Equitable
Development
in Action
What Makes Community-
Driven Revitalization
Models Work?
October 2021
-------
INTRODUCTION
Communities in the Southeast are transforming their neighborhoods from the ground up.
These communities, often low-income people of color, have been subject to an unfair share of
contamination, along with limited public investment in schools, housing and infrastructure. To
advance both environmental justice and equitable development, EPA Region 41 hosted a series
of conversations with these community change-makers to understand what strategies have
helped neighborhoods increase local wealth and opportunity while preventing gentrification.
In this brochure, EPA shares success stories from a range of community-based organizations
who are taking revitalization into their own hands to increase affordable housing, education,
economic opportunity, and health. Each story highlights a unique model that empowers the
local community and includes the following pillars that have contributed to victories for
these communities.
a A Community Champion with skilled leadership and the capacity to connect
| |||L q different stakeholders, and coordinate multiple, concurrent efforts is critical
aCmP|| to building and maintaining momentum for long-term implementation. The
champion may also tap a network of contacts, whether funders or other decision
makers, to advocate for the community.
A Community-Driven Process that centers the voices and goals of existing
community members from the outset, enlists them in the implementation
throughout the development process and ensures they benefit from the outcomes.
Small Neighborhood Area to focus investments and maximize the benefits from
limited resources to address multiple needs within a focused area.
4^ Resident-Focused Investment that stabilizes neighborhoods while preventing
displacement by supporting the quality of life and prosperity of current residents
by investing in schools, jobs, health, housing and other community needs
simultaneously.
<
&
Formal Organizational Structures, such as 501c(3) status and community
development corporations or dedicated government structures, such as land banks,
allow organizations to manage their own funds relative to community goals and
access new funding sources and other capacities. Several organizations used formal
agreements, such as Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) to establish clear
roles and streamline implementation.
Ownership of Community-Anchored Assets including real estate, social enterprise
businesses, and community-led institutions, enable the community to guide land
use, manage service delivery and generate sustainable income independent of
external funders.
1 Through a collaboration between the Brownfields Program and the Regional Administrator's Office's Programs
of Environmental Justice and Equal Employment Opportunity.
Environmental justice is achieved
when everyone, regardless of race,
color, national origin, or income, enjoys
the same degree of protection from
environmental and health hazards, and
equal access to the decision-making
process to have a healthy environment
in which to live, learn and work.
Equitable development is an
approach for meeting the needs of
under-served communities through
policies and programs that reduce
disparities to better foster places
that are healthy and vibrant. It is
increasingly considered an effective
place-based
action for creating
strong and livable
communities.
Community-
Based Non-profit
Organizations
Community-based non-profit
organizations can play a vital role in
community development by addressing
needs that are not being addressed by
government programs and private sector
interests, especially in neighborhoods
that have suffered long-term
disinvestment. Community-based non-
profits are in a unique position to affect
transformative, long-lasting change
that restores the vibrancy of disinvested
neighborhoods and empowers them
to thrive for generations to come.
Community non-profits are neighbors,
conveners, connectors, innovators,
funders and advocates. Less bound to
prescriptive requirements and short-
term results, non-profits can occupy a
wide range of roles, adapted to unique
local conditions and needs. Often staffed
by residents from the neighborhood,
they are committed to investing in the
community over the long term.
Photo Caption: People working in a
community garden in Atlanta, Georgia
(Source: EPA).
-
-------
Photo Caption: Community members interacting with the McCoy Creek restoration plan (Source: EPA)
GROUNDWORK
JACKSONVILLE
JACKSONVILLE. FLORIDA
The North Riverside neighborhood, a historically
African American community near downtown
Jacksonville, experiences repetitive flooding
from the heavily polluted McCoys Creek.
Roads, homes and businesses are frequently
flooded even after a normal rainfall event,
limiting economic development potential
and exacerbating decades of disinvestment.
Between 1980 and 2017, homeownership
was cut in half while the number of vacant
properties nearly doubled. Over a third of
neighborhood residents lived below the poverty
line and nearly 20% were unemployed. By 2018,
the North Riverside neighborhood lost more
than a third of its residents.
EPA's Superfund Redevelopment Program
sponsored a community-based integrated
planning process to identify community goals,
strategies for meeting those goals and potential
resource partners. One outcome of this
process was the establishment of Groundwork
Jacksonville. The city of Jacksonville (the City), in
partnership with community and government
entities and Groundwork USA, established a
local trust in 2014 to restore its urban creeks
and clean, redevelop and convert contaminated
land into parks, playgrounds, trails, and public
greenspace. Groundwork Jacksonville serves
as the City's non-profit partner in building the
Emerald Trail, a 30-mile trail and linear park
system, and restoring the adjacent Hogans
Creek and McCoys Creek.
