Through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Choice Neighborhoods Research Grants program, ICMA will be conducting place-based research on the role of local governments and local government entities, as well as other key project stakeholders in neighborhood transformation. The research, “Evaluating the Role of Local Government and Project Stakeholder Engagement in Choice Neighborhood Transformation Planning and Implementation,” will focus on case studies of three Choice Neighborhoods programs: Salisbury, North Carolina, Suffolk, Virginia, and Norfolk, Virginia.  

Choice Neighborhoods, which includes CN Planning grants and CN Implementation grants, builds on the successes and lessons learned from HUD’s HOPE VI Program. CN Planning grants provide funding to build the capacity a community needs to prepare to undertake a successful neighborhood transformation to create a “choice neighborhood.” These grants enable communities to create a comprehensive transformation plan, or road map, to transforming distressed public and/or assisted housing within a distressed community. This federal support provides a significant incentive for the local community to take critical steps to create viable neighborhood transformation. CN Implementation grants provide funding for communities that have already undertaken the comprehensive local planning process and are ready to move forward with their transformation plan to redevelop the targeted housing and neighborhood.

ICMA was one of four grantees awarded funding. The others are the University of California, Berkeley; Portland State University, and the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services.  For more information on ICMA's emerging research, contact Anna Read.