HUD AWARDS NEARLY $4 MILLION
TO SPUR NEXT GENERATION
OF HOUSING, NEIGHBORHOOD TRANSFORMATION
Nine communities to craft plans to revitalize housing,
communities
WASHINGTON - U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary
Shaun Donovan announced today that nine communities across the U.S.
will receive
Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants. The $4.37 million awarded
today provides these communities the resources they need to craft
comprehensive, community-driven plans to revitalize and transform
public or other HUD-assisted housing and distressed neighborhoods.
Read more about these local planning efforts.
"Through this investment, HUD is providing the resources for
local leaders to transform neighborhoods into thriving communities
where families will choose to live," said Donovan. "The Choice
Neighborhoods Initiative represents the next generation in a
movement toward revitalizing entire neighborhoods by providing
critically needed funding to support locally-driven economic
development solutions in these areas. I look forward to working
with these cities and communities as they work to build stronger
neighborhoods for all."
2013 Choice Neighborhood Planning Grantees
State
|
Awardee
|
City
|
Grant Amount
|
LA
|
City of Baton Rouge/Parish of East Baton Rouge
|
Baton Rouge, LA
|
$500,000
|
CO
|
Housing Authority of the City and County of Denver
|
Denver, CO
|
$500,000
|
CA
|
Youth Policy Institute
|
Los Angeles, CA
|
$500,000
|
CT
|
Housing Authority of the City of Meriden
|
Meriden, CT
|
$500,000
|
NC
|
Housing Authority of the City of New Bern
|
New Bern, NC
|
$400,000
|
PA
|
Philadelphia Housing Authority
|
Philadelphia, PA
|
$500,000
|
CA
|
Housing Authority of Sacramento
|
Sacramento
|
$500,000
|
MO
|
County of St. Louis
|
Wellston, MO
|
$474,000
|
NC
|
Housing Authority of the City of Winston-Salem
|
Winston-Salem, NC
|
$500,000
|
HUD's
Choice Neighborhoods Initiative promotes a comprehensive
approach to transforming distressed areas of concentrated poverty
into viable and sustainable mixed-income neighborhoods. Building on
the successes of HUD's HOPE VI Program, Choice Neighborhoods links
housing improvements with necessary services for the people who
live there - including schools, public transit and employment
opportunities.
The awardees announced today were selected from among 52
applications. Successful applicants demonstrated their intent to
plan for the transformation of neighborhoods by revitalizing
severely distressed public and/or assisted housing while leveraging
investments to create high-quality public schools, outstanding
education and early learning programs, public assets, public
transportation, and improved access to jobs and well-functioning
services. HUD focused on directing resources to address three core
goals:
- Housing: Transform distressed public and
assisted housing into energy efficient, mixed-income housing that
is physically and financially viable over the long-term;
- People: Support positive outcomes for families
who live in the target development(s) and the surrounding
neighborhood, particularly outcomes related to residents' health,
safety, employment, mobility, and education; and
- Neighborhood: Transform neighborhoods of
poverty into viable, mixed-income neighborhoods with access to
well-functioning services, high quality public schools and
education programs, high quality early learning programs and
services, public assets, public transportation, and improved access
to jobs.
The grantees will use the funding to work with local
stakeholders - public and/or assisted housing residents, community
members, businesses, institutions and local government officials -
to undertake a successful neighborhood transformation to create a
"choice neighborhood." The awardees will use the funding to create
a comprehensive Transformation Plan, or road map, to transforming
distressed public and/or assisted housing within a distressed
community.
Choice Neighborhoods is one of the signature programs of the
White House
Promise Zones Initiative where the federal government will
partner with and invest in communities to create jobs, leverage
private investment, increase economic activity, expand educational
opportunities, and improve public safety. Working with local
leadership-and bringing to bear the resources of a number of the
President's signature revitalization initiatives from the
Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban
Development, the Department of Justice, and the Department of
Agriculture-federal programs and resources will support local
efforts to turn around 20 of the highest poverty urban, rural and
tribal communities across the country.
Congress approved the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative with the
passage of HUD's FY2010 budget. Funding is provided through two
separate programs - Implementation Grants and Planning Grants. With
this announcement, HUD has awarded 56 Planning Grants totaling of
$16.9 million in cities and counties across the country.