North Hartford Promise Zone Visited

Patrick McKenna (left) of Community Solutions discusses plans for the Swift Factory with New England Regional Administrator Jim Reed.

Annette Anderson guides New England Regional Administrator Jim Reed through Nelton Court, a North Hartford Promise Zone public housing development.

On May 18, 2016, HUD's newly appointed New England Regional Administrator Jim Reed visited the Hartford Field Office and toured the North Hartford Promise Zone (NHPZ) with Field Office Director Suzanne Piacentini.

Mr. Reed and Ms. Piacentini met with Gina Muslim and Patrick McKenna of Community Solutions to tour the Swift Factory, which is closely integrated with the NHPZ initiatives (https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/promise-zones/promise-zones-second-round-urban-designees/). They discussed future plans for the site which will be a food and job creation hub.

Mr. Reed and Ms. Piacentini also toured the Nelton Court public housing development with Annette Sanderson, Executive Director of the Housing Authority of the city of Hartford. Nelton Court was completed in the fall of 2015 and 97% ($26.4 million) of the entire project was funded by HUD. It features handicapped accessible units and is a smoke-free community. The community features 80 spacious walkup units with green space buffers and a community center.

Mr. Reed lauded the work being done by the Promise Zone participants and urged them to display symbols that will foster further community support for future Promise Zone projects.

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