28TH LEGISLATIVE
DISTRICT
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
The 28th Legislative
District Community Development Corporation (28th CDC) is
a private, locally initiated non-profit community development
corporation created to improve the quality of life for all
residents of the community and act as a catalyst for economic and
community development for the Chattanooga neighborhoods that
comprise the 28th Legislative District. They are the
low-moderate income designated neighborhoods of Alton Park,
Avondale, Bushtown,
Dalewood, Downtown (which includes several Renewal designated
neighborhoods), Eastdale, East Chattanooga, Glenwood, Highland
Park, Orchard Knob, Piney Woods, South Chattanooga, and the mixed
income and neighborhoods of means that include St. Elmo, Missionary
Ridge-North
North Chattanooga, Red Bank,
Riverview and Lookout Mountain.
Most of the communities that have
been designated by the city of Chattanooga as communities of need
are within the 28th CDC service area. These communities
are populated by individuals with low or marginal incomes, high
incidences of school drop out rates, under employed (or higher
unemployment rates) a significant number of public housing
residents, and families dependent on public assistance as well as
large numbers of single-parent households. These are communities
whose conditions belie a disturbing reality: few opportunities for
economic improvement.
The 28th CDC was
chartered in 1993 in the State of Tennessee and received its
501(C) (3) IRS tax-exempt
designation in July 1995. A maximum 21 member volunteer Board of
Directors governs it with one non-voting honorary member. Board
representation consists of public sector, private sector, and
low-moderate income community residents or persons residing in
low-moderate income neighborhoods.
The 28th CDC is an
organization of many accomplishments. Once a neophyte seeking to
carve out a niche in community development, it is now an
established and well-regarded source for making positive changes in
some of the city of Chattanooga’s most unstable neighborhoods.
Forging partnerships that range from local, state and federal
governments to for-profit corporate friends and neighborhood and
civic organizations has resulted in over $5 million dollars in
grants and other funds being received and administered by this
non-profit corporation in the past ten (10) years as we provide
opportunity for change through: Affordable Housing, Community
Revitalization, and Economic Development.
Among the CDC ‘s primary
concentration to date has been the development and provision of
affordable housing that is changing the look of housing styles
found in Chattanooga’s inner-city communities. As a result of its
approach to urban housing development, the Department of Housing
and Urban Development
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The 28th
Community Development Corporation
(HUD) and the city of Chattanooga
acknowledged the 28th CDC in 2001for a “Best Practice” recognition.
The 28th CDC is
currently engaged in two major economic development and community
revitalization initiatives. One is a mix-use development to be
constructed on Martin Luther King Boulevard in the downtown
“renewal” community. It will consist of over 20,000 square feet of
retail and housing condos. The Chattanooga Renewal Community has
awarded a Commercial Revitalization Deduction worth nearly $1
million to this project. The value of which will be passed through
to the platform businesses that will comprise the commercial floor
of the development
The other economic
development initiative is a 15,000 square feet Resource and
Enterprise Complex that will be developed in the Bushtown
community, the oldest African-American neighborhood in the City of
Chattanooga. It will feature culinary arts entrepreneur training as
the anchor program in this facility.
The 28th Legislative
District Community Development Corporation recognizes that building
better communities involves more than brick and mortar, which is
why two economic development conferences with participation on a
national base have been held by this organization. The only local
non-profit CDC to undertake an event of this magnitude, the first
conference held in 2000 and titled “Beyond 2000: Creating A Better
Tomorrow Today” was attended by over 500 individuals and featured
author, political pundit and television personality, Tavis Smiley,
as
the conference keynote
speaker. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson nationally renowned teacher and
author set the tone for the 2001 conference by expounding on
“Fixing America at the Grassroots Level”. In 2003, the 28th
CDC chose to highlight the importance of art in addressing quality
of life factors. A “Tribute to the Ladies of the Blues” was held
featuring three women of note in the music industry. Broadway and
Tony award winning star Linda Hopkins, European diva Joan Faulkner
and Ms. Peggi Blu (considered one of the best session singers in
the music business today) provided an entertaining and fun filled
evening of the indigenous southern art called the “blues”.
In its quest to “improve the
quality of life” for community residents, the 28th CDC
has partnered for the past three years with Kappa Alpha Psi
Fraternity and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity to sponsor a Minority
Health Fair that has provided health screening and health education
opportunities for over 1000 individuals who have been able to gain
early entry into the health care arena and possibly decrease major
health care disparities.
The 28th CDC, chartered
in 1993, was not staffed for the first few years of its existence.
Its volunteer board initially operated the 28th CDC with technical
assistance from the Southeast Tennessee Development District, a
regional planning agency that engages in economic and community
development over a nine (9) county service area in Tennessee,
Georgia and North Carolina.
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