The City of Newport News and the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority (NNRHA) was awarded a Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Planning Grant in 2016 and an Implementation Grant, in 2019, from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to help revitalize and transform a portion of the Southeast Community. This grant will enable the City to develop a community-driven plan for Ridley Place and an expanded area around the public housing complex.
CNI provides competitive grants to transform neighborhoods of concentrated poverty into neighborhoods of opportunity by rebuilding both public and assisted housing into thriving, sustainable, mixed-income communities with access to a range of jobs, amenities, and supportive services. This comprehensive process brings together local leaders, residents, and many other stakeholders to create and implement a revitalization plan to transform distressed HUD housing and address challenges and meet the neighborhood's needs.
Choice Neighborhoods is focused on three core goals.
Housing
Replace distressed public and assisted housing with high-quality mixed-income housing that is well-managed and meets the needs of the surrounding neighborhood.
People
Improve educational results and potential future success for youth by providing services and support systems right to youth and their families.
Neighborhood
Create the conditions needed for public and private investment in distressed neighborhoods to offer the services and amenities available and important to families like good schools, local businesses and transportation.
To achieve these goals communities develop a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy, also known as a...
Transformation Plan
The Transformation Plan is a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy based on the specific needs of the targeted site and neighborhood. When implemented, the strategy achieves the three core goals of Housing, People and Neighborhood.
Examples of other HUD CNI projects can be found here