Long before the speeches ended, the newly renovated multipurpose court in Majesty Gardens had already begun attracting the attention of residents.

The refurbished playing surface stood in sharp contrast to the worn and delaminated court the community had grown accustomed to over the years. To many it was a renewed recreational space. But to 24-year-old Jaheim Mitchell, president of the Majesty Gardens Community Development Committee, it represented something bigger: an opportunity to rewrite the story of a community too often defined by crime instead of its people.

“Being in an inner-city community where you hear so much bad things, but your experience is totally different, you don’t just want to say it, you want to show it,” Mitchell told THE STAR.