Work on McCoys Creek started in 2018 and
the City committed more than $100 million to
remedy McCoys Creek flooding. Rather than
conventional retention ponds and drainage
ditches, Groundwork Jacksonville asked the
City to consider a more natural, aesthetically
pleasing and sustainable option. Groundwork
raised private funds to create an ecological
restoration design that will transform an
inaccessible, polluted, and channelized
creek into a natural water body that the
neighborhood can enjoy and be proud of.
As part of the creek design process,
Groundwork Jacksonville engaged North
Riverside residents in visioning meetings,
focus groups, a McCoys Creek Task Force and
a Creek Fest event that attracted more than
150 residents. In these conversations, residents
expressed needs and concerns beyond
those related to the creek design. They were
concerned about displacement from their
homes, safety and finding jobs. They expressed
interest in home repair funding, educational
opportunities and a desire to get more involved
in beautifying their neighborhood.
In response, Groundwork Jacksonville
embarked on two initiatives: The first was the
creation of a new program called Community
Restoration Environmental Stewardship
Training (CREST). The goal of CREST is to
3
COMMUNITY MODEL: Q 9 o
NATIONAL CAPACITY <^>
O "O
Jacksonville leveraged two national organizational models to build local capacity:
Groundwork USA is a national network of local organizations devoted to ^
transforming the natural and built environment of low-resource communities working at
the intersection of the environment, equity, and civic engagement to ensure everyone's
neighborhood environment is green, healthy and resilient.
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) works with a national network of community-based
partners to connect funding from banks, corporations, foundations and government agencies
to community-driven investments in housing, businesses, jobs, education, safety and health.
train environmental stewards and empower
community leaders through workshops, field
trips, creek cleanups and advanced job training.
Currently five CREST members have received
training from the City's Environmental Quality
Division and are employed by Groundwork as
Water Quality Technicians. CREST members
have taken numerous field trips to see other
green spaces in the area and partner with
the neighborhood community development
corporation (CDC) on monthly McCoys Creek
cleanups, contributing thousands of dollars'
worth of time and labor.
In addition, Groundwork partnered with
LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation)
Jacksonville to help the community create
an equitable development plan with
the goal of educating and empowering
residents to advocate for their families and
their neighborhood. LISC is a community
development financial institution with
offices in 44states (including Georgia, Florida,
Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and South
Carolina in the southeast region) dedicated to
forging resilient and inclusive communities.
Four resident-led working committees
were established in the North Riverside
neighborhood to support plan implementation
for housing, economic opportunity, history and
culture, and environmental stewardship.
The most immediate work was around home
ownership and preventing displacement.
LISC partnered with three organizations
to provide free assistance on legal issues
including gaining clear title to homes, claiming
homestead exemption and creating wills.
In addition, LISC convened a coalition of
Community Development Financial Institutions
(CDFI) funded by a planning grant from
JP Morgan Chase to invest in the plan. The
CDF! partners assist residents with financial
education, credit repair, mentors and funding
for home improvements. It is anticipated that
the CDFIs wili invest in affordable housing and
new business creation.
Work continues on the plan as Groundwork,
LISC, and other partners help residents address
the quality-of-life issues that will enable this
community to thrive, while enjoying a beautiful
new trail and restored creek.
By leveraging national organizational capacity
through Groundwork and LISC, the North
Riverside neighborhood is addressing not
only flooding, but investing and creating local
wealth through job training, affordable housing
and new business creation.
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT:
Groundwork Jacksonville website
aroundworkiacksonville.org
Groundwork USA website
aroundworkusa.org
Groundwork USA technical assistance on
equitable development and brownfields
planning
groundworkusa.org/ta-services/eauitable-
development-brownfields-plannina
LISC website
lisc.ora
Jacksonville Integrated Planning Project
semspub.epa.aov/work/04/11121269.pdf
-------
THE MILL DISTRICT
COLUMBUS, GEORGIA
Community leaders in Columbus, Georgia,
created a non-profit organization called the Mill
District established as a 501c(3) to implement
the Purpose Built Communities model in four
historic neighborhoods. The Purpose Built
Communities model focuses on three pillars:
quality mixed-income housing, education,
and community wellness to support holistic
and sustainable neighborhood revitalization.
The neighborhoods of City Village, North
Highland, Bibb Village and Anderson Village
housed generations of working-class families,
employed in the area's textile mills. After the
mills closed, these neighborhoods experienced
significant public and private disinvestment.
