Neighborhood Revitalization

The Beaver Falls CDC has been granted funds through the Neighborhood Assistance Program (NAP) for the purpose of neighborhood revitalization.  This project seeks to empower residents and collaborate with city officials to create impactful and sustainable change in our neighborhoods.

We spent the first year primarily creating a plan for this project. Using extensive property evaluation data, we chose a particular area to which we will focus our limited funds.  With the help of our community development consultant, czb, we developed a ten year strategy, the Beaver Falls Forward plan,  that will direct the CDC and other partners' work in the target area.   

Along with simultaneous efforts, our strategy encourages an asset-based approach that focuses on block champions who exhibit the utmost neighborhood pride through investment in their properties. We seek to encourage these neighbors and develop new champions through sponsoring  small neighbor-led projects.  These projects give everyone an opportunity to use their talents and connections to improve their blocks. 

So what are we doing with the plan?

In the summer of 2020, we introduced the Boost Our Blocks project to neighbors on three blocks of 6th Ave.  We canvassed the area and held several meetings where the group was able to develop two initiatives.  On a Sunday afternoon, the group got together to clean up an empty property on their street. Everyone brought whatever tools they had and worked together to clean up the space. 

The neighbors then decided that fixing concrete sidewalks would be a good use of our extra funds.  They footed a portion of the bill and the BF CDC covered the rest with our grant money.  The neighbors participated throughout the entire process including the choosing of sidewalk sections, using their own connections to get discounts, helping with demolition, and even buying the work crew pizza. 

In 2021, we received a second NAP grant to continue the project. In the summer, we continued with a similar model of initiatives on 6th Ave and started to visit new neighbors in the target neighborhood in the fall. We tore down two blighted properties and began planning a beautification project for Lt. Calvin Smith Park.

In 2022, we made even greater strides with the funding. We demolished four blight properties, made extertior updates to a handful of homes on 5th Avenue and completed the first round of improvements in Lt. Calvin Smith Park. Year three gave us even greater confidence in the work we are doing in the city.

In 2023, we took a year long break from our work with the funding and focus on some other projects that have gained momentum. We plan to restart our work with the NAP funding in 2024.

We are deeply grateful to the groups that financially sponsored this project through the NAP program. Those groups include, UPMC, Duquesne Light, Portage Learning/Nursing ABC, Brentwood Bank, Agway, Turbo Technology and McDanel Advanced Ceramic Tech.