Local A News Bulletin from

Government

Briefings

August 19, 2005 Volume 8, Issue 33

How Do You Attract Sustained Private Investment in Distressed Neighborhoods?

Report on Neighborhoods in Bloom Initiative Provides Answers

The Ripple Effect: Economic Impacts of Targeted Community Investments, an overview of the City of

Richmond’s Neighborhoods in Bloom initiative, provides answers on how to attract sustained private

investments in distressed neighborhoods. The Neighborhoods in Bloom initiative is a community

revitalization effort involving elected and administrative officials in the City of Richmond, neighborhood

associations, community development corporations, financial institutions and the Richmond office of Local

Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). The overview presents the quantifiable results found in The Impacts

of Targeted Public and Nonprofit Investment on Neighborhood Development, a study commissioned by the

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond to examine the results of the initiative.

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Compared with previous revitalization strategies that sprinkled resources throughout many communities to

address needs as well as political wishes, Neighborhoods in Bloom invested in focused areas with the goal

of attracting private support. The results have been impressive. Crime in the targeted areas is lower, blight

is diminished, and newly occupied homes are generating new tax revenues. The underlying assumption of

Neighborhoods in Bloom is that public and nonprofit resources alone are not enough to transform distressed

neighborhoods. Traditional market capital must be available as well. For the City of Richmond, the

question remained as to whether the Neighborhoods in Bloom concept could attract sustained private

investment. The study helps the answer that important question. The study is available at

http://www.lisc.org/resources/. Click on: The Ripple Effect: Economic Impacts of Targeted Community

Investments.

LISC provides grants, loans and equity investments to CDCs for neighborhood redevelopment. When LISC

begins a new program, National LISC matches locally-raised funds and gives that much more to the

community for renovation. The CDC then designates the funds to a variety of projects that will best suit the

neighborhood, and the renovation begins. You can read the details at

http://www.lisc.org/whatwedo/programs/.

Source: LISC Online: www.lisc.org

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September 18-23: Community Development Academy

The Community Development Academy is an intensive, experiential, five-day course (for noncredit or for

three hours undergraduate or graduate credit), which explores ideas and develops practical skills for

effectively involving and empowering local citizens and leaders in community-based efforts sponsored by the

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University of Missouri-Columbia. The course will be held at the Mercy Center in St. Louis, MO. For more

information, visit http://www.ssu.missouri.edu/CommDev/cda/cda.htm.