Freedmen’s Town Community Investment Initiative Launches
June 21 2024 - 5:53PM
Business Wire
Today, the Freedmen’s Town Community Investment Initiative
launched with the goal of equitably revitalizing the once-thriving
Black Houston community. The Initiative aims to increase affordable
housing and commercial spaces, establish and fortify
community-serving businesses, foster economic mobility, and
preserve cultural landmarks in Freedmen’s Town.
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IMAGE DISTRIBUTED FOR FREEDMEN'S TOWN
COMMUNITY INVESTMENT INITIATIVE - Zion Escobar, founder and CEO of
the Freedmen's Town Community Investment Initiative, leads a
walking tour of the neighborhood during the organization's launch
event in Houston on June 21, 2024. The first pilot project
spearheaded by the Initiative is the Victor Street Historic Rehab
Project, a landmark effort that will restore the last row of 10
iconic shotgun houses built in Freedmen's Town in 1930. The
Initiative will also add six new accessory dwelling units (ADUs),
transforming Victor Street into a beacon of heritage and progress.
The units are designed for families earning 30-80% of the area
median income (AMI) and are backed by a 99-year deed-enforced
affordability covenant. (Danielle Villasana/AP Content Services for
Freedmen's Town Community Investment Initiative)
Initiative leadership is working hand-in-hand with neighbors,
ensuring that the efforts reflect the needs and aspirations of the
Freedmen’s Town community today and into the future.
"Freedmen's Town, Houston's oldest Black settlement and a child
of Juneteenth, was once a thriving place of possibility," said Zion
Escobar, founder and CEO of the Freedmen’s Town Community
Investment Initiative. "Today, it remains a community of high
potential that’s deserving of our collective investment. Our goal
is to catalyze the economic and cultural revival of this historic
neighborhood, ensuring its prosperity for generations to come."
After emancipation was proclaimed in Texas on June 19, 1865, the
formerly enslaved founded Freedmen’s Town, quickly turning it into
a cultural center. By 1930, Freedmen’s Town was its own Black Wall
Street, known for its successful businesses as well as popular
restaurants and jazz clubs. Ultimately, redlining, extractive
development, and the building of Interstate 45 through the
community contributed to Freedmen’s Town’s decline.
This first-of-its-kind Initiative addresses the need for
additional affordable housing and will restore homes that have been
vacant for decades, allowing current residents to remain in
Freedmen’s Town and displaced residents to return to the
community.
The Initiative aims to strengthen the community’s connection to
its legacy of excellence as a thriving entrepreneurial district and
cultural mecca. Anticipated outcomes include increased
community-serving businesses; the preservation of cultural
landmarks; enhanced economic growth; and strengthened community
pride and engagement.
The first pilot project spearheaded by the Initiative is the
Victor Street Historic Rehab Project. This landmark effort will
restore the last row of 10 iconic shotgun houses built in
Freedmen’s Town in 1930. The Initiative will also add six new
accessory dwelling units (ADUs), transforming Victor Street into a
beacon of heritage and progress. The units are designed for
families earning 30-80% of the area median income (AMI) and are
backed by a 99-year deed-enforced affordability covenant.
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