USI supports transformative work across the country where we partner with entities like Public Housing Authorities to community stakeholders and individuals living in the communities of focus. We lead and support efforts including:
- Choice Neighborhood Initiatives (CNI)
- Sustainable Communities
- Community-Based Crime Reduction (CBCR) Program
- Promise Zone
Our CNI Experience
Building upon the lessons of public housing transformation through more than 20 years of work with HOPE VI revitalization efforts, Urban Strategies has developed and demonstrated expertise in planning, implanting and supporting Choice Neighborhood Initiatives. From planning and technical assistance to implementation, we are currently engaged in Choice Neighborhoods to work in nine communities since the introduction of the program by HUD in 2010.
In 2011, Urban Strategies was awarded as the people implementer for two of the first-ever Choice Neighborhood Initiative grants resulting in over $9 million in supportive services funding for families, and nearly $52 million in housing and neighborhood revitalization funds. Urban Strategies was an integral part of two teams awarded Choice Neighborhoods Implementation grants out of only five finalists.
Urban Strategies has since been awarded CNI Implementation awards in nine additional cities including New Orleans, Louisiana (2011); San Francisco, California (2011); San Antonio, Texas (2012); Columbus, Ohio (2014); Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2014); Memphis, Tennessee (2015); Sacramento, California (2015); Louisville, Kentucky and St. Louis, Missouri (2016).
Sustainable Communities
University Place (formerly Lamar Terrace) & Legends Park (formerly Dixie Homes)
USI is currently coordinating CSS programs for three HOPE VI developments in Memphis in collaboration with Memphis Housing Authority (MHA) and lead funder Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis (WFGM). USI oversees Memphis HOPE, a local public-private partnership that provides comprehensive, personalized case management and service linkages for families who lived in these select public housing developments prior to the revitalization of those properties. Through Memphis HOPE, USI coordinates a diverse partnership network of service providers to provide comprehensive services for families. In addition to the three CSS Programs, USI and Memphis HOPE are also responsible for implementing the MHA’s ROSS program.
Through the partnership with MHA, WFGM and Memphis HOPE, significant economies of scale and sharing of expertise have been achieved by consolidating operational and staff resources. As result, MHA has made the momentous decision to use the Urban Strategies Memphis HOPE integrated service connection approach as the vehicle for future service delivery to all public housing and Housing Choice Voucher residents in the City.
Northpark at Scott Carver
In 2008, USI was engaged to create a community and supportive services work plan for the residents of the former Scott and Carver Homes, two adjacent public housing developments in Miami’s Liberty City community that were targeted for revitalization in 1999. Through its work, USI worked to engage the more than 1,000 households that were relocated from the sites as plans for new housing proceeded. USI currently leads the effort to employ a community plan with a collaborative group of service partners that provide the critical programs and resources necessary to ensure a healthy, strong and secure community.
Harmony Oaks (formerly C.J. Peete/Magnolia Housing Development) & Iberville (formerly Treme)
Harmony Oaks
In August 2007, USI initiated comprehensive case management and supportive services targeting families from the C.J. Peete public housing development that were involuntarily displaced throughout Louisiana and neighboring cities by Hurricane Katrina. USI launched an intense search effort in January 2008 to locate and serve 551 low-income families that faced numerous hardships that were exacerbated by their circumstances following their displacement. Currently, USI has located 85% of affected families and provides intensive case management and coordination of workforce development, education, youth development, healthcare and other supportive services.
Iberville/Treme
In 2011, USI was part of a team that was awarded a Choice Neighborhood grant in the city of New Orleans for the Iberville/Treme neighborhood. This historic neighborhood is deeply rooted in African-American culture, but is in incredible disarray and riddled with poverty and crime, which only worsened in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2006. USI is working diligently with the Housing Authority of New Orleans, HRI Properties, McCormack Baron, the City of New Orleans, and other critical stakeholders to transform the already culturally vibrant community into an economically vibrant one. USI has worked with residents to form a resident working team; together, USI and the Iberville Resident Working Team (IRWT) empower residents to set goals and give residents the tools and resources necessary to achieve these goals.
