From the beginning, our Homeowner Services team has approached community engagement at Weavers Grove differently than in previous Orange Habitat neighborhoods: with both Habitat and market-rate homes, the neighborhood brings together residents with different paths to homeownership, different backgrounds, and different cultures. 

Two resident committees – one focused on events and another on planning a community garden – have given homeowners the opportunity to shape the neighborhood’s social life and its physical spaces. As these committees take on more responsibility, residents are increasingly setting the direction for what community life at Weavers Grove looks like. 

The Events and Hospitality Committee has taken the lead on planning gatherings for the neighborhood. The Weavers Grove Community Potluck and Cookout, held each August, and the Fall Festival held each October, began as projects supported by our Homeowner Services department and are becoming resident-led traditions. 

Last year, the inaugural Fall Festival included a trunk-or-treat activity for neighborhood children, pumpkin painting with supplies donated by UNC students, and turns on the popular smoothie bike from UNC’s Food, Fitness, and Opportunity Research Collaborative (FFORC). Firefighters responding to a nearby call even stopped by afterwards and let kids take pictures on their truck. The evening’s strong turnout encouraged the committee to make the festival an annual event, says Derek Clark, program coordinator in our Homeowner Services department. 

Habitat homeowners Sita and Karen, both members of the Events and Hospitality Committee, say they joined because they wanted a voice in the kinds of activities happening in the neighborhood and an opportunity to contribute to their new community. 

“I wanted to be able to make it the ideal community for my family and other people as well,” Sita says. 

For Sita, participating on the committee is also a way to get to know her neighbors and help her children connect with other kids in the neighborhood. 

This sentiment was echoed by Emily, who moved into her home this summer. “Having community be the norm for my kids is really important to me,” she says. “My seven-year-old is outside most of the time, and there’s all these kids running around all the time. It’s really lovely to see.” 

Emily says the opportunity to build a community with lasting, reciprocal relationships with her neighbors is part of what drew her to the Habitat homeownership program. 

The 2026 community potluck highlighted the way that neighborly spirit is already coming into being. A thunderstorm swept through on the original August date, forcing the event to be rescheduled. When bad weather threatened to quash the rain date in September, Emily and her neighbor Eric opened their homes to fellow residents. Neighbors pitched in to put up tents provided by Habitat, and food was moved inside until the storm passed. 

Residents grilled burgers, hot dogs and chicken, while others brought dishes from home, including taquitos and macaroni and cheese. 

The committee also held its first fundraiser at the potluck, with a raffle and popsicle sale organized by Sita and Tabitha. With additional support from family and friends who attended the event, the committee raised about $200 to put toward the upcoming Fall Festival. 

The Events and Hospitality Committee isn’t the only way residents are shaping the neighborhood. The Community Garden Committee is helping determine what one of Weavers Grove’s planned shared spaces will look like. To plan the community garden’s design and structure, the committee gathered feedback from neighbors about how they’d like to see the garden set up, from individual plots to communal spaces. 

Sofia, a market-rate homeowner who moved to Weavers Grove about a year ago, was one of the first residents to join the Community Garden Committee. She says she and her husband were excited by the opportunity to be part of a community they could help shape from the ground up. In the case of the community garden, that’s literal: the committee is currently getting quotes for infrastructure like fencing and raised beds, and construction is expected to start this fall. 

Residents have also begun creating groups of their own. Sita, Karen, and Tabitha, all Habitat homeowners, are starting the Weavers Grove Fit Club. The group plans to meet for a walk around the neighborhood’s loop trail each Saturday and hopes to add a monthly fitness class. 

As resident leaders take on more responsibility, our Homeowner Services team has been working toward transitioning the committees to fully resident-led management, with the goal of helping them remain active and sustainable over the long term. When our operational focus shifts to Auman Village in the coming years, the hope is that Weavers Grove homeowners will have the tools and systems in place to continue building the community they want to see.  

So far, residents cite this collaborative and friendly spirit as one of the highlights of living there: “I like the sense of community that we have here,” Karen says. “It’s been wonderful.”