FRI One of 13 Organizations Selected by Citi Foundation and Low Income Investment Fund as part of “Partners in Progress” Initiative
Hatcher Station Village, a modern, mixed-used development in South Dallas, came closer to reality today with an announcement in New York City that Frazier Revitalization, Inc., (FRI) received a $250,000 grant from Citi Foundation to increase economic progress as part of the Partners in Progress (PIP) initiative.
The initiative, backed by the Citi Foundation and the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), is designed to increase capacity of trusted local organizations to create strong, resilient neighborhoods and paths to economic opportunity.
“Hatcher Station Village is a catalyst for making connections with education, jobs, health care and community,” said FRI project leader Andrea Hills, who is in New York to receive the grant. “This grant will boost our ability to plan and attract economic development and much needed services in the Frazier neighborhood of South Dallas/Fair Park.”
FRI, born out of the dreams of Frazier Neighborhood residents, was formed in 2005 for the purpose of providing leadership for implementation of the Frazier Neighborhood Master Plan prepared by noted architect and urban planner Antonio Di Mambro. FRI’s mission is to be a catalyst for the revitalization and transformation of Frazier by coordinating, supporting, and assisting in economic and cultural development.
The proposed Hatcher Station Village is located on a 7-acresite across the street from the DART’s Green Line Hatcher Station. While plans are still being developed, the easy access to DART makes this project a cornerstone for economic opportunity in South Dallas, connecting the neighborhood to resources in health care, education, job training and employment.
Through the PIP grant, FRI and 12 other grantees will be able to initiate or deepen their efforts to become “community quarterbacks.” In this role, FRI will lead the development or expansion of local stakeholder networks to improve places-the physical environment of a community including housing, transit, and safety- and create opportunities for people-such as jobs, child development, education, and health. PIP funding will enable grantees to engage and align an expanded range of partners, share knowledge, and use data to drive project design. In addition, grantees will participate in a learning community that will include coaching and skill building.
“Recognizing that there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to improving economic opportunity, we know the quarterback model works to align smart approaches with smart financing,” said Nancy O. Andrews, President and CEO of LIIF.
“The Partners in Progress initiative is focused on identifying and supporting organizations that have the credibility and potential to be local community development champions,” said Pamela Flaherty, President & CEO of the Citi Foundation.
The impetus behind the PIP initiative came from Investing in What Works for America’s Communities, a book LIIF co-published in 2012 with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, which asserts that flexible and dynamic community quarterbacks could transform local community development efforts that are often fragmented and duplicative. The Citi Foundation supported LIIF’s work on the original book, and the PIP initiative now aims to advance the community quarterback model across the nation.
To learn more about the PIP program, visit www.partnersinprogressproject.org.
Follow PIP on Twitter, @PIPCommunities, and like the PIP Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/partnersinprogressproject. To learn more about FRI, visit http://www.fridallas.org.
About the Citi Foundation
The Citi Foundation is committed to the economic empowerment and financial inclusion of low- to moderate-income individuals and families in the communities where we work so that they can improve their standard of living. Globally, the Citi Foundation targets its strategic giving to priority focus areas: Microfinance, Enterprise Development, College Success, and Financial Capability and Asset Building. In the United States, the Citi Foundation also supports Neighborhood Revitalization programs. The Citi Foundation works with its partners in Microfinance, Enterprise Development, and Neighborhood Revitalization to support environmental programs and innovations. Additional information can be found at www.citifoundation.com.
About the Low Income Investment Fund
The Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) invests capital to support healthy families and communities. Since 1984, LIIF has served 1.5 million people by investing $1.4 billion. Over its history, LIIF has provided financing and technical assistance to create and preserve affordable housing, child care centers, schools, healthy food retail, health clinics and transit-oriented developments in distressed neighborhoods nationwide. LIIF’s work has generated $26 billion in family income and societal benefits. LIIF has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C. For more information about LIIF, visit www.liifund.org.
About Frazier Revitalization, Inc.
FRI’s mission is to be a catalyst for the revitalization and transformation of the Frazier Neighborhood by coordinating, supporting, and assisting in economic and cultural development. FRI’s core areas of expertise include real estate development, community outreach and engagement, and collaboration with diverse sectors and organizations.
CONTACT: Andrea Hills, 214-500-1586, ahills@fridallas.org
Frazier Revitalization Inc. Is On the Move
Today, Frazier Revitalization Inc. Chairman Richard Knight and President and CEO Jon Edmonds issued the following statement:
Frazier Revitalization Inc. was created in 2006 with a simple but profound mission: to lay the groundwork for the physical and social revitalization of the Frazier neighborhood for the benefit of its residents. This year, 2010, the intervening years of preparation – primarily acquiring key parcels of land and building relationships – will bear dramatic fruit.