Renaissance Place at Grand (formerly Blumeyer), Arlington Grove & North Sarah (formerly 3501 Franklin)
Arthur A. Blumeyer at 3501 Franklin Ave / North Sarah
Through a partnership with the St. Louis Housing Authority, McCormack Baron Salazar, USI, and the Blumeyer Tenant Association (BVTA), St. Louis was awarded $7,829,750 from HUD to demolish its last remaining public housing high rise in 2011. The 143-unit development at 3501 Franklin Avenue currently houses 137 families, a large percentag
e of them headed by young women. The HOPE VI revitalization of the Blumeyer Family public housing high rise, 3501 Franklin (3501), represents the final stage in the transformation of the Arthur A. Blumeyer public housing site, most of which was rebuilt from 2001 to 2005 as the Renaissance Place community was developed. The families at 3501 Franklin will have priority to move to the new North Sarah community, a new 231-unit mixed-income development. The Blumeyer site will be redeveloped into a community park that serves the families of the adjacent neighborhood, Renaissance Place at Grand.
USI, in partnership with the St. Louis Housing Authority and the Blumeyer Village Tenant Association, continues to conduct outreach and resident engagement, and case management to the Blumeyer and North Sarah families through a comprehensive Community and Supportive Services (CSS) Program.
Arlington Grove

The Arlington Grove community is newly constructed mixed-income community located on the near north side of St. Louis. The development features 112-units of mixed-income rental single and multi-family units, including the complete renovation of the historic Arlington School into residential units. Urban Strategies currently provides post-revitalization support for Arlington Grove families, linking them to critical supports and to local programs and services.
Renaissance Place at Grand (formerly the Blumeyer Public Housing Development)
In 2001, the St. Louis Housing Authority (SLHA) designated McCormack Baron Salazar as master developer with Urban Strategies as sub-contractor responsible for all CSS activities under a $35 million HOPE VI revitalization program. Urban Strategies coordinated the CSS Program, case management, and resource development for programming under the project. The CSS program engaged a diverse set of partners to serve former Blumeyer families and new residents. Urban Strategies leveraged over $4 million in services and construction of a community center. Urban Strategies continues to employ a full-time Community Activities Coordinator who coordinates on-site services and provides ongoing support of the partnerships that were developed under the CSS Program.
CBCR Experience

The Innovations in Community Based Crime Reduction (CBCR) Program, (formerly known as the Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation (BCJI) Program) is part of BJA’s Innovations Suite of Programs. These programs invest in the development of practitioner-researcher partnerships that use data, evidence, and innovation to create strategies and interventions that are effective and economical.
Goals, Objectives, and Program Approach
The goal of CBCR is to reduce crime, increase trust, and improve community safety as part of a comprehensive strategy to rebuild neighborhoods and spur revitalization. Through a broad cross-sector partnership team, including neighborhood residents, CBCR grantees target neighborhoods with hot spots of violent and serious crime and employ data-driven, cross-sector strategies to accomplish this goal.
To achieve CBCR program goals, successful CBCR cross-sector teams commit to accomplishing the following objectives (these objectives may vary depending upon the type of CBCR grant award.)
- Convene, lead and meaningfully engage a broad cross-sector partnership team that must include law enforcement, other criminal justice partners, neighborhood residents, a local research partner or research team and relevant community stakeholders.
- Target communities with a concentration of chronic hot spots of violent and serious crime and/or opioid-related crime.
- Address crime issue(s) that must represent a significant proportion of crime or type of crime within the larger community or jurisdiction.
- Employ a range of data-driven, cross-sector strategies (enforcement, prevention, and intervention) connected with revitalization efforts to reduce crime and violence and improve community trust.
- Establish effective partnerships both to provide solutions and commit resources to sustain what works.
- Work closely with the CBCR TTA provider to implement a comprehensive and coordinated strategy.
- Assess program implementation in collaboration with research partners, and plan for sustainment of effective strategies with private and public state, local, and tribal funding.
For more information, on our St. Louis plan, click here.
Promise Zone
Promise Zones are high poverty communities where the federal government partners with local leaders to increase economic activity, improve educational opportunities, leverage private investment, reduce violent crime, enhance public health and address other priorities identified by the community. USI supports the designated Promise Zones of San Antonio, Texas and St. Louis, Missouri.
San Antonio
- In San Antonio, the Promise Zone to Work Initiative was launched and has since provided free job training certifications in nursing, construction, manufacturing, information technology, and heavy equipment for 106 residents. This effort is contributing to an overall decline in the unemployment rate; over the last four years, unemployment in the Promise Zone declined from 15 percent to 11 percent. Source
St. Louis City/County
- The Promise Zone, designated in 2015, encompasses portions of the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County. The federally designated areas were reviewed by representatives from several federal agencies and met qualifying criteria. The selected areas have high unemployment, high crime and mortality rates; significant numbers of vacant lots and abandoned buildings; and homelessness. The Promise Zone designation, which lasts 10 years, is a catalyst for ongoing collaboration and change that will drive regional growth and create a better, more inclusive St. Louis region. Source