Stories of Philanthropic Leadership in Advancing Regional and ...

The Regional Plan Association then launched its EastHarlem Community Link Initiative. Supported bythe Ford Foundation, it began working then with theEast Harlem community to design and implement astrategy aimed at countering potential exclusion anddisplacement. This part of Harlem, also known as“El Barrio,” is the traditional heart of New YorkCity’s Puerto Rican community. It is now home to adiverse mix of Puerto Ricans, more recent Latinoimmigrants, and African Americans, and hasexperienced increasing gentrification pressures sincethe late 1990s. The East Harlem Community LinkInitiative is designed to strengthen the community’svoice in planning for subway construction and toensure that resulting development benefits localresidents and businesses.An early success was winning approval for a station atthe crossroads of East Harlem. The MTA’s plansoriginally called for Second Avenue Subway stationsat 96 th Avenue, 106 thAvenue, and 125 thThe East Harlem Community Avenue. In thisLink Initiative is designed to configuration, therestrengthen the community’s would be no stationvoice in planning for subway for almost 20blocks, a stretchconstruction and to ensurewhich includedthat resulting development116 th Avenue,benefits local residents and historically thebusinesses.main commercialstrip for EastHarlem. Again, theEast Harlem Community Link Initiative, led byRPA, was at the center of a successful campaigninvolving elected officials, community interests, andmedia to add a station at 116 th Avenue.Fruitvale Transit VillageThe second project in this profile is The UnityCouncil’s Fruitvale Transit Village (Fruitvale Village).Fruitvale is a highly diverse, inner-city neighborhoodin Oakland, Calif. Though predominantly Latino,people of many nationalities reside there (Chinese,Laotian, Pakistani, Filipino, Eastern European) and47 percent of neighborhood residents were bornoutside of the United States. It is also aneighborhood that has struggled under the weightsof segregation and concentrated poverty. In 1990,Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officials developed aplan for a parking garage adjacent to an existingBART station without meaningful communityinvolvement. Fruitvale community membersobjected to the garage’s location and set thefoundation for an ongoing community-basedrevitalization effort centered around the BARTstation and transit-oriented development, whichevolved into the Fruitvale Village Project.Since its inception in 1993, the Fruitvale VillageProject has evolved into an exciting model for innercityredevelopment which will support a number ofamenities: commercial/retail shopping area, largepedestrian plaza, and comprehensive communityservices ranging from health care to child care. It hasbecome a national model of smarter growthpractices, transit-oriented development, andcommunity-based planning. With the assistance ofthe Fruitvale Development Corporation, a supportcorporation of The Unity Council, the Village willalso house The Unity Council’s headquarters, apublic library, several community organizations, acomputer technology center, a senior center, and 47units of housing. The goal of the Village is to work incoordination with the Fruitvale Main Street Program(an effort to make the Fruitvale district safer, clean,attractive, and economically successful) to revitalizethe Fruitvale commercial corridor. The effort is tolink this diverse community and thousands of dailycommuters to the services, businesses, and variousmodes of transportation offered by the Fruitvaleneighborhood.The mission of The Unity Council is to help buildthe assets of families and low-income communitiesthrough a comprehensive program of sustainablephysical, economic, and social development. TheCouncil, formerly called The Spanish Speaking UnityCouncil, was founded in 1964, incorporated in1967, and received 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in1968. Since that time, the Council has been anonprofit community development organizationcommitted to enriching the quality of life of familiesprimarily in the Fruitvale District of Oakland. Itsprimary focus has been to create a healthier and safercommunity for families and residents.Funder InterestAccording to the Ford Foundation’s acting director ofthe Community and Resource Development Unit,Carl Anthony, the Foundation recognized that theRegional Plan Association was one of the nation’sREGIONAL OPPORTUNITYPart III: Section 3: Connecting to Regional Opportunity 102