DEPARTMENT: Office of EastPoint
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Mike Etienne, Ph.D.
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: 2
SUBJECT:
Briefing and status report on the EastPoint revitalization initiative.
SUMMARY:
The Office of EastPoint and its partners will provide a briefing on the status of the EastPoint revitalization initiative, including specific updates on the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative/ Wheatley Courts Transformation Plan, Eastside Promise Neighborhood, and the Promise Zone designation. Additionally, staff will brief Council on accomplishments in the areas of public safety, workforce development, education, housing, economic development, street improvements, community engagement and sustainability.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
EastPoint is a place-based revitalization initiative designed to comprehensively revitalize the Eastside by linking housing improvements with wider public services, such as high performing schools, human services, public safety and employment opportunities. The collective vision is that: By 2015, EastPoint will be a vibrant, mixed-income community, rich in diversity and opportunity, catalyzing progress throughout the Eastside.
EastPoint is located on the city’s Eastside (map included as attachment A) is comprised of a four square mile target area within the Promise Zone that is made up of the combined footprint of the Promise Neighborhood and Choice Neighborhood Initiatives. There are a total of four major federal revitalization initiatives in the EastPoint footprint, totaling over $54 million (see table below). In addition to the $54 million in federal grants and initiatives, an additional $10.2 million have been secured by 16 entities for projects or programs within the Eastside Promise Zone. San Antonio is the only city in the nation to receive these three major federal grants and the Promise Zone designation.
|
|
Choice Neighborhood Initiative |
Eastside Promise Neighborhood Initiative |
Byrne Criminal Justice Grants |
Promise Zone Designation |
|
Funding |
$29.75M |
$23.3M |
$920K |
$0 |
|
Agency |
San Antonio Housing Authority |
United Way of San Antonio |
SAHA and the United Way |
City of San Antonio |
|
Goal |
Redevelop Wheatley Courts housing complex and surrounding areas. |
Improve education achievements from cradle-to-career. |
Improve public safety. |
Technical assistance and preference points are given to grant applicants from federal agencies. |
Choice Neighborhood Initiative
In 2012, SAHA was allocated a $29.75 million Choice Neighborhood Initiative (CNI) implementation grant from the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to leverage the transformation of Wheatley Courts and surrounding neighborhoods into a community that is a safe, healthy, vibrant, and thriving community for children, families and seniors. The City has committed $20 million over a five-year period to leverage Choice Plan Transformation plan for housing, infrastructure, and street improvements. The total development cost for the redevelopment of Wheatley Courts will exceed $100 million.
The Choice Neighborhood Initiative (CNI) is a centerpiece of the Obama Administration’s interagency Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative. CNI invests in People, Housing and Neighborhood. A major component of the initiative is the redevelopment of former Wheatley Courts public housing complex into a mixed-income community. Wheatley Courts was built in 1940. It was named for America’s first published African-American poet, Phyllis Wheatley, born in Africa and pressed into slavery, then brought to Boston in the 18th century and subsequently named by the prosperous Boston merchant who purchased her.
The 75-year old housing complex had 248 units with a history of crime and violence. To date, the complex has been demolished and construction of the 412-unit mixed-income community is underway. The original 248 public housing units will be retained/provided in the new development to ensure federal one-for-one replacement requirements are met.
Promise Neighborhood Initiative
In 2011, the United Way received a $23.3 million Promise Neighborhood implementation grant from the Department of Education to improve education outcomes for children and families, focusing on 1) Early childhood, 2) Elementary/Middle/High School, 3) achievements, 4) Student safety, 5) Health & wellness, 6) Family self-sufficiency/stable communities. The goal is to improve education achievements from cradle-to-college-and-to career.
Eastside Promise Neighborhood (EPN) currently serves over 7,000 youth and their families, spread over six school campuses (Tynan Early Childhood Center, Pershing Elem, Bowden Elm, and Washington Elem, Wheatley Middle and Sam Houston High School).
Byrne Criminal Justice
In 2012, the San Antonio Housing Authority (SAHA) received $600,000 and the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County received $320,000 in Byrne Criminal Justice Grants from the Department of Justice to improve public safety in the EastPoint footprint, a combination of both the Choice and Promise Neighborhoods footprints. Public safety initiatives include hot spot policing, foot patrol, safe school zone, Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) and opening of the Resurgence Collaborative. The Resurgence Collaborative is a partnership with Bexar County Parole Office to provide wrap around case management services to the re-entry population and their families.
Promise Zone
In January 2014, President Obama announced the selection of the Eastside of San Antonio as one of the five original Promise Zones in the nation. Under the Promise Zone initiative, the federal government is investing and partnering with high-poverty urban and tribal communities to create jobs, increase economic activity, improve educational opportunities, leverage private investment and improve public safety.
Although no direct federal funding comes with the designation, communities receive technical assistance to help navigate federal programs and regulations, and preference points on additional federal grant applications to implement the goals of the Promise Zone. The designation also provides tax credits to private businesses for hiring and investing in the Zone to create jobs and attract private investments, however, the tax credit allocations are pending Congressional approval. Since the designation, $10.2 million in federal investments have been secured by 16 entities for projects or programs within the Eastside Promise Zone.
The Eastside Promise Zone is a ten-year designation. It is administered by the City in collaboration with community partners to include the San Antonio Housing Authority, the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County, San Antonio Independent School District, SA2020 and San Antonio for Growth on the Eastside. The Promise Zone is designed to provide residents with ladders of opportunity. The key goals are to create jobs and workforce development, increase economic development, improve educational opportunities and family stability, reduce poverty, increase the supply of quality affordable housing, improve public safety, and leverage private capital.
ISSUE:
The Office of EastPoint and its partners will provide a briefing on the status of the EastPoint revitalization initiative, including specific updates on the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative/Wheatley Courts Transformation Plan, Eastside Promise Neighborhood, and the Promise Zone designation. Additionally, staff will brief Council on accomplishments in the areas of public safety, workforce development, education, housing, economic development, street improvements, community engagement and sustainability.
ALTERNATIVES:
N/A
FISCAL IMPACT:
N/A
RECOMMENDATION:
N/A