Community Invited To Monday Neighborhood Planning Meeting
Aim is to transform southwest quadrant into a place of opportunity and economic growth
The Asbury Park community is invited to participate in the launch of the city’s West Side Choice Neighborhood Transformation Plan meeting being held 5:30 p.m. Monday at the Asbury Park Senior Center, located at 1201 Springwood Ave.
The meeting is a follow up to the September 29 meeting held at St. Stephens AME Church on Springwood Ave that provided an introduction behind the initiative to revitalize the southwest quadrant.
Heralded locally by City Manager Michael Capabianco [below left], Director of Planning Michele Alonso [shown in featured photo], the Asbury Park Housing Authority and its Board of Commissioners, the meeting will begin with a presentation prior to participants breaking off into working groups.
The collaborative input in crafting a comprehensive plan to help transform the neighborhood into a place of opportunity and economic growth is a required part of a $500,000 Choice Neighborhoods grant the city received from the US Department of House and Urban Development.
Once the comprehensive plan is crafted, the city will become eligible for up to $2 million in funding to help with its implementation.
Stakeholders like Interfaith Neighbors, educational institutions and social service organizations will work in conjunction with residents in crafting a vision for area.
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- HUD Choice Neighborhood
A successful transformation plan depends on meaningful input from Asbury Park residents, organizers said in written invitation. Joining a working group is your chance to discuss issues that are important to you and work towards meaningful, actionable solutions.
Working groups will meet periodically over the next year and a half, Alonso has said. The goal is to provide equitable housing for the city’s most vulnerable residents, design amenity-rich pedestrian friendly blocks, and create tailored supportive services that meet residents’ most pressing needs.
Residents from across the city gave input at the September event, which led to the working group categories participants will now begin to vet.
The Working Groups include:
Community Health: addresses community health services, access to healthy foods, and promoting healthy lifestyles.
Education: addresses academic achievement, higher education, and job preparation.
Employment and Economy: addresses regional job access, career advancement and job training, and poverty reduction
Housing: addresses affordable housing preservation and production, homeownership, and mixed-income communities.
Public Safety: addresses police-community relationships and crime prevention.
Transportation and Placemaking: addresses open space and public art, as well as Asbury Park’s application to receive Transit Village status from the state of New Jersey.
Youth: addresses youth programming and services for at-risk kids.
For more information, visit asburyparkchoice.com or contact Michele Alonso via email at michele.alonso@cityofasburypark.com or Asbury Park Housing Authority Chair Daniel Gibson at dgibson@lbhousing.org.
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