The importance of place. How a non-profit called Purpose Built Communities helps community leaders create healthy “cradle to college pipelines” in neighborhoods. With Carol Naughton & Dr. Tamara Huff.

Carol Redmond Naughton, JD, shares with us some aspects of the proven Purpose Built Communities model, working with local leaders to help them plan, implement, and sustain holistic neighborhood revitalization initiatives that create healthy neighborhoods which include broad, deep, and permanent pathways to prosperity for low-income families. During the discussion she describes the essential role of “community quarterbacks,” and calls upon listeners to look with open eyes and think about the systems that have kept people trapped in poverty, particularly Black and Brown people, and to not blame the victims.

Carol believes that we need to recognize that the systems have been broken for so long that they have “broken the place,” but the people remain unbroken.  So, when we think about building communities of purpose for children with unlimited human potential, we can find ways to create great places with a “cradle to college pipeline,” and we can change the systems to make it easier to create other great places.

With host Dr. Tamara Huff, MD, MBA, Founder and CEO of Vigeo Orthopedics, in Columbus, Georgia, and member of Movement is Life Board of Directors. 

© Movement is Life 2023. Visit www.movementislifecaucus.com for transcripts of this and other episodes.

Excerpts

The secret sauce is creating a community quarterback organization. You have got to have an organization that isn’t in the service delivery business, but is thinking about how after the residents have created their vision for the community, how do they implement it? Thinking about how to work with public, private and non-profit partners to actually do the housing, to build the education pipeline, and create those health and wellness amenities.

I love Columbia Parc and I am so proud of what the district partners have been able to do since hurricane Katrina. These were three business leaders that really did not know anything about community development at the time, but our mutual connections suggested they to go to see East Lake in Atlanta and learn how it could be the model for the rebuild of New Orleans. We spent two days together and they came home committed to trying to do what nobody had been able to do in New Orleans before.

Our network members really encouraged us to elevate economic vitality within our model. Poverty is expensive, if you don’t live within walking distance of a grocery store you will be paying higher prices at the convenience store, if you don’t have a car you will be paying a driver or paying with time on a two hour bus journey.

My call to action is to look with open eyes, and think about the systems that have kept people trapped in poverty, particularly Black and Brown people, and to not blame the victims. Recognize that the systems have been broken so long that they have broken the place, but the people are not broken, and if we come at it thinking about how we are building communities for children of God with unlimited human potential we can create great places and we can change the systems to make it easier to create other great places.