The city of Columbus received a $300,000
Brownfield Assessment Grant and hoped that
environmental assessments at these blighted
properties could catalyze redevelopment in the
Mill District area. Despite some limited local
investment, the area did not see longer-term
interest from outside developers. According
to Justin Krieg of Historic Columbus and
administrator of The Mill District,
"In hindsight, the delay in
developer interest was a good
thing. It gave us time to figure
out what development we
wanted based on the needs of the
neighborhoods
The Mill District brought together local
leaders from community organizations and
foundations, city and county government,
property owners and private businesses to
connect and amplify investments in mixed-
income housing, education and community
wellness. The Mill District built long-term
partnerships with public entities, such as
the Muscogee County School District, with
whom it signed a forma MOU. Through this
MOU, the Mill District leveraged $1.5 million
to fund four additional staff members at
an underperforming school, including a
social worker, parent-involvement specialist,
instructional coach and assistant principal.
The Mill District also partnered with community
health clinics such as MercyMed to provide
healthcare services at neighborhood-serving
schools so that local students had greater
capacity to learn and thrive. The success of
these partnerships has helped pave the way
for even more investment on and around
brownfield sites. In 2020, a $34 million dollar
construction project broke ground that would
serve as a new medical school campus for
Mercer University in Columbus, Georgia,
bringing nearly 240 students and 60 supportive
faculty to the city.
Adjacent to the Mercer project, the historic
City Mills buildings are under renovation to
become a hotel, yoga studio, and restaurant.
Just north of that site is the location for a newly
reconstructed mixed-income multifamily
housing development that was successful
Photo Caption: A community mural in City Village (Source: EPA).
Photo Caption: A teacher tutoring a student at a school in City Village (Source: EPA)
in securing low income housing tax credits
to assist in leveraging the project. Another
site received grant funds to assist with
environmental assessments.
The Miii District connected with
NeighborWorks Columbus, an existing
non-profit housing developer to secure
funding for quality affordable housing.
NeighborWorks received nearly $80,000 from
the Historic Columbus Foundation's Revolving
Redevelopment Fund to rehabilitate a historic
home in the North Highland neighborhood.
NeighborWorks plans to renovate/construct
nearly 22 homes in the neighborhood. Many of
these properties received assessment grants as
well.
Focusing on schools, housing, and health
care has been a conscious choice to invest in
the people of the neighborhood in addition
to the place. To evaluate its impact, the Mill
District tracks key economic and educational
outcomes, including changes in poverty
rates, crime, building permits and school
performance.
Through early community engagement and
structured partnership-building, the Mill
District was able to address multiple challenges
simultaneously to advance the neighborhood
goals of housing, education and community
wellness.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON
THE MILL DISTRICT: purposebuiltcommunities,
orq/our-network/columbus-qa-the-m ill-district
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON
PURPOSE BUILT COMMUNITIES:
Purpose Built Communities website
purposebuiltcommunities.org
Purpose Built Communities' white paper
"Poverty and Place: A Review of the Science
and Research that have Impacted Our Work"
purposebuiltcommunities.ora/povertv-and-
place-a-review-of-the-science-a nd-research-
that-have-impacted-our-work
COMMUNITY MODEL:
PURPOSE BUILT COMMUNITIES
The Purpose Built Communities model seeks to disrupt the root causes of
poverty by focusing on neighborhood-scale investments in mixed-income
housing, a continuum of education services and community wellness to advance racial
equity in health and economic mobility. A local non-profit organization leads implementation
by building partnerships from all sectors, aligning residents with resource partners and
coordinating across efforts.
-------
Photo Caption: A community leader in East Tampa (Source: EPA).
CORPORATION
TO DEVELOP
COMMUNITIES OF
TAMPA, INC.
TAMPA, FLORIDA
East Tampa is a historic community
of African American neighborhoods,
northeast of downtown Tampa. East Tampa
became impoverished through decades of
disinvestment, which manifested as racial
disparities in housing conditions, employment,
health care, education and criminal justice.
Community leaders founded the Corporation
to Develop Communities of Tampa, Inc. (CDC
of Tampa) to reduce long-standing disparities
and create opportunities to build an equitable,
prosperous and vibrant East Tampa. Under the
leadership of local resident and community
activist, Mrs. Chloe Coney, the CDC of Tampa
first brought the iocal residents together to ask
what they wanted to see in their community.
Residents identified significant gaps in
resources related to workforce development,
youth education, entrepreneurship, affordable
housing, and access to health care. After
listening to resident priorities, the CDC of
Tampa filled the gaps by using a Collective
Impact approach that connects the priority
areas to one another to address needs
comprehensively rather than individually.
Developing relationships with local, regional
and national organizations was critical to this
comprehensive approach.
CDC of Tampa now has extensive partnerships
and programs locally and nationally.
Partnerships with the city of Tampa and
NeighborWorks America enabled significant
progress in education, housing and job
training. The city of Tampa serves a critical
role in advancing affordable housing and
workforce development. For example, the city
of Tampa has revised ordinances to provide
directives that favor iocal hiring, particularly in
the disadvantaged area of East Tampa. Once
CDC of Tampa became a Community Housing
Designated Organization (CHDO), through
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD), they could partner with
the city of Tampa to create affordable housing
in the East Tampa neighborhood.
