Washington State Community Colleges District 7 will receive a Community Outreach Partnership Centers grant of $397,246 to establish the Neighborhood Revitalization Partnership Center. This initiative will focus on three critical needs that neighborhood residents and organizations in Spokane's East Central Neighborhood identified:- Workforce development and job training.
- Neighborhood business development and sustainability to promote job creation and retention.
- Neighborhood revitalization through development and adoption of a neighborhood plan addressing housing, community services, and facilities. The plan will guide future HUD Community Development Block Grant expenditures, business retention and revitalization, and city investments.
The partnership center, which will be located within the target area, will join neighborhood residents and four neighborhood organizations in a partnership with the Community Colleges of Spokane (CCS) and Eastern Washington University (EWU.). Both campuses border the East Central community, which has viable business centers but a continuing high rate of unemployment and lack of job training for residents. CCS, the lead agency for the grant, will provide direct services in workforce assessment and development, Small Business Development Center technical assistance and training, and Community service learning. EWU will expand Community Service Learning activities with classes in business, urban and regional planning, and social work to provide business plans, marketing studies, marketing studies, and economic assessments. A project coordinator will represent the neighborhood and coordinate linkages between class projects, faculty, students and program efforts to address neighborhood needs and issues.
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