Piedmont Housing Alliance to Benefit from Jessie Ball duPont Fund in Partnership with UVA
The University of Virginia has received funding from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund in support of Piedmont Housing Alliance’s efforts in the redevelopment of Friendship Court Apartments. The University of Virginia applied for the grant, which awards $100,000 over two years, to support community engagement at Friendship Court and to involve teens in the planning for the future of that community.
“Although neighborhood residents of all ages are already involved in the redevelopment planning process, the funds from this grant will support our Resident Youth Leadership in Land Use program,” said Piedmont Housing’s CEO, Frank Grosch. “The program will support community engagement and pay stipends to Friendship Court teens as they work with our design team to plan public and community spaces at the new Friendship Court.”
Under the direction of Barbara Brown Wilson, Assistant Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning at the UVa School of Architecture, UVa students will help craft and implement a curriculum to train a team of resident youth in the basics of sustainable, equitable land use. “The School of Architecture is very excited to be a partner in this two-year leadership development program, and see the experience as one that will positively inform the lives of students at both Friendship Court and at UVa,” said Wilson. “Faculty and students from across UVa are eager to support these young leaders as they work side-by-side with other members of the design team to ensure that resident voice is woven into every facet of the redevelopment process.”
Piedmont Housing hopes to make the redevelopment of Friendship Court a model for the redevelopment of affordable housing across the country.
“What we do at Friendship Court has to work for the people who live there. Friendship Court is home to 150 families and more than 250 children,” said Piedmont Housing’s CEO, Frank Grosch. “It’s those young people who are the future of that community, and who must be engaged in the process.”
The Jessie Ball duPont Fund is a national foundation that makes grants to a defined universe of organizations whose eligibility is determined exclusively by Mrs. duPont’s personal philanthropic decisions. An organization is eligible if it received a gift from Mrs. duPont between January 1, 1960 and December 31, 1964. The fund organizes its resources around the following focus areas: strengthening the independent sector; building the assets of people, families, and communities; and building the capacity of eligible organizations.