Gainesville receives federal grant to revitalize East University Avenue neighborhood

Nora O'Neill, Gainesville Sun
·2 min read
1

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has given Gainesville $500,000 as part of a neighborhood initiative program to transform east Gainesville, the city announced at a press conference Friday.

The HUD Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant is meant to revitalize public housing and encourage community development, said Pamela Davis, the CEO of Gainesville Housing Authority. The city hopes to transform 1.5 miles of east Gainesville.

“I'm just so thankful,” Mayor Harvey Ward said. “This city is blessed with lots of great opportunities for collaboration and a lot of tremendous folks who are able to take advantage of the opportunities that come down to us from the federal government, from the state government, and to make the most of our community together. Today is a great example of one of those opportunities.”

City Manager Cynthia Curry, Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut, Mayor Harvey Ward, Gainesville Housing Authority CEO Pamela Davis, GHA Chairperson Angela Tharpe and GHA COO Malcolm Kiner announce the HUD grant at a press meeting Sept. 15, 2023.
City Manager Cynthia Curry, Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut, Mayor Harvey Ward, Gainesville Housing Authority CEO Pamela Davis, GHA Chairperson Angela Tharpe and GHA COO Malcolm Kiner announce the HUD grant at a press meeting Sept. 15, 2023.

More: City accepts $8M grant to redesign University Avenue and make it safer

More: City Commission votes to ban open containers 24/7, planning new 'entertainment districts'

Gainesville is one of 14 cities across the county to be awarded this grant, said Malcolm Kiner, the COO of Gainesville Housing Authority. The two-year planning grant is the first step in bringing the community together, including residents and nonprofit organizations, to work on a plan for revitalizing a portion of the University Avenue corridor, officials say.

Cities and municipalities who excel in the planning stage may sometimes be awarded a HUD implementation grant for the choice neighborhood, Ward added. Those grants, previously given to communities such as Tampa and Miami-Dade, are closer to tens of millions of dollars.

“Those are transformative grants,” the mayor said. “It's real money that stretches across the community into the business community, into the schools… ultimately to the benefit of folks who need it the most — people who are trying to find a way up and out of poverty. And that’s what we’re focused on here.”

The Gainesville Housing Authority will host the first planning meeting on Sept. 27 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Multipurpose Center from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Community members and neighborhood residents are invited to attend.

“What the grant focuses on is basically three pillars, those being housing, people and neighborhoods,” Kiner said. “The work is now just being started.”

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: City gets $500,000 to revamp East University Avenue neighborhood