Who Is Racine Revitalization Partnership
A Quick Look at RRP
Building on a foundation of diversity, the Racine Revitalization Partnership will provide social and economic opportunities by uniting the community through work, housing, and commerce that supports healthy and vibrant neighborhoods.
RRP will create thriving and healthy neighborhoods with a stable mix of home ownership, quality rentals, business resources, and an opportunity for quality employment and education for all residents of the City.
RRP’s purpose is to stimulate smart, community-driven reinvestment in target neighborhoods. Mired in blight and high levels of non-owner occupancy Uptown, Racine is RRP’s current focus area to stop the cycle of housing instability. RRP’s goal is not to gentrify and displace, but to develop vacant and neglected properties, increase property values, introduce cultural diversity and build confidence in a demoralized and marginalized neighborhood. Additional benefits include increased homeownership rates, reduction in crime, and workforce training opportunities. Statistically it is proven that stable housing increases school attendance, reduces in dropout rates and increases employment successes. Health outcomes are also a measurable indication of stable and decent housing.
Who is Racine Revitalization Partnership?
The Racine Revitalization Partnership is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving neighborhoods that have suffered from many years of disinvestment and neglect. Once thriving cities during our industrial past have become vast areas of vacant and underutilized real estate that is frequently exploited and lacking robust investment. It is the mission of RRP to build on the neighborhood’s foundation of diversity and create economic opportunities by uniting the community through work, housing, and commerce.
RRP is a 501c3 tax–exempt nonprofit organization founded by seven local nonprofit organizations with assistance from the City and County of Racine. Those seven nonprofit organizations are Continuum of Care for the City and County (Homeless and Housing Alliance), Great Lakes Community Conservation Corps (GLCCC), Homeless Assistance Leadership Organization, Inc. (HALO), Housing Resources Incorporated (HRI), Racine County Economic Development Corporation (RCEDC), Racine Housing and Neighborhood Partnership, Inc. (RHNP), and Racine Neighborhood Watch, Inc. (RNW).
Current Goals
- Encourage a mix of homeownership that includes home ownership and quality rentals creating safe, healthy, and vibrant neighborhoods.
- All neighborhoods should be inclusive and economically diverse encouraging support systems that buttress education and employment opportunities
- High-quality affordable housing with increased home ownership opportunities will provide housing stability and reduce unrealistic housing expense burdens.
- Neighborhood access to great schools with improved educational opportunities will lead to employment opportunities that provide family supporting wages.
Our Values
Racine Revitalization Partnership values economic diversity within a framework of underlaying social justice. Empowering our neighborhoods through action plans and executable projects will provide a stable foundation for our neighbors to improve economic outcomes for future generations.
Background
RRP has modeled after successful community and economic development efforts in similar communities that have leveraged hundreds of millions of dollars. We seek participation from for–profit businesses and other community stakeholders to help develop a financially viable organization to engage in comprehensive (economic, social, and environmental) neighborhood revitalization efforts in Racine. The Partnership’s first targeted area for neighborhood revitalization efforts will be the Uptown Neighborhood. We are excited to utilize facets of the Uptown Neighborhood Strategic Plan to help guide our initial work. With ongoing support, we are implementing the Uptown plan and securing results in the areas of economic development, housing, and an engaged workforce of underserved groups within our neighborhood.
Goals and Strategies Expanded
Security: Safe, clean, and attractive neighborhoods.
Diversity: An economically and ethnically diverse community
Housing: High-quality housing and increased home ownership opportunities
Business: Attractive and appropriate retail, commercial, industrial development that can provide family-supporting jobs for neighborhood residents.
Education: Great schools and improved educational opportunities.
Resident Participation:
Involve neighborhood residents in the revitalization process and use their involvement in the process to help them achieve personal growth.
Collaboration:
1) Create partnerships between private businesses, nonprofit institutions, and government.
2) Partner to ensure the most efficient use of limited resources.
Economic Inclusion:
1) Create an investment-friendly environment to foster economic development in the neighborhood.
2) Utilize investments in housing and other projects to leverage job training, employment opportunities, and contracting opportunities for our residents.
3) Work with financial institutions to ensure our residents and businesses have equal access to federally-insured banking institutions that will provide households with the opportunity to conduct basic financial transactions, save for emergency and long-term security needs, build a solid credit history, and have access to credit on fair and affordable terms.
Economic Democracy & Justice:
1) Action plans & projects will benefit the neighborhood.
2) In prioritizing action plans or projects, financial benefits will be balanced with social, humanistic, and economic justice benefits for neighborhood residents.
3) Resident self-reliance shall be promoted through increased access to financial literacy programs, job training, banking, and economic opportunities.
4) All residents should have access to an affordable, safe, and decent housing.
Neighborhood Empowerment:
1) Neighborhood self-reliance.
2) Residents’ personal growth and leadership.
3) Ownership (homeownership and business) by residents.
4) Citizen-led initiatives.
Collaboration:
1) Create partnerships between private businesses, nonprofit institutions, and government.
2) Partner to ensure the most efficient use of limited resources.
Economic Inclusion:
1) Create an investment-friendly environment to foster economic development in the neighborhood.
2) Utilize investments in housing and other projects to leverage job training, employment opportunities, and contracting opportunities for our residents.
3) Work with financial institutions to ensure our residents and businesses have equal access to federally-insured banking institutions that will provide households with the opportunity to conduct basic financial transactions, save for emergency and long-term security needs, build a solid credit history, and have access to credit on fair and affordable terms.
