From the Tallahassee Democrat
Bond Community was a fitting neighborhood for the latest community conversation hosted by the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce.
It’s one of several south side neighborhoods in need of an economic lift. The average households earns $17,295. Out of its 3,100 residents, more are renters than homeowners.
Talethia Edwards, a rising community advocate and president of the Greater Bond Neighborhood Association created in 2016, shared Bond’s potential. Just a short distance from Cascades Park and the St. Marks Trail, Edwards said the distressed neighborhood could be a celebrated underdog story.
Bond Community was a fitting neighborhood for the latest community conversation hosted by the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce.
It’s one of several south side neighborhoods in need of an economic lift. The average households earns $17,295. Out of its 3,100 residents, more are renters than homeowners.
Talethia Edwards, a rising community advocate and president of the Greater Bond Neighborhood Association created in 2016, shared Bond’s potential. Just a short distance from Cascades Park and the St. Marks Trail, Edwards said the distressed neighborhood could be a celebrated underdog story.
The three-hour event was held at the Smith-Williams Service Center near Bond Elementary School, and continued ongoing talks about effective early education, a need for mixed-use development infused with affordable housing and more overall involvement.
One model, the Purpose Built Community, was trumpeted as an approach that could shift generational gaps in poverty and education in South City, one of Tallahassee’s poorest neighborhoods.
Purpose Built Communities Inc. chose South City’s public housing complex to model the nonprofit’s three-pronged approach — a mix of affordable and market-rate housing, a cradle-to-college pipeline and community amenities that promote a healthy lifestyle. The Atlanta-based nonprofit operates in 20 cities nationwide.
To get started, organizers say they’ll need approximately $500,000 for the first three years and proposed potential funding sources. Democratic House Rep. Loranne Ausley, a chief champion of the model, said $350,000 has been secured by strong commitments.
“Any type of community transformation is hard work” she said. “But we have a proven model. … We’re willing to take that recipe, put some resources behind it and start with the residents of South City to truly change the place of the neighborhood in which they live.”
Another takeaway was a need to put more effort into addressing poverty and the working poor, also referred to as Asset Limited, Income Constrained Employed by the United Way of the Big Bend. The organization reports 54% of residents in the region can’t afford basic needs.
In Leon County, out of 287,822 residents, more than 48,200 households are living in poverty or struggling to make ends meet.
Christic Henry, a Realtor and community activist involved in several neighborhood improvement efforts, said the south side is slated for revitalization, not redevelopment. The difference, she said, is redevelopment implicates gutting an area, creating a clean slate for building and bringing value to an area where there is none.
“That is not the case (on the south side),” Henry said. “Revitalization assumes there is a value there. It just needs to be invested in to increase that value.”
She added the Chamber’s decision to host the meeting on the south side was significant.
