The city of Evansville plans to grant $100,000 to Habitat for Humanity of Evansville Inc. to put together a plan to revitalize the historic Jacobsville neighborhood. As part of the plan, Habitat will build new homes and rehabilitate existing homes in the area.

Evansville Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel is pleased to announce the City of Evansville’s intention to grant $100,000 to Habitat for Humanity of Evansville, Inc., to lead the development of a comprehensive community development plan for the revitalization of the Jacobsville neighborhood, which is roughly bordered by Division St., Diamond Ave., Garvin St., and First Ave. The grant will come from County Option Income Taxes and is subject to approval by Evansville City Council, with the first reading this evening.

“The Jacobsville neighborhood has a deep history; proud, hard-working residents; and, judging by the number of people coming together on this initiative, a very bright future,” said Mayor Weinzapfel. “I know that Habitat has the leadership, manpower, vision, and passion necessary to bring the Jacobsville community together to make this initiative a resounding success.”

Both the City of Evansville and the Jacobsville Area Community Corporation (JACC) approached Habitat about serving as the lead convener for this project, in part due to the success of a similar planning effort in the Glenwood neighborhood. JACC, a 501(C)(3) formed in 2002 to improve the physical, economic and social environment of the Jacobsville area, has already done extensive work toward developing a comprehensive development plan.

As the lead convener, Habitat will work closely with JACC and other groups actively pursuing the goal of a revitalized, sustainable Jacobsville area to bring key stakeholders together to help ignite the process to push existing revitalization efforts forward. Habitat will facilitate the planning process; conduct a needs assessment, community engagement activities, market analysis, neighborhood surveys, and focus groups; and promote capital investment. In addition, Habitat will build new homes, rehab existing homes, and weatherize existing homeowner-occupied homes in Jacobsville.

After information regarding needs and wants of key stakeholders has been gathered, community discussions will then be held in an effort to frame the primary issues. These community discussions will be held quarterly and will take place over the next two years.

Playing lead convener fits well into the scope of Habitat’s work. In 2010, Habitat International invited Habitat for Humanity of Evansville to join its Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (NRI). Habitat is one of about 40 Habitat affiliates working on procedures that will guide neighborhood development at the national level. The initiative involves expanding its housing solutions in an effort to serve more families.

Source: City of Evansville & InsideINdianaBusiness.com Report

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