With the Take Back Antioch being shut down, a group of Antioch residents have joined together to form a new community group aimed at making a positive influence to the City of Antioch. Their goal is to get things done within city limits. The group hopes to positively impact Antioch by doing cleanups, fundraisers, and other proactive acts.
Beverly Knight created the page, “Empower Antioch Today” with a goal of getting like-minded people together to make a positive influence within Antioch. She is hoping to use Facebook to accelerate the group’s growth to what Take Back Antioch was before being shut down. On Saturday, the page gained 159 supporters.
“The best give TBA gave me was they empowered me to make a difference in the City. I am a doer and not a talker. They unleashed me and I am moving forward with helping Antioch anyway I can,” says Knight.
In speaking with Ms. Knight, the group has no political agenda nor is it about self-promotion, but rather a group for those who truly want to make a difference and work together and stay informed about happenings in Antioch.
To join Empower Antioch Today, click here.
In response to an article we posted earlier this week, Beverly Knight issued the following response and announced the creation of Empower Antioch Today
East County Today, this letter is in response to the opinion piece you posted on 1/2/14 – Antioch Deserves Better Than “Take Back Antioch”
Since we are voicing our opinions… As one of the core members of Take Back Antioch I have a pretty strong opinion of the TBA page being shut down. Take Back Antioch was not Brittany Gougeon. Take Back Antioch was a Facebook page with over 5,000 people who deeply cared about Antioch.
TBA gave residents like me and so many others hope. This was a Facebook page where problems were reported and solutions were addressed. This Facebook page empowered so many people that love this city. This was a Facebook page where residents joined together and got things done.
Just a few of TBA’s accomplishments,
- TBA helped bring back code enforcement
- TBA helped raise the funds to restore Antioch City Park.
- The greatest thing Take Back Antioch did was to inform residents what they could do themselves to help get the Antioch we all know and loved back.
All the support we needed was right there on a Facebook page. Friendships were made, clean-ups were organized. Take Back Antioch was not Brittany Gougeon. Take Back Antioch was all the people who rolled up their sleeves got out there and worked to make positive change in this city.
Brittany had a chance to do the right thing, to take the opportunity to thank all the members who helped TBA rise to the top with their hard work. Without all the members Brittany would not have won Antioch Citizen of the Year. Instead Brittany chooses to take her award and run, just shutting down the Facebook page without considering or caring about all the faithful Take Back Antioch Members. Apparently she thought Brittany Gougeon was Take Back Antioch. Will Brittany was wrong.I wish Brittany well in her new endeavors, and I will forever be grateful for the Take Back Antioch Facebook page for showing me you can stop complaining, get involved with like minded people and get things done. Facebook is a powerful tool.
I have created a new Facebook page called Empower Antioch Today. I will be welcoming help from all those hard working Take Back Antioch Members, so we can continue our quest for positive change in the city of Antioch.
Beverly Knight
12 comments
Thank you Bev Knight for stepping up to help move our community forward. You have always volunteered with little need for headlines. Keep up the good work.
The original Take Back Antioch group was a fraud, the new Take Back Antioch group is crazy right wing gun supporting group. Glad to see this group will go back to cleaning up the city and making it better. It starts with clean streets and painted graffiti.
I joined Cleaning Up Antioch, One House At A Time FB page and now will join Empower Antioch Today, as well! Grassroots work is always the most powerful and long lasting!
Joined Cleaning Up Antioch, One Home At A Time and Empower Antioch Today FB pages! Grassroot’s work it the most powerful and long lasting!
Agree Martha, both are fabulous groups for Antioch… grassroots is where change begins.
David is right, most of that Real Take Back Antioch is about guns and open carry. I prefer to make change through making our city better, not encouraging more guns
I think between this page and my page “Cleaning Up Antioch, One Home At A Time” we can really tackle a lot of problems here in Antioch. Thank You Beverly for continuing what the other group started. There are a lot of volunteers that go out daily and pick up garbage, clean up graffiti and tackle other small problems. They don’t do it to be in the limelight, they do it because it is the right thing to do.
Mrs. Knight,
This brought a tear to my eye. It is truly inspiring and refreshing to know there are dedicated people with true integrity left in Antioch.
Thank you Bev Knight for your efforts and I hope others will join you and we can all make Antioch better. I was on the “Real Take Back Antioch” page and it scared me to death with their agenda. I much prefer your grassroots approach. Lori Cook, you and Bev. will make a great team.
I am so inspired by all the positive comments. Thank you East County Today.
Wow, Bev. I have to say, that’s really harsh. Maybe now that you have your own Facebook group page, you’ll see how much work it is to maintain a community page. The TBA page attracted a lot of people who simply wanted to stir up trouble. Maybe if your page gets 5000+ members you’ll understand why Brittney had to take a break. Nobody else wanted to step up and monitor the group 24/7 for vulgarity or racist comments, or to deal with the required Facebook updates for group pages. She doesn’t even live in Antioch anymore! I’m not sure why you felt the need to attack her personally; she did nothing but give and give and give to Antioch, before she finally had enough. She never wanted to be the “face” of TBA anyway – she asked for people to step up and help out ALL THE TIME, but most of the “members” of TBA just wanted to sit back and complain about how messed up Antioch is from the comfort of their couch.
I hope things work out better for you, but if they don’t, well…that’s karma.
Nicely said, Jen and I’m very glad you said it.
It’s tough to stick your neck out as a volunteer for the public good. Then, have the very people you’re trying to serve mistreat you for your troubles. Humiliation really dampens enthusiasm. I hope Brittany gets the rest she deserves, then moves her public spirit to the next level. A fine soul, such as hers appears to be, is hard to suppress for long.
We are all children of circumstance and we all do the best that those circumstances allow — and can do not one iota more. She deserves no condemnation — only applause.
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