Opa-locka Community Development Corporation Receives Our Town Grant From the National Endowment for the Arts

OPA-LOCKA, Fla., July 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Opa-locka Community Development Corporation (OLCDC) announced that it will receive an Our Town grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The $250,000 grant, one of only 51 awarded nationwide, will go toward strengthening the arts in the Opa-locka community.

Our Town is the NEA's latest investment in creative placemaking, through which partners from both public and private sectors come together to strategically shape the social, physical, and economic character of a neighborhood, town, city, or region around arts and cultural activities.

"Communities across our country are using smart design and leveraging the arts to enhance quality of life and promote their distinctive identities," said NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman. "In this time of great economic upheaval, Our Town provides communities an opportunity to reignite their economies."

The "Community Gateways" project will remove the remaining metal barricades that have divided the city for thirty years; redesign the community's intersections to serve as inviting entryways to a newly-reborn residential and mixed-use neighborhood; and provide public open space with environmentally functional landscape design.  OLCDC and Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs are partnering to select an artist team that will work with existing architects, landscape architects and project developers to implement this public art component of the redevelopment of the Magnolia North neighborhood. A group of artists, architects, urban designers, and various other community members will collaborate on the design of six gateways, which will serve as emblems of the project's goal: that public art works not serve as stand-alone fixtures in space, but as integral elements of the public realm. The OLCDC plans to designate pavement, planters, lighting, seating, landscaping, and building features all as potential "canvasses" for the community.

"We are proud to be one of 51 grantees nationally and extend our sincere gratitude to NEA," said Willie Logan, founder and president of OLCDC. "The Community Gateways project will be one of the first steps in implementing our exciting community-wide vision to completely revitalize the neighborhood and transform it into a vibrant, safe, and beautiful community of choice."

Opa-locka mayor Myra Taylor sees the initiative as an opportunity for the city to assume a new image, both in town and throughout the region.

"We are rebuilding our structures, upgrading our infrastructure, and mobilizing the community," Taylor said. "This grant will help fundamentally change how Opa-locka is viewed by its residents and our neighbors throughout the area.  I am looking forward to seeing the end product of beautiful art work in Opa-locka."

OLCDC was recently awarded $20 million by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's highly competitive Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP).  The NSP is intended to strengthen communities that have suffered from foreclosures and abandonment.  As part of that process, the OLCDC hosted a design charette with nationally recognized design experts in an effort to develop a plan to improve the neighborhood, increase economic opportunity, provide better housing over the long term, and create a more attractive environment for the community.

The design charette resulted in the notion that Opa-locka should become a well-known, recognizable destination for visitors, both regionally and internally. As suggested by the charette, this could be achieved by becoming a city to visit to enjoy enriching and artistic activities.

The Opa-locka Community Development Corporation's mission is to stimulate economic development, create affordable housing, and improve the quality of life for residents of Opa-locka and other neighboring communities of North Miami-Dade.  

The National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector. 

SOURCE Opa-locka Community Development Corporation