Neighborhood Revitalization Plan

In February 2002, The Elmwood Collaborative and the City of Providence completed a five-year Neighborhood Revitalization Plan to create more quality housing opportunities, public green spaces, opportunities for youth, safer streets and improved job links in Elmwood. With a grant from RI Housing, The Elmwood Foundation took the lead in the Collaborative and hired a Neighborhood Revitalization Plan Coordinator to begin implementation of the plan. Twenty eight neighborhood groups, organizations and residents have been involved in developing implementation strategies.

In 2004, the Collaborative was awarded an $116,960 United Way Grant to redesign the streetscapes of Elmwood Av and Updike St, including a major community outreach strategy for neighborhood input. The Plan’s full-time Coordinator, Rachel Newman Greene, and AmeriCorps Member, Ana Rodriguez, work to involve the community and implement strategies that improve livability in Elmwood.

With other CDCs, TEF is a lead organization in LISC’s Elmwood Avenue Community Safety Initiative (CSI). This group brings local CDCs, residents and police together to develop strategies for improving safety conditions along Elmwood Avenue. The group has identified prostitution and the related drug trade as primary safety issues in the area, and is working to develop actions and policy recommendations to address the core of this problem. These policy recommendations will be in the areas of drug addiction, corrections and the courts. CSI participants will enlist the support of residents and elected officials to enact the recommendations.