| This study explores the role that a Historically Black College has played in catalyzing neighborhood revitalization in an African-American community. Little research has been conducted that focuses primarily on Historically Black Colleges and Universities in neighborhood revitalization. This research seeks to fill this void by studying Tougaloo College's neighborhood revitalization programs in the Jackson Enterprise Community.;Tougaloo College is a small, private, African-American, coeducational liberal arts institution located in Jackson, Mississippi. Between 1997 and 2000, the College received three grants from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development designed specifically to fund Historically Black College and Universities in carrying out revitalization activities. The HUD/HBCU grant program administered by the college had a threefold emphasis: housing rehabilitation and assistance, economic development, and student placement in local community development corporations and non-profit organizations. Tougaloo College carried out the HUD/HBCU grant programs by collaborating with community-based organizations.;Via a case-study approach, grant activities were assessed to determine the challenges and opportunities Tougaloo faced in the neighborhood revitalization process. Additionally, local perspectives on its involvement in neighborhood revitalization were sought from representatives of all the agencies that collaborated with the College. The findings of this research demonstrate a need for greater recognition of HBCU involvement in the neighborhood revitalization process. For majority universities, "revitalization" has often meant university expansion and/or residential dislocation at the expense of adjacent communities. Such actions alienate local residents from university projects because residents are rightly suspicious of university activities and motives. By contrast, HBCUs offer an approach to neighborhood revitalization that is a natural extension of their historical mission. HBCUs identify with African-American communities through a common racial identity and historical struggle against oppression, and therefore are positioned as natural advocates for their surrounding communities.;Moreover, by examining the HUD/HBCU grant programs at Tougaloo College and identifying the challenges and opportunities that the College has faced in neighborhood revitalization, development of a framework based on the community building model emerges that is adaptable to HBCU-driven neighborhood revitalization and has value for other neighborhood revitalization undertakings as well. |
