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Economic Development Reference Guide
Neighborhood Economic Development
Neighborhood
revitalization seeks to improve a neighborhood's physical, economic, and social
conditions to improve the overall quality of life and economic opportunities for
neighborhood residents. Like downtown development, it includes a range of
initiatives that target multiple - but complementary - development goals
including business development, infrastructure improvements, workforce
training, facade improvements, amenity development and property reuse.
Critical to this process is the revitalization of commercial areas,
because it creates jobs for local residents, provides goods and services
to the local market - thereby keeping local dollars in the community - and
improves the overall image of the neighborhood by signaling that business
can succeed there.
Many
organizations in the community should contribute to neighborhood revitalization.
Ultimately, successful revitalization efforts will have leveraged public, private,
and community resources to achieve a commonly held vision for the neighborhood,
and the city more widely.
Trends in Neighborhood Economic Development
Inner city neighborhoods have been in serious decline for many years, people have moved out of the cities due to increased crime, high property prices and taxes. However increasing pressure on the suburbs and efforts to reduce urban sprawl has led to efforts being made to improve the quality of neighborhoods, encouraging people to stay in cities but also to encourage people to move back into them. Key trends include:
- Promoting
minority business development is an essential part of many revitalization
programs.
- Increasing
emphasis on improving the quality of life within neighborhoods to encourage
people to remain/move into areas, often through a focus on the development
of recreational and cultural amenities.
- Crime reduction
is a precursor to neighborhood economic development. The U.S. Justice Department's
Weed and Seed Initiative is a
multi-agency approach to law enforcement, crime prevention, and community
revitalization.
- The Community Development
Financial Institutions(CDFI) Fund assists in the expansion of credit availability,
investment capital and financial services in distressed urban and rural communities.
- Community
Development Block Grants are awarded to help fund neighborhood development
initiatives.
- Community
Development banks focus services on improving the economic health of neighborhoods
they are located in.
- The Social
Compact has produced The Neighborhood Market Drill Down, a pioneering
market analysis model built on innovative sources of dependable, business-oriented
data that reveals the hidden strengths of traditionally undervalued communities.
- Mixed-use
land use in neighborhoods are becoming a key part of neighborhood economic
development, serving as hubs for neighborhood services such as youth training,
health services.
- IT training
is given in many neighborhoods aiming to bridge the digital divide.
- Collaborative
efforts between local governments and institutions, neighborhood residents
and the private sector to provide services are on the rise.
- Faith-based
neighborhood economic development is becoming increasingly commonplace.
- Development
of venture capital funds for neighborhood
development.
- Social
venture partnerships deliver an important community service that would
not otherwise be available. Many social entrepreneurs are coming together
for the well being of communities.
- The
Retail Initiative is a commercial real estate equity fund that brings
supermarkets to low income neighborhood.
- Community
Development Corporations run by professional staff and citizen boards
take responsibility for improving an area or community that they live in.
- Universities
are becoming increasingly involved with the economic development of the communities
they are a part of through revitalization efforts.
Benchmarking and Evaluating Neighborhood Revitalization Programs
Since
neighborhood revitalization seeks to improve the economic, social, and
physical conditions of the neighborhood, evaluation must emphasize
qualitative improvements in the image and quality of life of a
neighborhood. Time is a major factor in neighborhood revitalization. It
can take many years, if not decades, to turn neighborhoods around. Comparisons
between different projects should always take different time frames
into account, among other things.
Community participation and public-private partnership development are
both conditions for - and outcomes of - neighborhood revitalization.
Project evaluation should focus on the quality and depth of community
involvement and the relationship between the community and the public
and private sectors.
Quantitative measures
- Number of new businesses
- Number of retail and consumer businesses
- Number of vacant or underutilized sites rehabilitated or reused
- Business failure rates (or ratio of startups to failures)
- Number of jobs created
- Cost per job created
- Percentage of women and minorities assisted
- Number of local residents hired
- Private sector leverage
- Available amenities
Qualitative measures
- Diversification of businesses (e.g. new industries, new services)
- Stated project goals and the degree to which they have been achieved
- Physical appearance of local businesses, local buildings and the neighborhood in general
- Neighborhood residents and businesses satisfaction with services, shopping, amenities and the physical appearance of the neighborhood
- Range and quality of public-private partnerships to support neighborhood initiatives
- Community involvement in initiatives (local residents and local businesses)
- Changing use of the neighborhood (e.g. more people using the local park, easier access to the neighborhood)
Web-based Resources for Neighborhood Economic Development
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