Over the last year, the OST/South Union community undertook an effort to refresh their Quality-of-Life Agreement (QLA) as part of LISC Houston’s Great Opportunities (GO) Neighborhoods initiative.
GO Neighborhoods is a place-based, comprehensive community development initiative, through which LISC supports residents and community-based organizations to organize, plan, and lead in the growth and development of their neighborhoods. The GO Neighborhood’s partnership helps create new opportunities for neighborhoods and residents to thrive while also preserving affordable housing and rich cultural histories. OST/South Union’s first QLA, which was originally published in 2015, is an example of a neighborhood plan that contains the community’s vision, strategies, and targets for five to ten years.
OST/South Union became a comprehensive GO Neighborhood in 2013 and since that time has used their original QLA to implement critical community projects, such as new housing projects, a new branch library, an outdoor kitchen at the Park at Palm Center, a new grocery store and ten miles of bike lanes plus new transit options and is proud of what has been accomplished thus far.
Building on these successes, the community committed to developing new goals and working together for at least another five years through this second QLA process. To develop this QLA, the community, with the support of community convening agency Neighborhood Recovery CDC, LISC and the Community Design Resource Center team, held four community meetings and three focus sessions over the last year to develop new goals and projects, with over 240 people attending the various meeting. The new plan focuses on seven priority areas: Housing & Neighborhoods, Safety, Leadership & Civic Engagement, Art, Economic Development & Family Wealth, Youth & Education & Health & Wellness. Each area includes specific metrics and projects that the community plans to complete over the next five years.
LISC is excited to see what new successes this QLA brings for the OST/South Union community. To read the QLA, click here.
However, the Comprehensive GO Neighborhoods don’t just wait till every five to ten years but rather continue to assess the work throughout the period. Thanks to the work of the University of Houston Community Design Resource Center and others, LISC can share several other updates on the state of these neighborhoods including: