About GWC
Selma's Choice Neighborhood - Gateway Community
Selmas Journey to the Planning Grant Award
Choice Neighborhoods Lead Grantee: Selma Housing Authority
Choice Neighborhoods Co-Grantee: City of Selma
Target Public Housing Project: George Washington Carver Homes
Target Neighborhood: Gateway Community
Neighborhoods Grant Amount: $500,000
Selma, Alabama, is a city that is internationally known for its role in the United States’ Civil Rights Movement. Despite the rich history, Selma has not been immune to the negative legacy of segregation, slavery, and racial discrimination. Since 2010, Selma has experienced a significant population decline; however, it remains a city with large potential and a rich cultural legacy. The Gateway Community neighborhood, while distressed, has several assets on which to build, including churches (Brown Chapel AME Church) that played vital roles in the Civil Rights movement and a Downtown that is filled with historic structures dating back to the early 1800s. With a $500,000 Choice Neighborhoods grant, the Selma Housing Authority, along with the City of Selma, hopes to revitalize the George Washington Carver Homes and, in so doing, jump-start a wider transformation for the City of Selma.
About GWC
George Washington Carver (GWC) Homes is the distressed public housing property that forms the foundation of the Gateway Community under the Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant. GWC is a family-oriented site that houses 457 individuals (195 families). GWC is remembered for its role in the civil rights movement that arose from Selma in the 1960s – a pivotal moment in American history that led to the Voting Rights Act. GWC was the home of several civil rights leaders, workers, and marchers who participated in the march over Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965. March 7, 1965. ‘Bloody Sunday’ is forever etched in the hearts and minds of all Selma residents and beyond!
GWC PROJECT MAP
The Gateway Community boundary (shaded blue) was selected for the Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant application. The required factors in the neighborhood’s selection were:
Poverty/Extremely Low-Income rating: 56.20%
Long-term Vacancy rating: 26.91%.
The red star indicates the location of the HUD distressed property, George Washington Carver Homes.
Our Mission
The Selma Housing Authority is set to collaborate closely with community members to initiate a resident-driven revitalization campaign, concentrating on the redevelopment of the neglected and distressed areas within the George Washington Carver neighborhood.
