Investing in People, Not Just Places, Delivers Positive Results for Families

USI Highlights Why Housing Revitalization Must be Paired with People-Centered Community Investment

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Recent research from Harvard's Opportunity Insights confirms that families living in communities in HOPE VI revitalization sites experience significantly improved long-term outcomes when community programs are present. Experience from community transformation efforts across the country affirm these findings. These positive outcomes are the direct result of intentional strategy, sustained investment, and authentic partnership.

According to Esther Shin, president and CEO of Urban Strategies, Inc. (USI), the success of these efforts is rooted in comprehensive, people-centered approaches which include community-based competent, trust-based support; collaboration that multiplies impact; coordinated, individualized family support; expanded access to opportunities that changes children's trajectories; human capital investment paired with housing revitalization; and authentic community voice and leadership.

"The Opportunity Insights study underlines what USI and other nonprofits working in this space have known and what we have worked tirelessly to address since our founding – that families know what they need and systems should listen to the earned wisdom, to align in service to those needs. Our collective successes have grown over the years by utilizing programs like HOPE VI and Choice to support children, families, and communities actualizing their journey towards thriving," Shin said.

Since 1978, Urban Strategies, Inc. (USI) has partnered with cities and housing authorities to secure public and private resources. USI currently serves over half a million people in 63 communities across the country. "What starts out as a housing transaction becomes something far more powerful; a national model for how low-wealth families can not only stabilize but thrive," Shin added. 

USI's recent work, Framing the Future with Love, reinforces what decades of practice have shown; trust, consistency, and genuine care are not soft concepts, they are structural necessities. Families persist when systems are reliable, relationships are authentic, and support does not disappear when funding cycles end.

Community revitalization policies are rooted in evidence and experience and not bias and assumptions. Unlike housing construction, where progress is visible within months, human transformation unfolds over years and decades. Programs such as HOPE VI and Choice Neighborhoods demonstrate that comprehensive community transformation works, but only when investments extend beyond housing to include health, economic opportunity, education, housing stability, and community engagement.

Urban Strategies, Inc.
Founded in 1978, USI is a national nonprofit leader that works at the intersection of housing, community and economic development. USI supports communities undergoing revitalization while working with partners to develop economic opportunities, cradle-to-college/career success, high quality health services and a range of comprehensive service supports. The organization is leading people efforts and neighborhood transformation in 63 communities across the nation. USI's mission is to promote community-based economic development by leveraging investment and providing access to services, financing, and strategies that create sustainable businesses and clear pathways for families and neighbors to build generational wealth and live stable, prosperous lives. For more information: www.usi-inc.org

SOURCE Urban Strategies, Inc