FORT WORTH (WBAP/KLIF)- The Fort Worth Stop Six Neighborhood will soon have more housing, amenities and job opportunities.
Demolition for the 1950s-era J.A. Cavile Place public housing community is underway to make room for a mixed-used development.
Known for its red brick buildings, Cavile’s 300 units were home to generations of Southeast Fort Worth families. All Cavile residents relocated to homes of their choice as of June 30, and the property closed. Former residents have the right to return to the community as new housing comes online over the next several years.
The Stop Six Choice Neighborhood Transformation Plan calls for modern apartment complexes to be built in six phases, a new community hub and an aquatics center. Construction of the first development, the Cowan Place senior living community, is scheduled to begin in Spring 2021 at Rosedale and Stalcup Road.
The Transformation Plan captures a shared vision for this valued area: to create a vibrant, sustainable community with the attributes – education, healthcare, safety, services, amenities – of a neighborhood of choice.
Among the most frequently cited needs by Stop Six Choice Neighborhood residents are job training, employment assistance, education for all , financial literacy training, and primary healthcare.
The Stop Six Transformation Plan proposes to build a new Neighborhood Hub at the heart of the community that will be a single, highly visible site from which residents can easily access such critical services. Programs will include an expanded EnVision Center, a YMCA, a Head Start Center, a public library, family case management services and a host of other programs aligned to resident needs.
The co-location of job training and Head Start early childhood services at the Hub will eliminate a primary barrier to self-sufficiency and will enable young parents to take full advantage of these resources.
The Stop Six Choice Neighborhood Initiative is a collaboration between Fort Worth Housing Solutions, the City of Fort Worth, Fort Worth ISD, McCormack Baron Salazar and Urban Strategies Inc., with support from numerous area agencies. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded FWHS and the City of Fort Worth a $35 million grant in April to seed revitalization of the neighborhood. The grant is expected to leverage $345 million in investment over eight years to transform the Stop Six neighborhood in southeast Fort Worth.
“The Cavile demolition marks a historic moment in Fort Worth and a shift toward the de-concentration of poverty,” said Lachelle Goodrich, FWHS Director for the Choice Neighborhood Initiative. “We’re creating the foundation for a stronger neighborhood with better housing and greater opportunity for residents,” she said. “Change is about to come.”
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development began its Choice Neighborhoods program in 2010 to leverage significant public and private dollars to support locally-driven strategies that address struggling neighborhoods with distressed public or HUD-assisted housing through a comprehensive approach to neighborhood transformation.
The program calls on local leaders, residents and stakeholders — such as public housing authorities, cities, schools, police, business owners, nonprofits and private developers – to collaboratively create and implement a plan to revitalize distressed HUD housing and catalyzes critical neighborhood improvements, including housing, businesses, community services and schools.
