Beatrice Warfield, like Dorothy Richardson, stood up, took charge, gathered troops from her neighborhood, fought city hall, and won. In 1994, outraged at a proposed development that would overcrowd her southwest Springfield neighborhood, Warfield founded the Neighborhood Pride Association and successfully battled city hall to stop the development. That was just the beginning.

Since then, Warfield and the other members of Neighborhood Pride have initiated a variety of community-building and preservation projects. In conjunction with the city of Springfield, they sponsor an annual "Dumpster Day" that helps keep the neighborhood clean by providing a means of disposing of large items of trash. They organize an annual neighborhood clean-up day.

They throw an annual party for residents of an apartment complex serving the needs of the elderly and disabled. They have participated in a city-wide March against Drugs and undertaken all manner of "good Samaritan" tasks in the neighborhood, including painting houses for those who cannot manage it themselves and adopting a family for Christmas.

Through all this, Warfield has been a whirlwind of activity. She served as president of Neighborhood Pride for three years and then recruited others to take on the job.

Whenever the office has fallen vacant, Warfield has served as interim president until a new one has been recruited. She has solicited volunteers from area high schools and colleges. She has recruited speakers to help increase neighborhood knowledge about such issues as litter control, filing medical claims, animal control, child health issues, and fire and safety issues.

When Neighborhood Housing Partnership (NHP) was established in 2002, Warfield and Neighborhood Pride welcomed the new organization to the community and embraced its work. Warfield became as member of NHP's neighborhood advisory board and actively enlisted participants in targeted campaigns to begin exterior enhancements in selected neighborhoods. Her personal efforts have contributed enormously to the successful launch of these initiatives. Just like Dorothy Richardson, Beatrice Warfield is a shining example of the difference one person can make in the life of a neighborhood.