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FSU Receives HUD Grant to Help Tallahassee Neighborhoods

The Florida State University department of urban and regional planning has received a nearly $400,000 Community Outreach Partnership Center grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help Tallahassee's southside neighborhoods.

The three-year grant will be used to establish a Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC) that will focus on economic development, housing and neighborhood revitalization, infrastructure improvements and better health care. FSU urban and regional planning professors Charles Connerly and Harrison Higgins are the lead investigators on the project.

The COPC, which will be located in the Orange Avenue Apartments, will focus efforts on neighborhoods in Tallahassee 's Southern Strategy Area, an area targeted for planning and revitalization by the Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department. The Southern Strategy Area is adjacent to the campuses of FSU and FAMU. Satellite centers at other HUD-assisted housing or faith-based institutions also will be established.

"There's a lot of need in the area," Connerly said. "The city and county are now focused on the 'Southern Strategy' because this area has not enjoyed the fruits of development - infrastructure and other improvements - that have come to the northeast part of the city. It has really been neglected."

The COPC's economic development initiatives include conducting a study of how "knowledge parks" such as Innovation Park can be better used to benefit the residents of low-income neighborhoods, conducting a survey of employment skills and needs and developing a community-based economic development action plan. In addition, FAMU's Institute for Urban Policy and Commerce will provide entrepreneurial and job skills training to Southern Strategy Area residents.

The COPC also will conduct a housing needs assessment and a survey of mortgage lending on the Southern Strategy Area. The results, along with an assessment of community organizations, will be used to create a housing strategy. Fund-raising and leadership training will be provided to the organizations, and FSU will provide credit education for prospective homeowners in cooperation with the FAMU Credit Union, one of the area's leading lending institutions.

To address the health needs of the southside residents, the COPC will launch an educational campaign to encourage residents to eat right and exercise.

The COPC will make recommendations for improving bicycle and pedestrian use of the neighborhoods and improving the marketing of recreational opportunities.

Although the HUD grant is for just three years, Connerly said it will lay the foundation for what is intended to be a long-term project. The center will be seeking additional funds from other government agencies and private foundations in the future.

The grant was awarded to the urban and regional planning department in partnership with the FSU College of Human Sciences, the FSU School of Social Work and the Florida A&M University Institute for Urban Policy and Commerce. Additional partners include the Tallahassee-Leon County Blueprint 2000 Intergovernmental Agency, the Tallahassee Housing Authority, the FAMU Credit Union, Innovation Park and the Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department.

Besides Connerly and Higgins, participating faculty include urban and regional planning professors Ivonne Audirac, Tim Chapin, and Rebecca Miles; nutrition, food, and exercise sciences professors Emily Haymes and Lynn Panton; and social work professor Wendy Crook. The FAMU Institute of Urban Policy and Commerce is directed by Patricia McGill.

Press release prepared by Jill Elish of FSU's University Communications .