Two towns seek to revitalize with Purpose Built model; Cape may use it as blueprint

Two cities. Two differing approaches to revitalizing struggling neighborhoods.

Both cities -- Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Rome, Georgia -- may offer a blueprint for redeveloping Cape Girardeau's south side.

Spartanburg and Rome have embraced the Purpose Built Communities redevelopment model, which originated in Atlanta in the mid-1990s to revitalize a poverty-plagued, crime-ridden neighborhood.

The successful effort there led to the establishment of the Purpose Built Communities consulting firm in 2000 to aid efforts to rejuvenate neighborhoods across the nation.

Cape Girardeau city and community leaders are exploring the possibility of using the Purpose Built model to help address poverty and reduce crime in the southern part of the city.

Kathleen Brownlee, vice president of Purpose Built Communities, has pointed to Spartanburg and Rome as two communities that have similarities with Cape Girardeau.

Both of those cities have populations just under 40,000. Both serve as regional hubs. Like Cape Girardeau, Spartanburg and Rome are college towns. Both have quality medical facilities.

The redevelopment areas in those towns are populated largely with low-income, minority residents.

Catalyst in Spartanburg

In Spartanburg, establishment of a medical school on the site of a former textile mill in 2011 served as a catalyst to redevelop Spartanburg's north-side neighborhood, said former mayor Bill Barnet.

Barnet chairs the not-for-profit Northside Development Corp., which is leading redevelopment in the 400-acre area. The development organization began as a land bank in 2011 but now serves as the "community quarterback" to steer revitalization and secure funding.

"We started buying up land. We went to various institutions and borrowed money or asked individuals to fund us," he recalled of the group's initial efforts.

"Even though we didn't really have a plan, We started buying up the property quietly," Barnet said.

Most of the structures were in bad shape, he said. "We bought foreclosed and abandoned housing and housing that was condemned, and we tore a lot of it down."

The neighborhood's population had been declining before the redevelopment effort began. There were many vacant houses. Once home to 5,000 people, the area now has a population of 1,500 to 1,800, Barnet said.

"We have been at it for five years, and we think next year is a big year for us," he said.

The city plans to build a community center. The Northside Development Corp. plans to build an early-learning center.

Barnet said there are plans to break ground next year on 120-plus affordable and market-price housing units.

"Right now, we have built about 15 single-family or duplex homes to show people the type of quality we are talking about," he said.

Northside Harvest Park, a farm-to-fork facility that opened in 2014, provides healthy produce within walking distance of neighborhood residents for the first time in a generation.

In Atlanta, redevelopment focused in part on establishing a charter school. In Spartanburg and Rome, the focus has been on working with the existing school district.

"Our goal is all around the education of these kids," Barnet said.

The area already was served by a public elementary school before the redevelopment effort took shape. Most of the students are black.

"You have to disperse poverty to make these schools successful," he said.

Barnet said that means drawing a more diverse population to the neighborhood,

"Our goal is to make this a community of choice for people who currently live there and for people to come in," he said.

The key to any revitalization effort is bringing residents on board with the vision.

"In any of these deals, it really comes down to trust," he said. "What you have to do is cultivate people who live in the community so they have confidence in and a voice in planning and executing it."

Neighborhood Group

Barnet's group works with an 11-member neighborhood group called the Voyagers.

Tony Thomas, a barber, is one of the leaders of the group. Thomas said his group helps keep residents informed about the redevelopment effort and runs a program that delivers food to homebound residents.

Thomas said substandard apartments will be torn down to allow for construction of a community center.

But the displaced tenants are receiving financial assistance to help with moving expenses and will be given first choice in relocating to new residential units in the neighborhood, he said.

Barnet said the Purpose Built Communities organization has been helpful in the redevelopment effort in Spartanburg.

"They give you a lot of experience and advice and some talented people," he said.

"They don't give you money," he added.

Barnet said the redevelopment effort requires community leadership and funding.

Ultimately, he said he hopes his group's redevelopment efforts will spur "private investors to come in and do the rest" to revitalize the neighborhood.

Learning in Rome

In Rome, revitalizing its south-side neighborhood has centered on providing quality education for the students who live there.

Joe Montgomery, who serves on the board of the not-for-profit South Rome Redevelopment Corp., said the neighborhood's public school was inadequate. It was replaced with a new elementary school in 2015.

"We worked with the school system to build a school that had dedicated space in it for an early-learning center," Montgomery said.

The redevelopment corporation provides the funding for the early-learning center, which serves 3-year-olds. The school district provides the space for the center in the elementary school.

"We had one classroom the first year," Montgomery said of the learning center.

A second classroom was added this year, and a third is planned for next year.

Each class is capped at a maximum of 20 students. The redevelopment group provides scholarships to assist families in paying the cost for their children to attend the learning center.

The learning center is staffed by educators and student interns from a nearby college. Montgomery said the result is a "world-class program."

"We have agreements with parents. If you want to be part of the program, you bring your child to school in the morning, you hold their hand and sign them in and sit with them until they get settled," Montgomery said.

In the afternoon, parents must pick up their children, sign them out and walk them to the car, he said.

Parents also are required to attend classroom sessions to learn how to help their children be better learners, Montgomery said.

The early-learning center provides a solid foundation for neighborhood children, who then move onto the elementary school's prekindergarten program the next academic year, he said.

A quality education is the key to successfully revitalizing the neighborhood, Montgomery said.

"This is the game-changer," he said.

All the physical redevelopment efforts alone will not address the poverty, he said. Education is the key to improving residents' lives, he said.

Boys and Girls Club

As part of the redevelopment effort in Rome, a Boys and Girls Club was built near the school.

The redevelopment group successfully campaigned for passage of a temporary, citywide sales tax to fund the project.

An anonymous donor has paid the membership fee for every student wanting to join the Boys and Girls Club.

"Those kids can walk out of their school and walk down the sidewalk to the Boys and Girls Club every day. It is a synergy that is powerful," Montgomery said.

Redevelopment efforts included opening of a community garden and a public health facility. Previously, there was no public health clinic in the neighborhood. Residents now can walk to the clinic, he said.

There also has been a focus on housing in the 2.2-square mile area. Seventy-seven apartments, primarily for low-income, elderly residents, opened in 2012.

The next phase is to build 84 mixed-income housing units, which will be divided among three locations.

The nearly $14 million project is slated for completion by December 2017.

Bekki Fox, Rome's community development director, said a private development company is constructing the units.

"They have the architects, designers and engineers," she said.

Change takes time

Fox and Montgomery said such efforts to revitalize the neighborhood take time.

"We are trying to combat generational poverty," Fox said.

Montgomery said his group has been working to redevelop the neighborhood for a dozen years. It has been only in the last five years major construction has taken place, he said.

Many of the projects have been funded with the aid of federal and state grants and tax credits.

"You can't expect to see change right away. You have to think in decades," he said.

"There have been naysayers and obstructionists at every turn," he said.

The key, he said, is to stick with it and reach out to neighborhood residents.

"It can't be a bunch of middle-aged, wealthy white people coming in and saying we are going to whip you into shape and then we are going to walk and leave," Montgomery said.

"You have got to be inclusive. You have got to build bridges with the community," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641