Anchor organizations, Fifth Ward CRC and Pleasant Hill CDC, currently engaged in the revitalization of Houston’s 5th Ward, are expanding their work in bricks and mortar development and planning to a comprehensive approach that also focuses on the individuals and families that express an interest in wanting to improve their quality of life through a conglomerate of resources available through The Center for Urban Transformation.
Led by the 2 anchors, a collaboration of Houston organizations and institutions established the Center for Urban Transformation in the 5thWard to provide community members a better continuum of services, bridge gaps, drive innovative cross-sector programming, and expand resident capacity to lead change. A team of representatives from collaborating partners developed a strategic plan that will guide implementation of the new initiative. The collaboration includes:
· Attorney Joel Androphy / Berg and Androphy
· Baylor College of Medicine
· Can Do Houston
· Houston Habitat for Humanity
· Kinder Institute at Rice University
· Legacy Community Health
· Pleasant Hill Ministries and A Fifth Ward Coalition of Churches
· Yes Prep School - Fifth Ward
The collaborative has initially focused its’ energy in these areas: Education - “Empowering Educational Equity in Houston’s 5th Ward” a report of recommendation from the community for the community for Houston ISD; Health and Wellness - welcoming a new Legacy Community Health Center; and Social Injustice and Inequalities – a pro-bono strategic partnership between Berg & Androphy and Pleasant Hill to level the playing field and to eliminate to the extent possible the well-documented, racially motivated convictions and sentences that make a successful life for at-risk youth with criminal cases an impossibility. Most recently, Harris County District Attorney Ogg and leadership from Houston's Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation, Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, and Berg & Androphy engaged in dialogue and strategies to best bring about the cultural changes necessary to effect system-wide improvement as it relates to criminal justice and the inequities among minorities and low income individuals, particularly youth.
Exciting New Details Coming Soon!