NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) – A $30 million grant could speed up the process in bringing new opportunities and housing to the Southeast Community.
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development selected Newport News as one of six finalists for the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Implementation grant.
In 2016, the city and the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority (NNRHA) were awarded $500,000 to come up with a plan “to help revitalize and transform a portion of the Southeast Community.”
The $30 million, if awarded, would help put the plan into action.
“If you don’t have strong, thriving neighborhoods, you can’t have a strong, thriving city,” said Britta Ayers, manager of comprehensive planning.
Poverty hovers above 53 percent and unemployment sits at 14 percent in the one-mile radius, which includes public housing neighborhoods that Ayers says are in the most need of help.
Yugonda Sample-Jones, who’s lived near Marshall Courts for 12 years, says progress has been slow moving since she moved from the Eastern Shore.
“I definitely see potential,” Sample-Jones said. “You just have to have that faith and that hope that it’s going to change.”
While the city is committed to improving the area over the next 10 years, Ayers says the work could be done in 5-7 years with the grant.
The plan includes demolishing the 259 units at Ridley Place and building 520 new units. A workforce development center and co-working space are also in the works, says Ayers.
“We want this to be a community of choice,” she said. “This is really going to transform the community. It’s something they will most definitely be proud of in the long run.”