In education, initially only 40% of high school
children were graduating in East Tampa,
and busing resulted in a patchwork of 28
schools serving the East Tampa area. Lack
of community and parental engagement in
local schools was seen as a key contributor to
the lack of success. CDC of Tampa began a
movement back to community-based schools
that serve as a supportive local hub to families
in the surrounding neighborhood. Timing
worked in their favor as housing boomed and
with it, school funding during the 1990s-200Gs.
City of Tampa also provided funding from
7
COMMUNITY MODEL:
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
Forming a community development corporation (CDCs) provides the community
with a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that can receive public and private funding,
anchor capital in the community by developing residential, commercial and institutional
properties and organize residents to set a community-driven priorities.
For more information, please visit: communitv-wealth.org and National Alliance of Community
Economic Development Associations.
taxes on local communications companies.
Additional partnerships helped provide
student services for one year for each student,
along with local university partnerships for
help with homework and standardized testing.
Graduation rates have climbed to 75-80% and
are expected to reach 90% soon.
For health care, CDC of Tampa was able to
partner with Tampa Family Health Centers
to bring health care to those who would
otherwise not have it at all, These centers now
operate in collaboration with CDC of Tampa
but also independently.
NeighborWorks America, started by Dorothy
Mae Richardson in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania,
offers nationally available community
training to develop and empower community
leaders. There are now over 250 community
organizations engaging with NeighborWorks
America programs. NeighborWorks America
mentors and conducts peer-to-peer trainings
with communities and non-profits.
Reflecting on partnership building, Ernest
Coney says,
"The key is to listen to the needs
of partner organizations and
to match those needs with the
needs of the neighborhoods
He highlights the symbiotic relationships
between needs and opportunities and through
this approach has had success in finding
the funds needed for programs, financial
literacy and household budgeting, which has
brought banks and credit unions back to the
neighborhood. Increasing personal income
from workforce development created demand
for new grocery stores.
Ernest noted that "Broken neighborhoods
are a reflection of broken systems no longer
serving the people. Building up Human Capital
first changes everything that follows."
Even the simple act of hosting a Drug March
in neighborhoods with youth to take back the
community from crime and drugs can build
esteem and drive to take on more challenges.
CDC of Tampa now operates well beyond East
Tampa and supports many communities in
the surrounding counties. CDC of Tampa has
built over 100 single family homes, 380 rental
units and 141,598 square feet of commercial
space, counseled over 3,500 families in
housing needs, and created 12,000 youth and
adults with workforce development training.
New challenges for CDC of Tampa include
supporting the growing senior population
sector, improving entrepreneurship,
particularly in favor of creating destination
places in the East Tampa area. This will
strengthen the economic flow within the
community. And, finally, recognizing the need
for some larger, institutional growth including
a hospital and small manufacturing will
diversify the economy and continue growing
the quality of life in East Tampa, and the
Tampa Bay area.
By listening to the local residents, and then
engaging local and national partners, CDC of
Tampa has been able to build prosperity within
East Tampa with jobs, housing and health care,
all interdependent for long-term success.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE SEE: NeighborWorks America
CDC of Tampa cdcoftampa.org neiahborworks.orci/home
Community Development Corporations (CDCs) Collective Impact Mode!
communitv-wealth.org/strategies/panel/cdcs/ collectiveimpactforum.org/what-collective-
index.html impact
-------
CITY OF NORTH
CHARLESTON
NORTH CHARLESTON,
SOUTH CAROLINA
In 2002, the South Carolina State Ports
Authority planned to redevelop the former
Charleston Naval Base into an intermodai
rail hub facility as well as construct a new
port terminal and access road. National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations
required that the South Carolina State Ports
Authority evaluate the project's potential
impacts on low-income communities and
people of color and identify appropriate
mitigation measures. The impacted areas
included seven historically African American
neighborhoods in North Charleston. In 2005,
the neighborhoods of Accabee, Chicora/'
Cherokee, Union Heights, Howard Heights,
Windsor Place, Five Mile and Liberty Hill formed
a new coalition, the Low-Country Alliance
for Model Communities (LAMC), to leverage
their collective voices and advocate for their
community's interests during the NEPA
process.
Under NEPA, the South Carolina State Ports
Authority could implement mitigation actions
that are clearly related to the potential adverse
impact related to the project. The city of North
Charleston designated Planning Department
staff, including Wannetta Mallette, to support
the new coalition.
