2000115-Strengthening-Communities-with-Neighborhood-Data

Using Data for City and Regional Strategies 261
access to what has been described as a “hard-to-find” and poorly maintained
public asset. In the proposal, the City of Gresham committed to
developing a master plan and a natural resource management plan for
the expanded 12-acre park. Metro awarded $220,000 to the city for the
project, which has increased the number of children served, according to
Labbe, by approximately 134 percent, and the number of people of color
who can easily access the park by approximately 214 percent. Since the
award, the collaboration has expanded so that now Verde (a nonprofit
organization that offers green jobs workforce training to low-income
youth), the Columbia Slough Watershed Council, Human Solutions (a
community development corporation), the Rockwood Neighborhood
Association, and Catholic Charities are involved in the project, which is
integrating access to nature, green jobs, and urban agriculture into what
could have been solely an environmental restoration project.
Cornelius, a city of 11,875 on the western edge of the metropolitan
region, is exactly the kind of community in which the Nature in Neighborhoods
program could have a major impact. It is park deficient, low
income, and largely Hispanic. But community members couldn’t figure
out how to obtain the required capital asset to qualify for funding dollars.
As long as they focused on parks, trails, or greenspaces, they were stymied;
there didn’t appear to be any opportunities. But Navarro encouraged
them to think about the kinds of public works projects they would
like to see in their community. The “re-greening” aspect of the program
doesn’t limit the projects to existing parks, trails, and natural areas; it can
apply to any public works project. Soon discussion developed around the
possibility of cleaning up, for pedestrian use, an alleyway that was covered
in asphalt and lined with dumpsters. It was, according to Navarro,
“as far from green as you can possibly go.” 3
The first opportunity to redevelop in the area came when the Virginia
Garcia Memorial Health Clinic, a nonprofit community health care
provider serving migrant farm workers, received a $12 million federal
stimulus package to redevelop their entire block. Across the street is the
Centro Cultural, a community center that serves the Latino community.
With the idea of developing an environmentally powerful and sustainable
project that could qualify for funding under the Nature in Neighborhoods
grant program, a partnership was developed that included
not only the Virginia Garcia Health Clinic and Centro Cultural, but also
Adelante Mujeres (which provides education focused on sustainable,
organic agricultural practices for the clinic’s community garden), the