All-America City projects: South Bend, Ind., teams with Notre Dame to revitalize a neighborhood
June 9, 2009 at 12:30 pm by Wayne Garcia
Construction at Eddy Street Commons, a mixed-use development that is part of the NNRO project.
This afternoon’s featured community in the National Civic League’s 2009 All-America City Awards (the conference convenes in Tampa next week) is South Bend, Ind.:
South Bend, Indiana
The Northeast Neighborhood Revitalization Organization (NNRO)
Facing dismal retail and housing trends in its Northeast Neighborhood, the City of South Bend brought together neighbors and leaders from the University of Notre Dame along with three key institutions within or on the neighborhood borders: Madison Center, Memorial Hospital of South Bend and Saint Joseph’s Regional Medical Center. They incorporated the NNRO in 2000 as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit for the neighborhood’s social, physical and economic revitalization. The institutions served as funding partners, committing a collective $1.75 million over the initial five years. This community partnership has resulted in transformed relationships among neighbors, the university, and private and public sectors, as well as in hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in retail, residential, and commercial development.
Thirty cities, towns, neighborhoods and communities are vying for recognition as an All-America City at the June 16-18 conference at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel. Each will give a short presentation on three public-private civic projects they undertook before a panel of judges names the best. Tampa is one of the finalists.
Former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman is the president of the National Civic League this year and a big proponent of these kinds of partnership projects. During her tenure, in 1990, Tampa was named an All-America City. Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason is also involved, as a member of the Host Committee.