As the city of North Charleston's Community
Mitigation Plan Project Manager, Wannetta
Mallette leveraged an underutilized tool under
NEPA, known as a Social Impact Assessment
(SIA), to incorporate neighborhood history,
displacement risks, travel time impacts
and health outcomes and demonstrate
adverse impacts on the North Charleston
neighborhoods. The assessment for this North
Charleston area was done in-house by city staff
using available data.
In 2006, based on the results of the SIA,
South Carolina State Port Authority, city of
North Charleston and LAMC developed a $4
million Community Mitigation Plan, the first
of its kind in South Carolina and the nation
under NEPA. It included funds for affordable
housing, a maritime training center, a health
center, a recreational center, small business
development, and $350,000 to develop a
redevelopment plan to address broader
planning needs for the community. It also
required the collection of important impact
assessment data before and after the port
expansion such as a vibration study (due to
blast and hammer pile driving concerns), air
monitoring and a noise study among others.
The Community Mitigation Plan garnered
national, state and local recognition, which
LAMC then leveraged to secure additional
resources, including almost $3 million in grant
funding. The city of North Charleston adopted
the redevelopment plan as an amendment to
the city's Comprehensive Development Plan
and paid the mitigation fund balance to LAMC
Photo Caption: An informational table at a LAMC community event.
(Source: Charleston Community Research to Action Board (CCRAB)).
Photo Caption: A LAMC
for implementation oversight. The Community
Mitigation Plan outlined a schedule for fund
distribution that aligned with the project
development timeline so that funds were paid
after federal and state permits were issued,
during active construction and upon the
opening of the port terminal.
In reflecting on the process, Wannetta shared,
"Local governments have a
greater responsibility to protect
at-risk communities. The SIA
was the process by which the
community was able to use its
'expert knowledge' to identify
issues in need of redress that
led to the development of a
successful mitigation plan."
By leveraging the NEPA process during the
port expansion, and specifically the SIA and
Community Mitigation Plan, North Charleston
wironmental justice activism event (Source: CCRAB).
secured significant investment in affordable
housing, a health center, a recreational center
and small business development for their near-
port neighborhoods.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON LAMC AND
SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENTS, PLEASE
VISIT:
Handbook on Applying "Other Social Effects"
Factors in Corps of Engineers Water
Resources Planning
iwr.usace.armv.mil/Portals/70/docs/
iwrreports/09-R-4.pdf
Community Mitigation Plan by LAMC
epa.gov/sites/defau lt/files/2015-09/documents/
wed qeoraia 7 8 830 mallette.pdf
10
COMMUNITY MODEL:
SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
ASocial Impact Assessment (SIA) may be conducted voluntarily or required as
part of an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement during
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. Once the assessment is complete, the
SIA can be leveraged to negotiate mitigation actions that benefit the impacted community.
Executive Order 12898 adds weight to the inclusion of SIA in NEPA analyses because it
requires special attention to "disproportionate and adverse" impacts on the environmental
and health concerns of low-income populations and minority populations.
For more information, visit: Guidelines and Principles for Social Impact Assessment.
m
-------
Photo Caption: The C.C. Woodson Center front entrace (Courtesy of the photographer, Kris Decker).
REGENESIS
SPARTANBURG,
SOUTH CAROLINA
South Spartanburg is home to the Forest Park
and Arkwright neighborhoods. Residents
of these predominantly low-income and
African American communities live among
two hazardous waste sites, an operating
chemical plant and several brownfields
sites. A brownfield is an abandoned, idled,
or under-used industrial and commercial
property where expansion or redevelopment
is complicated by real or perceived
environmental contamination. As a result,
Forest Park and Arkwright communities
experienced high rates of cancer, respiratory
illness and infant mortality. Proximity to
environmental hazards, along with years of
disinvestment began when urban renewal in
the 1970s had decimated the community's
formerly vibrant commercial core of 70
African American-owned businesses, creating
the conditions for blight, unemployment,
crime and homelessness. To address these
community concerns, community member,
activist and later State Representative Harold
Mitchell formed the non-profit organization
ReGenesis and pioneered the collaborative
problem-solving approach to build
cooperative partnerships, overcome mistrust,
and foster holistic, equitable revitalization in
the Forest Park and Arkwright neighborhoods.
Harold realized that ReGenesis did not
have the people, resources, or ability to
implement the community vision on
its own, so he enlisted other partners to
support in areas that ReGenesis lacked.
The ReGenesis Environmental Justice
Partnership brought together ReGenesis,
the city and county of Spartanburg, EPA
Region 4, the South Carolina Department
of Health and Environmental Control, and
later the Spartanburg Housing Authority
and the University of South Carolina Upstate.
The ReGenesis Environmental Justice
Partnership provided the administrative,
management and coordination structure
needed to ensure that the project activities
would be implemented as planned. An
EPA Enivronmental Justice Small Grant
($20,000) helped build the partnership's early
foundation.
