now working with the City of Fulton to put on a fall festival, “Ciders & Sweaters,” on October 9 at C.W. Barrett Drive. 

The program’s success has resulted in several awards and FBB has been asked to create a replication manual to help other communities bring positive change to their neighborhoods as well. She said this manual will also help guide the program long after she retires as director in a few years.

There are about 20 volunteers who serve as the board and they work as a group to make changes as it is a “living program.” Eagan, who is working on a succession plan, said she would like to be a consultant for the program after she retires.

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