| The Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute (ATVI), the local community college in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will join with the Barelas Community Development Corporation, the city of Albuquerque, the South Valley Small Business Development Center, and the San Jose Community Awareness Council to build bridges to development in the Barelas and San Jose neighborhoods through the Puente Project.
Barelas and San Jose are part of Albuquerque's historic core initially settled in the late 17th century. During the early 1900s, Barelas was primarily a blue-collar neighborhood whose commercial prosperity continued through 1940. During the early 1950s, the neighborhood experienced a series of setbacks that resulted in neighborhood decline for more than two decades after 1970.
Located in Albuquerque's Enterprise Community, the predominately Hispanic Barelas and San Jose neighborhoods are adjacent to each other and among the most economically distressed neighborhoods in the city. In 1990, the poverty rate in Barelas was 46 percent, the highest in the city. More than half of the adult residents have no high school diploma. The low-income levels, combined with an aging housing stock, contributed to substandard, deteriorated housing conditions.
The Puente Project's major activities are designed to address several priorities for the area cited in the city's consolidated plan. These include housing rehabilitation, emergency housing repairs for low-income homeowners, readily available GED classes, youth employment opportunities, and continued business development.
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