Strategic partnerships helped ReGenesis
access necessary resources (e.g.,
financial, technical, legal, institutional),
including federal, state, local grants and
foundation grants, as weii as Congressional
appropriations. ReGenesis and the city
and county of Spartanburg also signed a
COMMUNITY MODEL:
COLLABORATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING
Collaborative problem-solving is a seven-step community-based process that
brings together multiple stakeholder groups (e.g., community groups, all levels
of government, industry, and academia) to develop proactive, strategic, and
visionary solutions to address local environmental and/or public health and foster the
conditions and resources necessary to realize stronger, more lasting solutions.
MOU, which outlined each partner's specific
responsibilities. The MOU encouraged
accountability, shared understanding of roles
and a transparent structure for coordination.
Through the MOU, the county established
a Community Development Task Force to
demolish abandoned or substandard housing,
enforce neighborhood code and coordinate
across different county departments.
ReGenesis also became a Community
Development Corporation, a status that gave
them the authority to acquire and develop
properties.
Through collaborative effort of more than
200 agencies, ReGenesis acquired more than
$270 million in public and private funding
to transform the Forest Park and Arkwright
neighborhoods through environmental
cleanup, training and employment
opportunities; improved quality of life and
safety for the community; new housing
projects; federally qualified healthcare
centers; a new community recreation center;
crime prevention; state environmental
justice legislation; improvements in
noise and odor control; new emergency
preparedness procedures (including periodic
joint emergency response exercises); and
new access roads for the community.
Neighborhood revitalization work did not
come at the expense of community stability,
and instead contributed to the health
and well-being of locals, while ensuring a
democratic spirit of inclusivity of residents
in this economically and environmentally
distressed community.
Harold Mitchell shares,
"Making equitable, targeted
investments in our community
was key to reversing decades
of neglect and environmental
racism, from the cleanup of
Superfund and brownfield sites,
to building new roads and energy
efficient homes, to providing
good quality health care and
job training. Now the next
chapter means opportunities
for clean energy infrastructure
to create good-paying, high-
qualityjobs, and launch a just
transition towards prosperity,
environmental health, and
revitalization."
By applying collaborative problem solving
to build a robust network of supportive
partnerships, ReGenesis has be able to secure
significant investment and achieve collective
impact for South Spartanburg in housing,
health and local economic opportunity
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON REGENESIS
AND COLLABORATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING,
PLEASE VISIT:
To view the ReGenesis Partnership Benefits
and Leveraging Report (2000-2020), visit:
Project Description: michaeldbaker.com/
portfolio-items/reaenesis-partnership-
benefits-and-leveraainq-report-2000-2020
Press Release: michaeldbaker.com/MDB
WP live site/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/
ReGenesis-Press-Release.pdf
Report: michaeldbaker.com/MDB WP
live site/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/
ReGenesis-Report.pdf
For more information on Spartanburg's role
in Collaborative Problem Solving, please visit
pages 19-31 here:
epa.aov/environ mental i ustice/epas-
environ mental-iustice-col laborative-problem-
solvinq-model
-------
BUILD UP
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA
Dr. Mark Martin began his teaching career
with Teach for America at a low-income school
in southwest Atlanta. He came to believe
that education is a solution to poverty, but
education alone cannot address the issue. After
working with and looking to other schools
and models around the world for solutions, Dr.
Martin started Build Urban Prosperity (Build
UP) in the Birmingham, Alabama community
of Ensley in 2017. This was the country's first
and only school model that addresses poverty
and urban blight while providing students
with a quality education. Build UP focuses on
addressing multiple root-causes of poverty
simultaneously, including quality education;
safe, stable, and affordable housing; high-wage,
high-demand jobs; and social and financial
capital.
Students begin the six-year program in the 9th
grade and work toward earning both a high
school diploma and an associate's degree while
participating in a paid apprenticeship in the
real estate or construction sectors. In order to
graduate, students must complete one of the
three options under the school's "path to the
middle class" - continue their education at a
4-year college, accept a job with a Build UP
partner, or create their own small business.
Upon graduation, students are eligible to
purchase two rehabilitated homesone to
live in and one that will be used as a rental
propertywith 0% interest mortgages.
Under the Build UP program, neighborhoods
define their own goals and geographic
focus area. Build UP enlists a class of 20 to 25
students to select a three to five block area. The
cohort of students begin stabilizing the area
by clearing blight, rehabilitating abandoned
homes, and relocating quality homes to empty
lots. The students also become empowered
to continue improving and maintaining the
area by becoming responsible landlords and
supporting other programs. Dr. Martin believes
these approaches:
"Let insiders lead change in the
neighborhood and eventually
profit off that change
Photo Caption: A young person fixing an aging facade (Source: USACE HQ, via Creative Commons).
