Last Year City’s Application Came in Fifth Place / Casey, City Officials Unveil Plans for How Neighborhood Will Change with New Funding / Casey Has Made a Major Push to Ensure Funds for Community Development
Philadelphia, PA- Following a major effort by U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Casey, Congressman Chaka Fattah, Mayor Michael Nutter and stakeholders from throughout Philadelphia, announced that the city has received a $30 million grant from the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that could transform North Central Philadelphia at a press conference. Last year Philadelphia’s application came in fifth. This year the top four bids will be funded.
“I’m very pleased that Philadelphia has been awarded this competitive grant, which has the potential to improve the local economy and help to transform this neighborhood,” Senator Casey said. “I weighed in with HUD about Philadelphia’s strong application, and I’m glad they also saw the great opportunity this neighborhood presents for economic growth and job creation.”
The Choice Neighborhoods program supports locally driven strategies to address struggling neighborhoods with distressed public or HUD-assisted housing through a comprehensive approach to neighborhood transformation. Local leaders, residents, and stakeholders, such as public housing authorities, cities, schools, police, business owners, nonprofits, and private developers, come together to create and implement a plan that transforms distressed HUD housing and addresses the challenges in the surrounding neighborhood. The program is designed to catalyze critical improvements in neighborhood assets, including vacant property, housing, services and schools. Senator Casey has consistently fought for funds to improve neighborhoods. In December a certified mixed use housing facility was opened at 9th and Berks for which Senator Casey urged HUD to invest approximately $500,000.
Choice Neighborhoods is focused on three core goals:
1. Housing: Replace distressed public and assisted housing with high-quality mixed-income housing that is well-managed and responsive to the needs of the surrounding neighborhood;
2. People: Improve educational outcomes and intergenerational mobility for youth with services and supports delivered directly to youth and their families; and
3. Neighborhood: Create the conditions necessary for public and private reinvestment in distressed neighborhoods to offer the kinds of amenities and assets, including safety, good schools, and commercial activity, that are important to families’ choices about their community.
To achieve these core goals, communities must develop a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy, or Transformation Plan. This Transformation Plan will become the guiding document for the revitalization of the public and/or assisted housing units, while simultaneously directing the transformation of the surrounding neighborhood and positive outcomes for families.
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