HUD Announces Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants

Last week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the most recent awards for planning grants through the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative. Nearly $5 million dollars in grants were made to 17 communities across the country, with awards ranging in size from $250,000 - $300,000. The Choice Neighborhoods Planning grantees will use the funds to develop "Transformation Plans" aimed at improving distressed public and/or assisted housing in their community.

The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative seeks to support distressed communities as they develop and enhance the sustainability of public and assisted mixed-income housing, seek to improve a host of other outcomes in areas such as education, employment, and health, and work to strengthen the networks of services in hopes of transforming the entire community. It is one of the key programs of the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, a federal inter-agency effort to transform some of our nation's most challenged communities into "neighborhoods of opportunity."

For a list of 2012 planning grantees and award sizes, please visit here.

Please view our previous blog posts for more information about the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative and the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, and stay tuned for award announcements for the Choice Implementation Grants.