To begin to reverse decades of physical decay, FRI has formed a partnership with the nation’s most successful, most progressive developer of urban projects, McCormack Baron Salazar. Together, we will build the first transit oriented development (TOD) in southern Dallas, located on DART’s new Green Line at the intersection of Scyene and Hatcher. This mixed-income, mixed-use project will include affordable rental housing, market-rate condominiums, retail, office and other commercial space. It will set the standard and open the door for other TOD projects in the neglected southern half of our city.
But building buildings isn’t enough: Bringing new life to a community means building up the people as well. So FRI has expanded its staff, adding individuals dedicated to helping residents combat unemployment and crime, steer young people away from trouble and into productive paths, and become more effective advocates for themselves and their neighbors. We’re delighted to have hired Hank Lawson, Victoria Hicks and Tabatha Smith from the Foundation for Community Empowerment. They’ll join Jon Edmonds, Charlotte Wallace, Quincy Guinyard and Lois Edmonds in working full-time on behalf of the Frazier community.
A New Look for FCE and FRI
Don Williams, the founder and Chairman of the Foundation for Community Empowerment and Frazier Revitalization Inc. issued the following statement:
The Foundation for Community Empowerment was born 15 years ago to support the valiant people and organizations that labor to lift up South Dallas and make Dallas a whole city. It was never our intention to create a permanent institution driven by the universal institutional imperative to persist and grow. Instead, our goals were:
- To change the conversation about the disparities that damage our community and our citizens;
- To recognize and enhance the work of others that is effective in erasing those disparities;
- To challenge and remedy systemic injustice;
- To build relationships between the people who know poverty intimately - and therefore are best equipped to find solutions - and those with the power to implement those solutions.
Friends of FCE, are probably familiar with the many paths we have ventured down in fulfilling that mission. As our understanding of the dynamics of poverty grew, so did the nature and scope of our work. Yet, the idea at the core of our approach never wavered: that FCE’s role was to illuminate, to enhance, to support, but not to own either the problem or the solution. We always understood that, at some point, whether the issue was affordable housing, quality public education, or any other factor in the poverty equation, we would necessarily hand off the solutions we helped create to others better able to oversee their long-term implementation.
Thus, in 2006 we created Frazier Revitalization Inc. to spearhead the physical and social rebirth of that historic neighborhood near Fair Park. In 2008 we donated the J. McDonald Williams Institute to the University of Texas at Dallas, where it was rechristened the Institute for Urban Policy Research.
This year, the process continues. We’re pleased to announce the following changes:
- The Dallas Education Foundation will assume continuing oversight of the Dallas Achieves school transformation initiative which FCE helped launch three years ago. This unprecedented effort has produced substantial gains in academic achievement across Dallas ISD. When we launched Dallas Achieves to help Dr. Michael Hinojosa turn the district around, Dallas was tied for 5th with San Antonio among the 6 urban school districts in Texas. It is now tied with Houston for 1st. The percentage of 9th graders who go on to graduate has risen from 58% to 67%. The work of transformation continues, and the Dallas Education Foundation will maintain the external oversight needed to ensure that progress does not flag.
- Frazier Revitalization Inc., under the leadership of Jon Edmonds, will take on FCE’s community engagement role, which is a natural complement to FRI’s work on the physical, bricks-and-mortar side. To accomplish its expanded mission, FRI has hired three members of the FCE staff: Hank Lawson, Victoria Hicks and Tabatha Smith. After several years of painstaking land assembly, FRI expects to break ground in 2010 on the first Transit Oriented Development in southern Dallas in partnership with the nation’s premier urban developer, McCormack Baron Salazar. On the community building front, 2010 will see the launch of an exciting new crime fighting initiative and expanded efforts by the Unify South Dallas coalition to help residents become an educated force for resident-driven, resident-centered revitalization.
I will remain on the FRI board, but it will be chaired by Richard Knight. Richard will ably chair the board and help Jon steer the organization to new and greater heights.
As for FCE, it will continue to administer several important grants designed to improve early childhood education and to engage other community issues. Marcia Page has completed her tenure as a loaned executive from Texas Instruments; Dorothy Hopkins will serve as CEO and will be supported by FCE’s longtime office manager, Maggie Diaz.
As we mark this latest transition, I want especially to recognize Marcia for her superb work on behalf of FCE and, particularly, Dallas Achieves. She did an absolutely splendid job, one of the most difficult and yet well accomplished performances I’ve ever seen. For myself, using FCE as a base, I will continue to pursue a variety of special projects that are close to my heart, such as community gardens and the future of Fair Park. Since I started this journey more than 15 years ago, I have met the most remarkable people in South Dallas, doing the most remarkable things, usually at great personal sacrifice. It’s been a humbling privilege for me to get to know and count them as friends.