Six Syracuse community development advocates have been selected for national fellowship growing local neighborhood stabilization efforts.
Washington, D.C. – The Center for Community Progress (Community Progress) is honored to announce six Syracuse, New York residents have been selected to join the 2022-23 Community Revitalization Fellowship (CRF); a nationwide training program that aims to grow resident driven efforts to combat vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties.
The program equips fellows to better advocate for and lead change that improves vacant, abandoned , and deteriorated properties through creative placemaking. The fellowship will also build the capacity of a key institutional partner in each community to provide ongoing local support to the fellows and their neighborhoods.
“These resident-leaders have already done incredible work to address vacancy and abandonment in their own neighborhoods,” said Dr. Akilah Watkins, CEO and president of Community Progress. “We are excited to help them increase the effectiveness of their neighborhood interventions and build and strengthen relationships with each other and their local partners.”
About the Community Revitalization Fellowship
Community Progress’ Community Revitalization Fellowship is a learning opportunity for participating fellows to gain knowledge about neighborhood stabilization and revitalization strategies, tools, and systems.
Each year, six resident leaders from three communities (eighteen people in total) are selected as fellows. These cohorts participate in learning exchanges in each other’s communities that feature a mix of technical and leadership trainings as well as local neighborhood tours. Through involvement in the program, each cohort will become better equipped to advocate for and lead change that improves vacant ,abandoned, and deteriorated (VAD) properties.
Over the course of the fellowship, residents will learn to better lead community-based efforts to improve VAD properties, specifically through the practice of creative placemaking.
Syracuse Fellows Partner with Local Land Bank
The Syracuse fellows will join twelve community leaders from Loiza, Puerto Rico and Braddock/East Pittsburgh/North Braddock (BEN), Pennsylvania to collectively learn revitalization strategies for neighborhoods struggling with vacancy , abandonment , and disinvestment.
Over the course of the fellowship, fellows will build upon creative placemaking efforts which highlight the diverse communities and cultures that call the historically redlined communities of the Northside, Southside, and Westside home. Their existing initiatives include the Salt City Market, the Sankofa District, and the Westside Gateway Projects, spanning from community gathering places to art installations.
The institutional partner for the Syracuse fellows is the Greater Syracuse Land Bank, which works to return vacant, abandoned, underutilized, and tax-delinquent properties to productive use in ways that support the community’s vision for its future. The land bank acquires and stabilizes properties, markets them to responsible buyers for redevelopment, and assembles larger parcels for long-range redevelopment plans.
Responsible redevelopment of these properties increases surrounding property values, improves the quality of life for nearby residents, and stabilizes the tax base, enabling local governments to provide essential services. The land bank ensures its properties are sold to qualified developers with sufficient financing and appropriate plans, and for purposes that benefit the surrounding community. In this manner, the land bank helps empower residents, rebuilds neighborhoods, and reverses the deterioration of housing stock and the decline of the property values in Syracuse.
“We are honored to Syracuse selected to participate in the Center for Community Progress’ Community Revitalization Fellowship Program,” said Katelyn Wright, Executive Director of the land bank. “this is a great opportunity for our team of resident leaders to learn from other communities and experts, to bring good ideas home to Syracuse, and work with neighbors to develop a project that will beautify and engage the community.”
The Syracuse fellows are:
- Patrona Jones-Rowser
- Oceanna Fair
- David Haas
- Rasheada Caldwell
- Syeisha Byrd
- Ed Griffin-Nolan
The Community Revitalization Fellowship is made possible through the generous support of the Oak Foundation and The Kresge Foundation. For more information on the program, fellows, or neighborhood revitalization, contact melkin@communityprogress.org.
Center for Community Progress – Founded in 2010, the Center for Community Progress Is a national leader for building strong, equitable communities where vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties are transformed into assets for neighbors and neighborhoods. Today, Community Progress has affected change in more than 48 states and serve countries through leadership education and collaborative systems, policy, and practice reforms. Simply, we work to transform “Vacant Spaces into Vibrant Places.” For more information visit communityprogress.org
