Sisters push to restore landscape, change lives in Frenchtown

By St. Clair Murraine

Outlook staff writer

During a recent walk down Dunn Streets, nestled in the heart of Frenchtown, Sabrita Thurman-Newby told the back story to almost every house she passed by.

She pointed to where her realtor has a home. One building at the head of the street where it intersects with Old Bainbridge once was a grocery store, she recalled.

Then there was the house that a tree had fallen on.  The tree was removed after she rounded up folks in the community to help remove it off the roof.  Removing the tree was the second time that Thurman-Newby got a group to work on the property.

The owners were faced with the possibility of being fined for having too much brush that blithe the house. Thurman-Newby’s group stepped in to handle the cleanup, including clearing a huge grassy backyard.

The work was done using barrowed shovels, hedge clippers and rakes. They received donation of pine straw and flowers.

By St. Clair Murraine

Outlook staff writer

During a recent walk down Dunn Streets, nestled in the heart of Frenchtown, Sabrita Thurman-Newby told the back story to almost every house she passed by.

She pointed to where her realtor has a home. One building at the head of the street where it intersects with Old Bainbridge once was a grocery store, she recalled.

Then there was the house that a tree had fallen on.  The tree was removed after she rounded up folks in the community to help remove it off the roof.  Removing the tree was the second time that Thurman-Newby got a group to work on the property.

The owners were faced with the possibility of being fined for having too much brush that blithe the house. Thurman-Newby’s group stepped in to handle the cleanup, including clearing a huge grassy backyard.

The work was done using barrowed shovels, hedge clippers and rakes. They received donation of pine straw and flowers.

Rooted in the details behind how the brush was cut away and the tree was removed is the foundation of a program that Thurman-Newby and her sister Gevonnia Thurman have started.

They have formed A New Direction Program, Inc., with the idea of reducing recidivism. At the same time, they want the outcome to be a Frenchtown more pleasing to the eye.

Their plan is simple, Thurman-Newby said. They will take on revitalization projects, using ex-offenders who want to develop a skill they can use to make a living and stay out of prison.

Ironically, Thurman-Newby lives in Bond, a community similar to  Frenchtown, where she and her sister grew up. Her sister lives in Jacksonville and would commute often before the COVID-19 pandemic, which has reduced her trips to Tallahassee.

They are pushing ahead with getting the organization off the ground, though.

“What we are trying to do with this program is not change a person but give them the tools to grow,” Thurman-Newby said. “That makes a difference. We are challenging them to change on the inside; giving them some tools and identifying things that are going on with them.”

Thurman-Newby knows of countless stories of recidivism, something that her younger sister, who is a sergeant with the Corrections Department in Jacksonville, has seen too many times.

“People were going to jail for rehabilitation and corrections but they were coming back home and returning to jail in a short period of time,” Thurman-Newby said. “We likened it to taking a bath and putting on dirty clothes. The community needed to be corrected.”

They are short on funding, though. Thurman-Newby figures that they could co-op with other resource organization to meet the people they want to help halfway.  For example, she said Frenchtown Heritage, has a commercial kitchen that could be used to teach ex-offenders culinary skills.

Eventually, they’d like to have a building to set up a headquarter.

What the sisters want to do is bring Frenchtown back to what it was – at least as a community of well-kept homes. The area became a stagnant community, starting in the mid-1990’s. The loss of economic growth accounted for the changes in Frenchtown, according to Patrick Mason, a FSU economics professor.

Historians have told countless stories of how Frenchtown thrived economically and was a place that produced prominent Blacks who have made significant contributions to society. There was the old Lincoln High School in the building that now houses the Lincoln Neighborhood Center. It was a focal point of a community that was self-contained with a variety of small businesses.

The comeback of Frenchtown has been ongoing for several years, most noticeably student housing along Old Bainbridge Road, near to Tennessee Street.

Prior to those housing units, Bethel Missionary Baptist Church took the lead in developing the Carolina Oaks housing sub-division in Frenchtown. Bethel also plans to create a gateway development in conjunction with Frenchtown Redevelopment Partners that will include shops, office space and housing along the 400 block of West Tennessee Street.

Meanwhile, Thurman-Newby and Thurman want to do grass roots beautification of the neighborhood. They plan to begin making a change “with the aid of the community, from the community, within the community, with the people of the community,” Thurman-Newby said.

Engaging young people will be a key element of the landscape restoration, the sisters said. Thurman recalled how the community had a vested interest in young people when she and her sister were growing up in Frenchtown.

“It’s so different from when we were young,” Thurman said. “You’re look at so many young people that are getting into what they think is the easiest thing to do, which absolutely turns their lives upside down. They will go through this endless cycle.”

The big picture that the sisters paint is one that’s framed in a plan to give ex-offender an opportunity to restore their lives and at the same time bring their community back to being one where people are proud to live.

“My point of all of that is everybody deserves a second chance,” Thurman-Newby said, “but I also believe they deserve a 32nd chance if need be.”

The sisters said they were inspired by a need to provide a sense of hope for ex-offenders. They named of the organization as a tribute to their grandmother who used to tell them “You need to find a new direction if that one ain’t working.”

They’ve divided up their responsibilities – Sabrita is handling logistics such as fund-raising and structuring the program, while Gevonnia will focus on training.

Thurman-Newby knows the hardships an individual without an career skill could face. She’s lived it. 

After she dropped out of school in the 1980, she managed to get by doing jobs that didn’t require a diploma or degree. Things changed for her when the economy took a nosedive in 2008. That set her on a path that started with obtaining a GED. 

She since earned two college degrees and is currently studying for a doctorate degree.

She’s also a licensed private investigator. During the summer she helped TPD find a suspect in a shooting on California Street that took the life of one victim and left another wounded.

It’s a story that will be told to the people whose lives she and her sister are trying to turn around. If nothing else, it should help to change some attitude – one of the goals that she and her sister hope to attain by engaging the community.

“The key is if I care about where I live I’ll do something about where I live,” Thurman said. “If I care about who I am I’ll do something about it. I think that’s the difference.”