HUD Secretary Donovan Hosts Roundtable with New York City Faith-based Leaders

Secretary Donovan addressing New York Faith-based leaders as Stephen Murphy, Senior Advisor, listens attentively.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan visited the New York Regional Office on February 27 to host a roundtable discussion with New York City faith-based leaders on a myriad of subjects, including the Department's Choice Neighborhoods Initiative and the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force. The Secretary also discussed a new program called "Promise Zones," which seeks to promotes America's manufacturing industry, create meaningful jobs for the 21st century, and establish public-private partnerships to address the ills of the country's most distressed communities. The Secretary was particularly excited to discuss strengthening the Department's Choice Neighborhoods program through increased funding levels in the proposed FY 2013 budget.

The Secretary noted that New York City was one of 17 entities from across the U.S. that received a Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant of $300,000 in October 2012, in which the funding will be used to craft a comprehensive, community-driven plan to revitalize and transform distressed city neighborhoods.

As background, HUD's Choice Neighborhoods Initiative promotes a comprehensive approach to transforming distressed areas of concentrated poverty into viable and sustainable mixed-income neighborhoods. Building on the successes of HUD's HOPE VI Program, Choice Neighborhoods links housing improvements with necessary services for the people who live there - including schools, public transit and employment opportunities.

The awardees announced last October were selected from among 72 applications. Successful applicants, such as New York City, demonstrated their intent to plan for the transformation of neighborhoods by revitalizing severely distressed public and/or assisted housing while leveraging investments to create high-quality public schools, outstanding education and early learning programs, public assets, public transportation, and improved access to jobs and well-functioning services.

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