HUTCHINSON, Kan. – In April 2015, the City of Hutchinson launched the Hutchinson Healthy Neighborhoods Initiative. The Initiative looks at neighborhoods as markets and seeks to build both internal and external confidence. “This is not traditional neighborhood revitalization,” Jana McCarron, Director of Planning and Development for the City of Hutchinson, said. “It involves working directly with the neighborhood to identify outcomes and develop strategies that help accomplish those outcomes. Traditional neighborhood revitalization is a much more ‘top down’ approach.”
Led by an inter-agency steering committee, the Initiative has begun work in two feature neighborhoods – Graber/Faris Neighborhood and Avenue A School Neighborhood. One of the issues the committee has identified is that many neighborhoods lack a sense of identity. “These are just temporary names,” Amy Denker, Housing Program Coordinator for the city, said. “We will be working with the residents to identify boundaries and develop branding.”
The Healthy Neighborhoods Initiative is a collaboration involving many partners, including the City of Hutchinson, Heartland Credit Union, the Hutchinson Community Foundation, the Hutchinson Recreation Commission, the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce, Interfaith Housing, Inc., the Reno County Board of Realtors, Siemens, United Way and the Volunteer Center of Reno County. Funding for a consultant, Mr. Michael Schubert, who has been working with the group, came from NeighborWorks America and the Hutchinson Community Foundation.
Elizabeth Grilliot, Neighborhood Development Director for the Hutchinson Recreation Commission, has begun conducting one-on-one interviews with some of the residents in the Graber/Faris neighborhood to determine what residents like about where they live and where they think things could be improved. According to Grilliot, residents have been very welcoming. “Most of the people I interviewed really like living in the neighborhood west of the college. They are happy with the location and the quality of housing they have for a price that doesn’t make them house poor,” Grilliot commented.
In addition, assisted in part by a grant from the Kansas Health Foundation, the group is working in the Avenue A School neighborhood west of Main Street. “The United Way and USD 308 saw a need in this neighborhood more than a year ago and opened up a Neighborhood Center in the school. Since that time, our partnership has grown to include the City, Hutch Rec, the Boys and Girls Club, Circles of Hope, Interfaith Housing and other agencies,” Tona Turner, United Way Executive Director, said.
As part of the KHF grant, the partners will host visioning meetings at the school on Aug. 24 and Aug. 25. “We really want this to be a grassroots effort including a high level of community engagement,” Lisa Gleason, United Way Community Development Director, said. While United Way began work in the neighborhood, the Healthy Neighborhoods Initiative has joined forces with that effort to help strengthen the neighborhood.