Market Creek Plaza - Center for Community Innovation

Market Creek Plaza
The Resident Ownership of Neighborhood Change
August 2006

The Area
• Long-term
disinvestment
• “Four Corners of
Death”
• Target for “dumping”
unwanted land use
• No visible signs
of public or private
support

Our Key Questions
1. Is resident-led neighborhood revitalization
possible?
2. How do we avoid wide-spread displacement?
3. Can we successfully bridge this community
to the larger region?
4. Can we help residents build hope, skills, and
economic success while rebuilding their own
neighborhood?
5. Can we create sustaining community
resources?

Our Theory
For change to be sustaining,
residents must own their own change —
• Own the plans (builds vision)
• Own the implementation (builds capacity)
• Own the assets (builds wealth)

The Opportunity
1998

The Site
• Redevelopment
“hot spot” for over
15 years
• Viewed as
unbuildable &
unbankable (no
access,
contamination,
surrounding blight)
• Seen by City as
possible bus
parking lot
• Flood plain risk

What We Tried
• Throw out all
preconceived
strategies
• Ask / listen / learn
• Share decisionmaking
with
residents

Owning the Plans
• Can-do spirit and strong social networks
• Over 3,000 involved
IMPACT
• Skills in organizing, facilitation, land planning
• Experience working in cross-cultural teams

Owning the Implementation
IMPACT
• Skills, capacity & strong economic networks
• Over 500 involved
• Nearly 200 jobs; payrolls of $6 million
• 65% of construction; 5 contractors bonded
• 6 locally-owned businesses financed & launched
• 22 micro-entrepreneurs in retail venue
• 6 youth business launched

Owning the Assets
IMPACT
• Strategy for building wealth and recycling value
• Teams trained in securing project capital, as well as
personal finance and investing
• Community development IPO — 10% preferred
return to 450 stakeholders
• Neighborhood-based community foundation —
over 1,000 residents involved
• Revenues & project value recycled into
neighborhood — $15.7 million over 10 years

Taking The Vision To Scale
• 45-acre mixed-use
transit-oriented
development
• $250 million multicultural
village
• 830 homes
• 250,000 sq. feet of
commercial space
• Integrated
community services
• Resident planned,
built, owned

Guiding Principles
Build Relationships
• Commit
• Surround every
problem and
opportunity with
a team
• Do with not for

Guiding Principles
Organize to Support the Work
• Work across social and
economic disciplines
• Let no corporate
structure be a barrier
• Be ready to change

Guiding Principles
Listen to All Voices
• Listen broadly as a way
of doing business
• Encourage and
embrace differences
• Look for “both/and” not
“either/or”

Guiding Principles
Take Risks
• Risk not seeing the
outcome up front
• Shared risk requires
shared accountability
• Risk change in your
own organization

Guiding Principles
Who Decides and Who Benefits Matters
• Owning the plans =
Vision
• Owning the
implementation =
Capacity
• Owning the assets =
Wealth
Power
Leverage
Sustainability