Neighborhood Revitalization
CONTACT USEVENTSText Box: At the inaugural conference of the James W. Rouse Forum on the American City, former chairman of the FannieMae Foundation, James A. Johnson stated, “when Americans think of the ideal place to live not nearly as many as we would like think of our great cities. For a generation, stated Johnson, social dislocation, poverty and crime defined the image of the American City. Cities absorb the full impact of our nation’s struggles with race relations, income inequity and moral decay. Again, according to Johnson… “For too many, the very word “urban”’ became synonymous not for culture or opportunity but with some of the nations greatest problems. For a generation, the dynamic of social movement in our nation has been dominated not by migration to the cities but flight from them, as families sought better schools and safer streets.” However, continued Johnson, “a culture and economic renaissance is well underway in many American cities. The seeds of urban rebirth so carefully sown by thinkers and doers like Jim Rouse, who refuse to give up on America’s urban promise, are bearing fruit.” Johnson cited decreasing urban crime rates, rising city homeownership and “new alliances” between central cities and the suburbs as positive signs of this rebirth. The Stark County Out of Poverty Partnership was founded on the belief in America’s urban promise. Moreover, SCOPP firmly believes that many of the community building strategies, themes and techniques that have proven successful in rebuilding distressed neighborhoods in other communities can be successful in rebuilding the City of Canton’s distressed neighborhoods. By partnering with the City of Canton, the Stark Community Foundation, Community Building Partnership, ABCD, Project Rebuild and other community stakeholders SCOPP provides a number of neighborhood revitalization programs and initiatives that include: The Canton Neighborhood Improvement Program (CNIP) Willow Park Single-Family Homes The Young Street Corridor Project The Summit Economic Development Project City of Canton Neighborhood Revitalization Program For additional information on SCOPP’s Neighborhood Revitalization Program contact Jay Murdock at (330) 489-5489 or by email at jmurdock@scopp.org.

"By building an image of the possible, we not only leap over a lot of roadblocks that would defeat us, we also generate a whole new constituency of people who want to see that image realized. By creating the image of the rational potential of a city, we generate the power to carry it forward. Without vision, there is no power. Piece-by-piece, project-by-project, never harnesses the power that is available to the city." 

James W. Rouse founder of the Enterprise Foundation.