Photo Caption: A community mural in Ensley (Source: Andre Natta, via Creative Commons).
Initially, Build UP students learned and worked
alongside industry experts to rehabilitate
homes. The students learned a variety of
construction skills from electrical to carpentry
to plumbing and were involved in every step
of the rehabilitation process. In addition
to rehabilitating existing homes, Build UP
recently developed a program to physically
move homes that are in good shape but are
set to be demolished to vacant sites within
a Build UP neighborhood. The original
homeowner donates the home, receives a
tax credit, and saves additional money by not
paying demolition and disposal costs. In turn,
the community adds a quality home to the
neighborhood and continues Build UP's goal
of providing affordable housing and clearing
blight.
Build UP continues to look toward the
future. They are opening a second school in
Birmingham and have plans to open a third
in Cleveland, Ohio, in a few years. They have
also created a replication handbook with
different options for other communities and
groups to replicate their model to continue
to spread dignified change throughout
the country. Until recently, Build UP has
primarily relied on philanthropic donations for
funding. As the organization has grown, they
have started looking for additional revenue
sources, including various tax incentives and
government grant opportunities.
The Build UP program focuses on job training
that directly benefits both the students and
the neighborhood with affordable housing and
related community needs to build sustainable
neighborhood wealth long term, meeting one
neighborhood need by fulfilling a second.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BUILD UP AND
ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN ENSLEY PLEASE SEE:
buildup.work
buildup.work/whv-enslev.html
14
COMMUNITY MODEL:
BUILD UP
Build UP is the nation's first and only early-college workforce development
high school, providing low-income youth with career-ready skills through paid
apprenticeships with industry-aligned secondary and postsecondary academic coursework,
leading them to become educated, credentialed, and empowered civic leaders, professionals,
homeowners and landlords.
-------
Photo Caption: A Woodlawn Foundation community event (Source: VVoodlawn United Foundation).
BIRMINGHAM LAND
BANK AUTHORITY
& THE WOODLAWN
UNITED FOUNDATION
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA
Land banking and land trusts are not stand-
alone methods of achieving equitable
development. But in the battle for community
stabilization, land banks can be a foundational
tool to achieve multiple community goals.
The city of Birmingham, Alabama, created the
Birmingham Land Bank Authority (BLBA) as a
public corporation in 2014 to work with many
other community non-profits to help stabilize
low-income communities, while improving
housing options for residents, addressing
abandoned and blighted properties, reducing
city resources expended on abandoned
and blighted properties, and increasing the
property tax base. The BLBA also works to
prevent speculative purchasing by developers,
in turn reducing gentrification. The BLBA
has cleared title for over 10,000 properties in
Birmingham. This allows citizens or community
organizations to take ownership of these
properties putting them back into productive
use and back on the tax rolls.
In addition to operations and personnel costs,
the BLBA can spend over $5,000 to quiet the
title for each property that goes through the
process. Most of the BLBA's funding comes
directly from the city; however, the BLBA is
working toward having more of its funding
come from the proceeds of selling these
properties. The BLBA is also establishing a
foundation to help tap into other funding
sources and grant opportunities.
As a foundational tool, the BLBA works closely
with the objectives of other organizations,
mostly neighborhood non-profits. For example,
the Crestwood community has acquired over
130 properties, 80 of them through BLBA.
The Woodlawn United Foundation, a non-
profit creating affordable housing, improving
schools and creating community spaces,
started in 2010 and follows the Purpose
Built Communities model, which focuses on
three pillars: quality mixed-income housing,
education, and community wellness. The
Woodlawn Foundation leads a partnership
collective consisting of 40 non-profits formally
known as Woodlawn. However, the speed of
its affordable housing progress is enhanced by
BLBA's ability to clear title for properties to be
put into more affordable housing, in August
2018, 20 properties were acquired from BLBA,
marking the first such bulk sale of property,
with an additional 20 properties planned
for acquisition. This significantly advanced
Woodlawn's objectives for mixed income and
affordable housing.
Woodlawn has focused on the existing historic
character of the neighborhood, helping
homeowners acquire home rehabilitation
COMMUNITY MODEL:
LAND BANK
Land banks are governmental entities or non-profit corporations that are
focused on the conversion of vacant, abandoned, and tax delinquent properties
into productive use. Land banks are granted special real estate powers and legal authority
pursuant to state-enabling statutes to allow them to acquire title to these problem
properties, eliminate the liabilities, and transfer the properties to new, responsible owners in a
transparent manner that results in outcomes consistent with community-based plans.
For more information, see Center for Community Progress.
grants and also hosting homeowner training in
the basics of insurance needs and writing wills
that will help address the multigenerational
poverty that once plagued this neighborhood.
