North Philly Awarded $30 Million Federal Grant for Neighborhood Improvement

Image via Neighborhood Choice Transformation Plan

Mayor Nutter announced on Monday that Philadelphia won a $30 million grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through the Obama Administration’s Choice Neighborhoods Initiative.

The grant will go towards the implementation of a comprehensive “Transformation Plan” to improve North Central Philadelphia through housing development, educational support for families and youth, and neighborhood improvements to increase safety and commercial activity.

The grant will pay for the construction of 147 new and refurbished units at the Norris Apartments site on the northeast corner of the Temple University campus, according to the City of Philadelphia.

Three other cities, Pittsburgh, PA, Columbus, OH, and Norwalk, CT, received $30 million grants as well. Each of the recipients are using the majority of the money to develop mixed-income and affordable housing projects.

Launched in 2010, Choice Neighborhoods is a part of the Obama Administration’s place-based urban development program, the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative. Choice Neighborhoods offers grants for the planning and implementation of community development projects. The latest round of grants were for implementing developed plans.

The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) received a $500,000 grant in 2013 through the program to develop the “Transformation Plan for North Central Philadelphia,” which roughly covers the area from Cecil B. Moore to York streets and Carlisle to 6th streets — an area dominated by Temple University and the ring of low-income neighborhoods that surround it.

The plan was developed in partnership with the PHA, the Office of Housing and Community Development (OHCD), Temple University and the nonprofit housing developer Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha (APM). The plan, available here, references other plans already developed in the area and tries to consolidate their vision.

The following plans were referenced:

1. Our Community Plan: A Shared Vision for Our Neighborhood in Eastern North Philadelphia
2. Uptown Triangles Master Plan (information available in Transformation Plan)
3. Our Community Our Ideas: Eastern North Philadelphia Quality of Life Plan
4. Temple University Framework Plan

In addition, the Transformation Plan will incorporate the recently completed Lower North District Plan, which is a part of the Philadelphia 2035 master plan.