LISC KC & Partners Present on Empowered Neighborhood Planning

LISC partnered with Community Capital Fund, Livable Neighborhoods, Center for Neighborhoods, Youth Ambassadors, and Bridging the Gap to organize the 11th Annual Community Development Workshop (CDW). LISC led a session titled Empowered Neighborhood Planning: How neighborhoods, nonprofits, and consultants can partner to share how LISC, Washington Wheatley Neighborhood Association (WWNA), and Accomak Development Group partnered to create development and resiliency plan for the Washington Wheatley neighborhood.

With funding from a HUD Community Development Block Grant COVID-19 (CCBG-COVID19), LISC worked with three neighborhoods to create development and resiliency plans – where each neighborhood defined what development and resiliency meant to them. Neighborhood leaders and LISC partnered to put together a scope of work, issue a request for proposals (RFP) for consultants, and interview and select a consultant. Each neighborhood then worked with their own consultant on development and resiliency plans, a neighborhood action project, and participated in a disaster response and preparedness training.

The intended audience was varied and was geared towards organizational staff, neighborhood residents and leaders, and consultants.

• For Organization and City staff: LISC (Amanda Wilson) shared takeaways of the overall project and how organizational staff can best work with and empower neighborhood associations on projects through the process of developing the project scope, RFP, and consultant contracts and payments
• For Neighborhoods: Washington Wheatley Neighborhood Association (Marlon Hammons and Robin Humphrey) shared how they engaged and increased resident participation, revived their Housing Committee, created a neighborhood minor home repair program, positioned themselves to drive the type of development they want for their community, worked with a consultant, and developed an RFP for neighborhood-owned vacant lots
• For Consultants: Accomak Development Group (Nailah M’Biti) shared how consultants can build the capabilities and expertise of neighborhood associations and residents throughout a project and how working alongside a neighborhood looks different than typical real estate development project work.

If you missed this great presentation, you can view the slidedeck here and a recording here.