WRT will be leading neighborhoods planning efforts in Jersey City and Kansas City, as part of the White House's Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative. On March 18th HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announce the first Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants in Jersey City, NJ and HUD released the list of Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants and the finalists for the Implementation Grants. These grants are for $250,000 and leverage another $250,000 in local funds and in-kind services to create what HUD is calling a Transformation Plan. The Transformation Plans will focus on new housing, mixed-use and community facilities, and improvements to the neighborhood schools and will be funded with Implementation Grants upwards of $31 million.
"We're very excited to help these two progressive communities envision and then implement sustainable neighborhood plans, and continue to advance what is now a 20-year Federal policy of mixed-income neighborhood revitalization -- first implement through the HOPE VI program and now through the inaugural year of Choice Neighborhoods," says WRT Principal Nando Micale.
Building off of 10 year relationship with the Jersey City Housing Authority and an even longer one with the City, WRT will develop strategies for implementation of the McGinley Square / Montgomery Corridor Neighborhood Transformation Plan. While a third of the households are below the poverty level and the neighborhood suffers from the effects of concentrated poverty, its proximity to a wide-range of services and job opportunities in the greater New York City metropolitan area supported by excellent transit access will be the basis for creating a plan that centers around plans for two new charter schools and an entertainment complex. In addition to improving the neighborhood’s affordable housing stock through mixed-income development and increasing the neighborhood’s access to supportive services, the Transformation Plan will strengthen the neighborhood’s connections to high quality educational programs.
WRT’s plan in Kansas City will focus on the Paseo Gateway Neighborhood just east of downtown and with excellent highway access. While the neighborhood suffers from isolation, high concentrations of poverty (44 percent) and the school district tests in the bottom 7 percent of the State standard. The Housing Authority of Kansas City has partnered with the City, LISC, the local school district, a health center, an employment center, among others, to create a Transformation Plan will build on neighborhood assets that include three active neighborhood associations, a business association, and the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences, which engages the community with public health care programs. The housing authority will also collaborate with other key partners, such as Head Start and the University of Missouri, on the development of a comprehensive educational plan that builds on current research and task force efforts.
