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About Choice Neighborhood Plan

Choice Neighborhood Plan focuses on People, Housing and Community.

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In November of 2021, Brownsville was one of 8 communities nationwide awarded a Planning Grant for the International / Southmost Neighborhood. This grant is awarded by  the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as part of the Choice Neighborhood Initiative (CNI).

 

Through the Grant, The City of Brownsville (COB), in partnership with the Housing Authority of the City of Brownsville (HACB), will work with local residents and a variety of community stakeholders - including nonprofits, faith-based organizations, supportive service agencies, businesses and others -  to create a forward-looking Transformation Plan focused on People, Housing and Community, and with a strong commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.

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The Plan will be centered on redevelopment of HABC's Victoria Gardens housing, which includes 46 units of low-income housing. The CNI Plan will seek to replace 100% of those housing units within the neighborhood, or in other areas of opportunity as part of new mixed-income developments.

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What is the Choice Neighborhood Initiative?

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The HUD Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI) employs a comprehensive approach to neighborhood transformation. The program helps communities by revitalizing distressed public (and/or assisted) housing while investing and leveraging investments in:
 

  • Well-functioning services and public assets

  • High quality public schools/education programs

  • High quality early learning programs/services

  • Public transportation and mobility

  • Improved access to jobs
     

The CNI will ensure that current residents will be able to benefit from this transformation by preserving affordable housing or providing residents with the choice to move in to affordable and accessible housing in another existing neighborhood of opportunity.

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The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative is focused on three core goals:
 

  1. Housing: Transform distressed public and assisted housing into energy efficient, mixed-income housing that is physically and financially viable over the long term.

  2. People: Support positive outcomes for families who live in the target developments and the surrounding neighborhood, particularly outcomes related to residents’ education, health and recreation, safety, employment, and mobility; and

  3. Neighborhood: Transform distressed neighborhoods into viable, mixed-income neighborhoods with access to well-functioning services, high quality public schools and education programs, high quality early learning programs and services, public assets, public transportation, and improved access to jobs.

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