In a partnership with the city of St. Louis and Forest Park Southeast residents, Washington University has received a $2.4 million five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to establish a new neighborhood Center for Revitalization. The University, city and existing community-based organizations will work together through the center to revitalize the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood of St. Louis, using a pool of almost $8 million from the project's multiple partners.
"The HUD award recognizes Forest Park Southeast residents' outstanding efforts to reverse the deterioration and reclaim and restore their streets and homes," said William A. Peck, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs, dean of the School of Medicine and president of the Washington University Medical Center. "The comprehensive combination of our redevelopment staff's expertise, the support from the city of St. Louis and Mayor (Freeman) Bosley, the work of U.S. Sen. (Christopher) 'Kit' Bond, and the dedication and tenacious concern of the area's residents sold HUD on this proposal."
HUD requested proposals from higher learning institutions to undertake large-scale, long-term community revitalization programs in partnership with local governments and community residents.
"I am excited to see this kind of public-private partnership developing between our neighborhoods and our outstanding community leaders like Washington University Medical Center," said Mayor Freeman R. Bosley Jr. "One of my priorities as mayor of this great city is to rebuild, revitalize and rejuvenate every street, block and neighborhood in St. Louis."
Only five of the more than 100 applying universities received the Joint Community Development Program awards, which are administered by HUD's Office of University Partnerships.
"The proposed program promises to create a model that other colleges and universities can use to make a difference in the lives of the people, neighborhoods and cities around them," said Michael A. Stegman, assistant secretary for policy development and research at HUD.
The Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corp. (WUMCRC) will implement the project. During the past 20 years, WUMCRC has revitalized the area north of the medical center by spurring about $430 million in residential, commercial and institutional reinvestment. The medical center redevelopment effort has received national acclaim.
WUMCRC will funnel $1.6 million in matching funds into the Forest Park Southeast project. The funds are being provided by the medical center's sponsoring institutions: Barnes, Children's and Jewish hospitals of BJC Health System; Washington University; and the Central Institute for the Deaf.
The city of St. Louis will bring as much as $3.4 million to the project by maintaining its existing level of funding to the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood, subject to the availability of Community Development block grants from HUD and approval of the Board of Aldermen. The city also will make HOME and HOPE III funds available for selected rehabilitation projects in Forest Park Southeast.
Peck said the University also was grateful to Alderman Joseph D. Roddy, D-17th Ward, for agreeing to provide $500,000 over five years from his discretionary capital improvements budget. This commitment will help the neighborhood achieve its goal of upgrading its infrastructure.
Forest Park Southeast lies south and east of Washington University Medical Center. Consisting of more than 45 city blocks, it is bounded by U.S. 40 on the north, Kingshighway on the west, Vandeventer Avenue on the east, and Missouri Pacific railroad tracks on the south. It has more than 4,000 residents, nearly 2,000 residential units and about 170 commercial, institutional and industrial buildings.
Following an era of decline in the 1960s, Forest Park Southeast became stable in the early 1980s because of a wellspring of community pride and commitment and successful redevelopment immediately north. But the past decade has brought gangs, guns and drug dealers to its sidewalks. Although many buildings have been maintained or restored, portions of the neighborhood's nearly century-old infrastructure are crumbling and a growing number of buildings are neglected or abandoned.
Despite these problems, Forest Park Southeast is ripe for revitalization. Neighbors are involved in the community, the level of volunteerism is high, and there is enviable economic and cultural diversity. The area enjoys proximity to Forest Park and the medical center, has a convenient midtown location and is accessible to U.S. 40, major thoroughfares and the Metro Link.
"Washington University, the city of St. Louis and the Forest Park Southeast residents are to be congratulated on their vision for the redevelopment of one of the city's declining neighborhoods," said Republican U.S. Sen. Christopher S. "Kit" Bond. "HUD was right to support this vision with a sizable grant that will help this public/private partnership make the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood a great place to live." Bond is chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee responsible for funding HUD.
The revitalization project will draw on existing resources, including the not-for-profit Forest Park Southeast Housing Corp., Forest Park Southeast's block units, area institutions, businesses and local and state governmental services. "The grant will assist us in bringing about some of the changes we have envisioned for the neighborhood," said Alice F. Pollard, a neighborhood resident and president of the board of directors of Forest Park Southeast Housing Corp. "Forest Park Southeast will be an example of what can happen in an inner-city neighborhood when people get together and put forth the effort to re-create the type of environment we had 20 years ago."
Revitalization plans include preserving the current residential mix while substantially increasing homeownership by buying and rehabilitating dilapidated buildings and converting two- and four-family flats into marketable rental units and affordable townhouses; establishing a management-assistance program to help landlords improve the quality of their rental units; starting a pilot repair program for existing homeowners; and increasing security by expanding the Neighborhood Safety Network and a supplementary patrol of off-duty St. Louis police officers.
Other plans are to create, with the help of the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, a consortium of social-service providers in order to pool and expand existing resources, and to beautify the neighborhood by improving streets and lighting and landscaping public spaces, with advisory support from the University's School of Architecture and School of Engineering.
The grant proposal was prepared by Suzanne Goodman, assistant director, WUMCRC; Eugene R. Kilgen, executive director, WUMCRC; and the staff of the Forest Park Southeast Housing Corp. They worked closely with Peck and Richard A. Roloff, executive vice chancellor. Goodman and other members of the planning team met with numerous agencies and community groups to obtain input into the proposal. Seventeen supported the application by submitting letters to HUD.
The other universities receiving the HUD awards are Yale University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Clark University in Worcester, Mass. The competition for the grants was intense, according to HUD.
-- Linda Sage
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