IN THIS ISSUE:

 Grantee Spotlight: Southern University at Shreveport Helping Revitalize the Martin Luther King Neighborhood
 Convening Partners with an Urban Extension at Drexel University’s Dornsife Center
 Creating a Culture of Health: the Role of Hospitals and Healthcare Systems

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Grantee Spotlight: Southern University at Shreveport Helping Revitalize the Martin Luther King Neighborhood

The Business and Community Development Center houses a business incubator and offers economic and community development services. Credit: Southern University at Shreveport

The historic Martin Luther King neighborhood, located on the northern side of Shreveport, Louisiana, is home to Southern University at Shreveport. The community and its historically black university are working together to revitalize the neighborhood, which is facing infrastructure problems and housing blight challenges. From 2002 to 2007, the university’s Division of Community and Workforce Development used a series of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Community Outreach Partnership Centers grants from HUD to develop a small business incubator and community development hub. With that foundation, the division has joined with local partners on a number of initiatives, including a small business development program and a community development corporation.

From Business Incubator to Small Business and Community Development Hub

The Division of Community and Workforce Development was created to connect Southern University at Shreveport with the community, according to Darrin Dixon, director of the division’s Small Business Development program. With assistance from the city and state, the Southern University System, and HUD, the division improved services at its microbusiness enterprise incubator and then moved the incubator to larger building in the Martin Luther King neighborhood where it could provide expanded services. The division offered customized employee training for existing businesses, job training for the unemployed, and other economic development services; the division also offered homebuyer education courses and homebuyer assistance, but services were reduced following the recession because of decreased funding.

Completed in 2009 and named the Business and Community Development Center, the building includes the division’s offices and the space needed to conduct its economic development activities. These activities have included several financial assistance programs for local businesses, such as the Business Opportunity Grants program, which has awarded up to $2,500 to more than 60 small businesses for equipment purchases. Other activities have included BizCamp, an entrepreneurial training program for youth.

The center also has eight business suites, all currently occupied, for its incubator program. The anchor tenants for this portion of the center are the neighborhood’s first full-service bank and LiftFund, a nonprofit providing loans and business services to low- and moderate-income business owners. Other tenants in the incubator program have included a speech therapist, a counseling service, an employment agency, and a tax services group. In addition to providing office space at below-market rents, the center also offers business counseling and coaching, access to office equipment, and clerical support. The incubator provides technical assistance to an average of 125 businesses throughout the region each year.

The Southern University at Shreveport Community Development Corporation

The Southern University at Shreveport Community Development Corporation was established in 2009 with the primary purpose of improving properties owned by the university in the Martin Luther King community. Using a Historically Black Colleges and Universities grant, the community development corporation undertook a capacity-building program and increased its staff, although limited funding has since reduced its activities.

The community development corporation also used the grant to acquire a 1.4-acre site on Dr. Martin Luther King Drive near the Business and Community Development Center. Initially, the corporation intended to attract a large grocer and delicatessen to the property to make fresh produce available in the community, which is considered to be a food desert. Although a study found that a grocery was not economically feasible, “[w]e had a lot of people who had an interest [in fresh produce], and there are not a lot of other options,” according to Irma Rogers, president of the Martin Luther King Community Development Corporation and board member of Southern University at Shreveport’s community development corporation. The alternative, a farmers market, had been a goal mentioned by residents during preparation of the 1998 North Shreveport Regional Development Plan.

The long-sought farmers market was finally realized when the Shreveport/Caddo Parish Metropolitan Planning Commission approved a rezoning application in August 2015. Operating for a few weeks before summer ended, the Martin Luther King community farmers market was a great success, according to Dixon. Clyde Adams, a farmer from the nearby town of Greenwood, agrees. Adams says that the community was thrilled to have access to the tomatoes, greens, peas, squash, watermelons, cantaloupes, and other produce that he sells, adding, “It’s a great pleasure for me to have others enjoy my produce.” Roberta Payne, who sells “The World’s Hottest Pepper Sauce,” agrees that the farmers market has been a success. “The people in the community were so glad [the market] was there. They’re really participating and they bought all kinds of things.” In fact, Payne says, she sold her entire stock of hot sauce during the market’s first week.

Revitalization in the Martin Luther King neighborhood is well on its way thanks to the combined efforts of Southern University at Shreveport, the community, and other partners. If the community wants continued partnerships with the university, Dixon foresees more mutually beneficial improvements because the anchor institution’s efforts have “only just begun.”

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