The City of Knoxville will celebrate National Community Development Week from April 9-14, with events showcasing a few of the many ongoing programs of the city's Community Development Division.
"Community Development touches the lives of so many people and it helps build stronger communities," said Mayor Bill Haslam. "That, in turn, makes the entire City of Knoxville a stronger and better place to live." Madeline Rogero is the director of Community Development, which administers programs that are revitalizing Knoxville's low-to-moderate income neighborhoods.
Rogero said Community Development leverages funding from the city, federal dollars and grant monies and targets those resources to make the greatest impact among the largest number of people. "What we want to do this week is feature some of the things that Community Development does for the city and its residents," Rogero said. "Our aim is to help people of modest means in the City of Knoxville achieve their goals whether that goal is buying their own home or training for some type of new employment or helping them start a small business."
Among some of the specific programs operated by Community Development are blighted property acquisitions where dilapidated properties are acquired by the city and then sold at very modest rates to buyers who will build homes on them.The department also operates a Façade Improvement Program aimed at improving the image and perception of small commercial districts in targeted areas. It is also involved in revitalization projects in the Five Points, Jackson Avenue, and Depot Street areas and coordinates the city's efforts in the Knoxville Empowerment Zone.
Among the activities during National Community Development Week are:
Tuesday, April 10 - Community Development is supporting the City of Knoxville and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's 2007 Small and Disadvantaged Business Conference. The conference will be 9 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. at the Foundry on the Fair Site, 747 World's Fair Park. For more information about the free conference please contact Joshalyn Hundley with the City of Knoxville at 215-3867 or Suzanne Wright at HUD at 545-4400, ext. 106.
Thursday, April 12 - There will be an Open House at 1013 and 1015 Tulip Avenue in Mechanicsville. The owner of this duplex, Laura Johnson, obtained the lot through the Community Development's Homemaker's program and built the duplex which is accessible for the disabled.
Friday, April 13 - There will be an Open House at Ironwood Studios, located at 119 Jennings Street.
Co-owners Preston Farabow and John McGilvray took part in the City's Façade Improvement Program for their building which houses Aespyre, Farabow's metalwork shop and McGilvray Woodworks among others and includes a gallery displaying work by Knoxville artists.