Expanding quickly with the assistance of over
40 community partners, Woodlawn works
within the community on many social justice
objectives simultaneously, including developing
leadership among community associations that
will support a thriving local business culture
and advance post-secondary education.
Controlling real estate is a key foundational
strategy for stabilizing and revitalizing a
neighborhood, providing a platform to offer
affordable housing along with job training,
education and community health services that
otherwise may not be possible.
*
am «£
^I^VrWghai#.
1 *
\ \₯. »
¦fr
V,
4#
¦>
**
&
A fill 6^' '
, , v*«# *** «*'
... .-v->
<¦'1 ¦ , <*, t. vr*. » "
¦ GZS) h
DRUID HILLS
v ^Birmingham
7a]
FIVE POINTS
SOUTH ,
r* ' .7>
¦' ¦ "* 4
:: 1 1 . _ >¦':.*& /.v
leld .ffy V"
¦&!k. , vi ^
^ Birmingham Zoo
Homewood
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON LAND BANKS
AND BIRMINGHAM'S LAND BANK,
PLEASE VISIT:
BLBA's general website
birminqhamlandbank.org
For more information about land banks,
please visit:
communitv-wealth.org/strateqies/panel/clts/
index, html
Center for Community Progress publications
about land banks
communitvproqress.net/publicat.ions-
paqes-396.php
Center for Community Progress Frequently
Asked Questions on Land Banking
co m m u n itvproq ress.o rq/n I bn/
woodlawnunited.org/
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON PURPOSE
BUILT COMMUNITIES:
Purpose Built Communities website
purposebuiltcommunities.org
Purpose Built Communities' white paper
"Poverty and Place: A Review of the Science
and Research that have Impacted Our Work"
purposebuiltcommunities.org/povertv-and-
place-a-review-of-the-science-a nd-research-
that-have-impacted-our-work
Map Caption: BLBA properties
(Source: BLBA website).
PROPERTY BOUNDARIES BY STATUS
IMMEDIATE ACQUISITION FOR SALE
ELIGIBLE FOR BLBA PROGRAMMING
ft OTHER
-------
PUTTING EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
INTO ACTION
Community-based organizations can play a significant role in transforming their
neighborhoods to address the needs of their community These stories celebrate communities
who are charting their own future by adopting models that empower residents. They
also share the same essential components of an effective process, applied to the unique
local needs and context. Starting with community needs and strong partnerships, these
community organizations are leveraging locally-controlled assets, regulatory tools, and national
organizations to tackle multiple inter-related challenges at the same time. These integrated
solutions invest in both the people and the place and build toward prosperity for existing
residents with education, job training, jobs, community health services, and housing. EPA
invites interested communities to learn from these inspiring change-makers and tap into EPA
resources that can help take the next step to achieve community-driven solutions.
Photo Caption: A child and adult planting seedlings in a raised bed (Source: EPA).
17
The following resources are helpful, no matter where your community has needs:
For strategies and stories, see the Region 4 Brownfields website:
epa.gov/brownfields/reaion4
For more information about EPA Equitable Development and Environmental Justice
programs, visit:
epa.aov/environmentaliustice/eauitable-development-and-environmental-iustice
For information on the Superfund Redevelopment Program, visit:
epa.gov/superfund-redevelopment
Build partnerships using the Collaborative Problem Solving Model:
epa.gov/environmentaliustice/epas-erivironmental-iustice-collaborative-problem-
solving-model
Address potentially contaminated commercial or industrial property through EPA's
Brownfields Grant Program:
epa.gov/brownfields
Explore other land redevelopment technical assistance programs, including developing
a roadmap that sets the overall agenda from larger goals to more specific strategies:
epa.gov/land-revitalization
epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-technical-assistance-training-and-research
epa.gov/sites/prod uction/files/2018-10/documents/resou rce_roadmap.pdf
For more information about EPA's Smart Growth Programs:
epa.gov/smartgrowth/smart-growth-technical-assistance-programs
Includes Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities, Cool & Connected,
Greening America's Communities, Healthy Places for Healthy People, Local
Foods Local Places, Recreational Economy for Rural Communities, among others
Connect, network and learn from philanthropic foundations, such as:
The Southeastern Council of Foundations:
secf.org
Council on Foundations lists an extensive network of foundations:
cof.org/content/philanthropic-support-network
Environmental Grantmakers Association:
ega.org with a searchable database of nearly 125,000 grants, and many other
such organizations.
Video about tips to fundraising from philanthropic organization: Philanthropy and
Community Development:
voutube,com/watch?v=J29RlaEOahA
-------
¦
, tr-
¦
Support for this resource was
provided by EPA Region 4, through
a collaboration between the
Brownfields Program and the Regional
Administrator's Office's Programs
of Environmental Justice and Equal
Employment Opportunity.
------- |